MINNEAPOLIS — The Yankees have sent one of the longest-tenured and most beloved players in their organization packing.
Oswaldo Cabrera was designated for assignment Wednesday to clear a spot on the 40-man roster for the Yankees to activate Clarke Schmidt off the 60-day injured list.
It was a surprising move, considering that Cabrera seems likely to be claimed by another team after batting .288 with a .790 OPS this year at Triple-A.
He played three games for the Yankees this season, but has spent most of it at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre after finishing off his comeback from a grueling broken ankle that he suffered on a slide home last May in Seattle.
“Very difficult,” manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday at Target Field. “One of the parts of the game that are tough. You’re fortunate to come across – and I feel like I’m blessed to have a lot of guys on this team that you just admire and respect and love doing the job with on a daily basis, and Oswaldo’s right there at the top of that list. Just who he is, how he goes about things, how he treats people, the competitor he is, the teammate he is. So those are hard things all the time.
“The good thing is Oswaldo’s come back from a very difficult injury and had a really good year down in Triple-A, he’s playing really well. So, hopefully this is just one of those things. I’m confident Oswaldo will go on to have a very good career and hopefully it’s still with us.”
The 27-year-old utilityman still has another minor league option remaining after this season, increasing his value if a team should claim him.
The Yankees could have gone another route to open a spot on the 40-man roster, but doing this preserves as much pitching depth as possible while also leaving the door open for Fernando Cruz to pitch again this season (instead of transferring him to the 60-day IL as he attempts to come back from a partially torn UCL).
Cabrera’s path back to the Yankees had also become more difficult with the addition of fellow utilityman Max Schuemann, Anthony Volpe adding some defensive versatility before being recalled and José Caballero already serving as a superutilityman in the big leagues.
Cabrera entered the organization in 2016 out of Venezuela, making him the second-longest tenured member behind only Aaron Judge.
