José

Caballero

The 31-year-old slugger jammed his thumb while sliding into second base during Wednesday’s victory over the O’s. As of now, there don’t appear to be any plans to place him on the injured list, but it sounds like he may need a couple of days off. Jose Caballero will start in his place at the hot corner on Thursday and will bat ninth against Orioles’ right-hander Kyle Bradish.

McMahon jammed his left thumb on a slide into second base during Wednesday’s win over the Orioles. His absence would likely result in José Caballero seeing more time at the hot corner. There should be an update on his status leading into Thursday’s series finale.

Chisholm has really been struggling at the plate recently, hitting just .125/.222/.200 with one home run, three RBI and a 16/5 K/BB ratio in 45 plate appearances since the start of August, so getting a day off to clear his head instead of facing one of the toughest pitchers in the American League makes plenty of sense. Jose Caballero will start in his place at second base and bat ninth for the Bombers on Sunday.

This is now the second straight game with Caballero on the bench. Now that Heliot Ramos is in town and George Lombard Jr. has been called up, it seems that Caballero might be shifting back to being a bench player. Fantasy managers in deeper leagues can hold onto him for a little bit longer given his stolen base upside, but the time may have run out on his consistent fantasy value.

Lombard will make his major-league debut against the Cardinals on Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. The 21-year-old remains a work in progress from an offensive standpoint at this stage of his development, but he’s shown some real over-the-fence pop at the Triple-A level this season. He’s a phenomenal defender and projects as New York’s long-term answer at shortstop, which means they can finally end the bizarre José Caballero and Anthony Volpe timeshare once and for all. He may not provide an instant fantasy impact outside of deeper leagues, but Lombard in a prospect worth monitoring closely, even in shallow mixers.

Schuemann was in a 1-for-18 slump to begin the second half, so he’s the choice to go to make room for Luis García Jr. This will probably lead to some additional outfield time for José Caballero.

Caballero was responsible for the only two runs of the game with his two-run shot, but that was one more run than the Cubs scored thanks to Gerrit Cole and the Yankees’ bullpen. Caballero has 11 homers on his campaign, and that roundtripper along with a single ups his slash to .244/.295/.387 on the year.

Aided by a run of lefty opponents, Volpe now started three out of four games after sitting out nine of the previous 13. He’s not exactly tearing it up with his .681 OPS this season, but he has overtaken José Caballero there. Caballero is down to .664 while hitting .211 with a 19/1 K/BB this month.

They condition this with the idea that he’ll need to show his injured fingers are fine and he’ll need to keep producing for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre when he returns. But in their eyes, the Yankees have no confidence in Anthony Volpe or José Caballero at this point. They also quote Yankees GM Brian Cashman as saying that Lombard “might be a choice at some point.”

This will make back-to-back games that Volpe will sit with Jose Caballero playing shortstop. The 25-year-old has gotten on base at a respectable .340 clip, but he’s hit just one homer in 2026 and his .668 OPS on the year leaves much to be desired — and is unfortunately right in line with his career .662 number. Volpe has flashed the potential to be an excellent fantasy contributor, but it’s just too hard to trust him to be in lineups at this stage of his career.