There’s a point in every season where a team is forced to confront a tough truth.
For the New York Yankees, that moment is fast approaching—and it’s staring them straight in the face at third base.
Cabrera’s limitations are holding back the offense
Oswaldo Cabrera has done everything asked of him, but sometimes effort alone isn’t enough to keep the wheels turning.
The 26-year-old is hitting .250/.317/.304 with just one home run and eight RBIs across nearly two months of action.
He’s striking out at a 21.8% clip while walking just 6.9% of the time, showing limited discipline and even less power.
With an 82 wRC+, Cabrera is performing 18% below league average, which is problematic for a team chasing a title.
Even worse, he hasn’t barreled a single ball this season, which shows just how little damage he’s doing at the plate.
Defensive woes compound the problem
Cabrera was once seen as a defensive Swiss Army knife, but that value is diminishing quickly with increased exposure.
Across 229 innings at third base, he’s recorded a .923 fielding percentage with five errors and a pair of negative metrics.
He’s sitting at -1 defensive runs saved and -1 outs above average, making it difficult to justify his full-time role.
Cabrera has always been more suited as a plug-and-play utility man—not a permanent solution at one of baseball’s most demanding positions.
Is a reunion with an old target on the table?
One name continues to circulate in connection with the Yankees: St. Louis Cardinals third baseman Nolan Arenado.
The 34-year-old is no longer elite offensively but remains a rock-solid contributor, hitting .256/.342/.395 with three home runs.
He walks more than he strikes out—a rare trait in today’s game—with a 9.6% K rate and an 11% walk rate.
Defensively, Arenado still has plenty left in the tank, providing the kind of reliability the Yankees are sorely lacking right now.
But he’s expensive, with two more years remaining on his contract and a price tag the Yankees aren’t eager to inherit.
What makes the most sense moving forward?
Unless the Cardinals agree to eat a large portion of Arenado’s contract, a deal may not happen anytime soon.
That said, general manager Brian Cashman may have no choice but to explore alternatives if Cabrera continues to falter.
With the trade deadline set for late July, there’s still time to evaluate the market and identify a more cost-effective upgrade.
Until then, the Yankees will have to ride out the storm and hope Cabrera gives them something to work with.
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