The New York Yankees suddenly have a pretty severe issue fans weren't anticipating.
Not a whole lot has gone wrong for the New York Yankees thus far this season.
They are 7-2 and are three games up on the next closest team in the AL East, and even with Aaron Judge not being entirely locked in yet, the offense has been good enough.
Well, mostly.
Giancarlo Stanton and Ben Rice have been tearing the cover off the ball, and Cody Bellinger is quietly off to a terrific start.
But five of the Yankees' everyday starters are hitting below the Mendoza line, and among them is shortstop Jose Caballero, who is currently batting .129 with a .335 OPS over 34 plate appearances.
Yes, the sample size is incredibly small, but so were Caballero's 95 trips to the dish in the Bronx last year, when the utility man managed an .828 OPS and had New York fans wanting to run Anthony Volpe out of town.
Perhaps Yankees fans were a bit too rash in their judgment?
Caballero has been atrocious thus far in 2026, and he even made a costly throwing error that led to a run in New York's 7-6 loss to the Miami Marlins on Sunday evening.
New York Yankees shortstop Jose Caballero. Credit: Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images.It's important to remember that while Caballero was terrific for the Yanks after coming over in a trade deadline deal with the Tampa Bay Rays last summer, he is a lifetime .225/.313/.334 hitter.
That's obviously well above what he has been doing through the first nine games of this season, but it's also considerably below the torrid pace he was on during the last couple of months of 2025.
Caballero is a good bench player thanks to his tremendous versatility. If he starts every game, you will undeniably see his warts, which the Yankees are finding out the hard way.
So, why is the 29-year-old still starting?
Well, Volpe is still making his way back from offseason shoulder surgery and is expected to return around May 1, so Caballero's days as New York's starting shortstop will be short lived. I don't think Yankees fans will ever be more happy to see Volpe.
Heading into 2026, no one really identified Caballero as a potential weak link. Most felt he would be able to properly hold down the fort until Volpe's return and instead pointed to players like Ryan McMahon (who is batting .087, by the way) and Volpe himself as causes for concern.
But clearly, Caballero had everyone fooled by his hot stretch last summer.
The Panamanian native is a valuable player, without question. He is the perfect super utility man. But as a starter? He just doesn't work.
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