‘I’m trying to make them hate me’
Once the opponents are the opponents, José Caballero did not know how Gerrit Cole would react when the two met for the first time as the Yankees teammates.
Cole, however, had a locked joke and loaded for the utility.
“He was like,” Watch Your Head, Kid, “said the Daily News on Sunday.
Cole’s joke referred to a June 2023 incident at the Yankee Stadium during which the launcher pulled a quick ball 0-2 above the Caballero dome. Cole continued at Fan Caballero, who played for the Mariners at the time, before sadly mixing his finger with the Pirogue of Seattle.
Cole delivered the message in two parts because Caballero had annoyed himself, entering and leaving the shot box in order to play with the timing of the AS.
“He triggers a lot,” Cole told The News.
Gerrit Cole was frustrated by Jose Caballero’s antics between the land. Cole replied by launching her fastest land of the night, throwing another above his head and then chewing after having removed it pic.twitter.com/9lfammhsto
– Jomboy Media (@jomboymedia) June 21, 2023
The confrontation could have given an embarrassing moment when Caballero, acquired from the Rays on July 31 during a match between the two teams, linked to Cole in the Yankees clubhouse. Instead, the injured Cole felt “happy” to have the nuisance on board, and the two chatted and laughed at their previous move.
Caballero, who began to stop in place of the Anthony Volpe painful and in difficulty, had similar conversations with Aaron Boone and Aaron Judge, because Cole is far from being the only Yankee he exasperated before joining his forces with the club.
“He drives the opponent a little, but he and I laughed well,” said Boone, who saw Caballero annoy Luis Gil in a race last year. “Now he has become one of my favorite players.”
Irifying throughout his three large league seasons, Caballero will come out of the box, dance on the basics and will do just about everything he can to disturb the launchers. Combine these puffs at its flamboyant speed – Caballero woke up with 46 stolen bases at the top of the major league on Monday – and you get the baseball version of a chaos agent.
“I try to make them hate me,” said the annoying end, who has played the game as a pest since childhood. “I don’t want them to love me.”
Back by Luis Gil Plates Caballeros# Rays 1 #Yankees 1 🔼3e pic.twitter.com/mfoAyskalr
– sᴘᴏʀᴛs 24/7 (@ sports_24x7_) April 21, 2024
A fan of the growing Yankees in Panama, Caballero inspired the competitive disdain with ease when he played against the bombers, but the boost had no problem since the trade, which sent Everson Pereira to Tampa Bay.
The Yankees going to Miami immediately after exchanging against Caballero, he quickly got into his new teammates on poker games in flight.
“He just jumped and started losing money,” the judge told The News.
The Captain of the Yankees, however, noticed more than the losses of Caballero.
“The coolest was that he was not shy,” said the captain. “There was not for him. He jumped on the cards table and sort of immersed himself in the team, which talks about the type of person he is. He is comfortable where he is. It’s a funny guy who likes to have fun.”
The judge also said that he had told Caballero that he had “hated” to play against him: “But we will love to have you here.”
“You even heard that of many shelves,” said the judge. “They said to themselves:” I can see where you could make yourself angry with some of the things he does, or why he puts himself under your skin, but when he is part of your team and he fights for you, you will see how special he is and what he means for your ball club.
“I think everyone kissed this and really sees, really what he brings to this team.”
To be clear, Caballero brings more than distractions.
An energizing rabbit and a fierce competitor between the lines – Caballero has already been ejected twice as Yankee – Cole called it a “ignition candle”. The versatility of Caballero, on the other hand, made him an attractive target because he played six different positions this season.
With Volpe fighting in the marble and on the field – and recovering from a cortisone stroke in his left shoulder – Caballero spent last week starting at the stop stop. His solid statistics in this position – he had four withdrawals higher than average before Sunday – and an offensive production better than expected convincingly to permanently supplant Volpe, which has received several unsuitable votes of Boone and Brian Cashman.
On Sunday in Boston, Boone said that he “would do what is best every day” at the Cop stop with Volpe now a player available for several days of his shot.
This comment came before Caballero made a game of rotation and wild in the middle in eighth round and crushed a solo shot of 423 feet on the national car rental panel of the green monster in the seventh. The explosion put an exclamation mark on a section of seven consecutive departures which saw Caballero strike .273 with two doubles, the circuit and four stolen bases.
He also made Yankees of the unexpected power of the Caballero 5-10, 190 pounds.
“I didn’t do [know about that] Until I saw him take BP the first two days with us, “said Boone about a player with an average of .314 and an .955 OPS during his last 16 departures.” I said to myself: “Wow”. He goes where the big boys go to BP. So when he walks on one like that, now it’s not so surprising. »»
“His power, at least looking at him in the training and the practice of the striker, I was surprised,” added Cole. “He will lose them by the sign of the spring of Poland [at Yankee Stadium]. It’s 450 feet. It is a power of 65 levels of 70 levels in major leagues. »»
José Caballero sent this Fenway Park 😮 ball pic.twitter.com/cn0f2sxnng
– MLB (@MLB) September 15, 2025
Of course, Caballero’s largest asset is its speed.
He said he was not trying to win the stolen basic title, but he and jazz Chisholm Jr., once a teammate of the diamondback system, helped the Yankees led the majors in sweeping for more than a month.
There have also been several cases in which Caballero’s wheels have exerted immense pressure on the defenses. An example came in Friday’s victory against the Red Sox, when he struck a double of the rule of the ground, stole third place and ran to the house to mark the choice of a defender field, which led to a launch error.
“He wreaked havoc on the basics,” said Boone. “It is a bit daring and sometimes makes you hold your breath, but it has a very good feeling. He is a really confident player.”
Boone also described Caballero as a “catalyst”, “intoxicating”, “a player”, “a winning player” and, perhaps more, a “10th Man. “The manager repeated that there is value to bring Caballero as a submarine, even if the fans beg that Volpe remains on the bench.
Perhaps the faithful of the Bronx will obtain his wish now, because Caballero did everything he could to force the hand of the Yankees.
“I’m just trying to help the team win,” he said when he was asked what he thought he had shown last week. “In the end, no matter what I do. This is what the team does.
“As long as we continue to win matches, I’m going to be really happy.”
