NEW YORK — The Yankees spent the final stretch of the regular season sorting through roster decisions that left little room for sentiment. By late September, the postseason was secure and every 40-man spot carried extra weight.
Oswaldo Cabrera became part of that squeeze on Sept. 16. The Yankees designated the popular utility player for assignment when they reinstated right-hander Clarke Schmidt from the 60-day injured list, ending Cabrera’s run with the organization that signed him as a teenager out of Venezuela in 2016.
Two days later, Cincinnati claimed Cabrera off waivers. MLB transaction records show the Reds activated him Sept. 19, giving him a new club less than a week after the Yankees made the move.
Cabrera’s departure carried more emotion than his 2026 major league numbers would suggest. He appeared in only three games for the Yankees and went hitless in nine at-bats after spending most of the season at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He had also worked his way back from the severe left ankle injury that ended his 2025 season.
That made what happened at Yankee Stadium on Sept. 23 difficult to miss.
Rice and Lombard revive a familiar Cabrera gesture
Ben Rice and George Lombard Jr. each homered during the Yankees’ 9-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays, then appeared to bring back a celebration strongly associated with Cabrera.
As each rounded the bases, Rice and Lombard made a grenade-toss gesture. Cabrera used a similar routine during his Yankees tenure, including during roll call at Yankee Stadium, when he would mime pulling a pin before tossing an imaginary grenade toward the Bleacher Creatures.
Neither Rice nor Lombard has publicly confirmed that the gesture was intended as a message to Cabrera. The resemblance is clear, but the meaning remains an interpretation unless one of the Yankees players says otherwise.
The timing gave the moment an obvious connection. Rice had shared the Yankees clubhouse with Cabrera since 2024. Lombard spent time with Cabrera at Triple-A this season before the rookie reached the majors.
The celebration came only five days after Cincinnati claimed Cabrera and one week after the Yankees designated him for assignment.
The home runs came during a late-season power display
The celebration was attached to one of the Yankees’ biggest offensive nights of the final week.
Rice opened the scoring with his 40th home run in the first inning. Lombard went deep in the third, and Ryan McMahon later broke the game open with a grand slam during a five-run inning. Rice added his 41st homer in the fourth as the Yankees built an 8-1 lead.
MLB’s game record shows New York finished with 12 hits in the 9-2 win. Gerrit Cole earned the victory after allowing two runs over 5 2/3 innings with eight strikeouts. Tampa Bay starter Mason Englert took the loss after being charged with eight earned runs in 3 2/3 innings. There was no save.
The game also showed how much Rice’s role had grown while Cabrera’s disappeared. FanGraphs’ Sept. 28 Yankees team page lists Rice with 41 home runs, a .264/.363/.534 slash line and 4.2 WAR over 154 games. Lombard finished his rookie regular season with seven home runs in 42 games.
The roster move took another turn eight days later
There was another wrinkle to the Yankees’ decision.
Schmidt, whose return required the Yankees to clear Cabrera’s 40-man spot on Sept. 16, was placed back on the 15-day injured list Sept. 24 with right biceps neuritis, retroactive to Sept. 21, according to MLB’s Yankees transaction log.
That does not mean the Yankees could simply undo the Cabrera move. Cincinnati had already claimed him, and roster decisions are made with the information available at the time. Still, the sequence sharpened the contrast. Cabrera was gone, Schmidt was injured again and two Yankees hitters had just revived a celebration associated with their former teammate.
Cabrera also began getting opportunities with Cincinnati. Baseball Savant’s game log shows he went 4-for-13 with two doubles and a walk over four games for the Reds through Sept. 27 after going 0-for-9 with the Yankees earlier in the season.
His Yankees tenure was never built around star-level numbers. Cabrera hit .232/.292/.343 with 20 home runs across five seasons with New York. His value came from defensive flexibility, energy and a willingness to move around the diamond whenever Aaron Boone needed another option.
Yankees celebration carries unconfirmed message into October
Rice and Lombard have not labeled their grenade toss as a Cabrera tribute. Until they do, it should be treated as an apparent homage rather than a confirmed message.
Still, the setting, timing and familiarity were hard to separate. Days after the Yankees lost one of their most popular utility players, two teammates used a celebration that had become part of Cabrera’s identity in the Bronx.
Cabrera is now with Cincinnati. The Yankees are headed into October without him. His old celebration, at least for one night, remained at Yankee Stadium.
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