Opinion & Editorials

One roster can contain a development success and a mistake. That should be obvious, but Yankees arguments often demand a choice: defend the organization or indict it. Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler and Oswaldo Cabrera deserve a more useful discussion than that.

Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler are central to that discussion. MLB highlighted their contributions September 18. That same day, Cincinnati claimed Oswaldo Cabrera off waivers from New York.

Credit and criticism need the same standard

Fans can miss Cabrera without proving the Yankees should have kept him. The case depends on what he could contribute and who would otherwise occupy the roster spot. Popularity cannot fill out a lineup card. Neither can a general declaration that the front office knows best.

Rice and Schlittler supply reasons to credit the organization’s development work. Their success does not answer every question about Cabrera’s opportunity. And losing Cabrera does not turn their progress into an accident. Judge the decisions individually, with the same willingness to recognize what worked and what did not.

Do not grade the ending before it happens

Cincinnati will give us more to watch. If Cabrera improves, examine the role and opportunity along with the results. A good stretch would invite scrutiny of New York’s choice, but it would not make the outcome inevitable in retrospect. A poor stretch would not excuse every decision the Yankees made along the way.

The strongest criticism names a better choice and explains why it was available. “They gave up on him” is the beginning of that argument. It is not the evidence. We have taken the comparison further in the Cabrera opportunity editorial, using batting results from before the roster move.