Panamanian José Caballero is Traded to the New York Yankees

United States: Panamanian baseball player José Caballero was transferred Thursday from the Tampa Bay Rays to the New York Yankees, right on the deadline day of the player exchange period for the 2025 Major League Baseball season.  US media reports that Caballero was notified of his trade at Yankee Stadium during the Rays -Yankees game that afternoon. Upon learning of the trade, he received hugs and well wishes from his now former teammates.  The Los Santos Panama native wasn’t in the Rays ‘ starting lineup, but he came onto the field in the fifth inning, playing second base and going scoreless in his only at-bat. The New York team won the game 7-4.

José ‘Chema’ Caballero Trades from the Rays to the Yankees

As the phrase from a Rubén Blades song goes, “Life gives you surprises, surprises life gives you.” This is what happened to Panamanian   José “Chema” Caballero in a Tampa Bay Rays uniform. He had to say goodbye to his teammates during the game, cross the locker room, and greet his comrades on his new team, the Yankees.  The New York team was facing Tampa Bay at Yankee Stadium, in the seventh inning, when the cameras focused on Panamanian “Chema” Caballero saying goodbye to the Rays.  He had learned that he had been signed by the Yankees, at the last minute of the Major League trading deadline.  Caballero entered playing for the Rays against the Yankees, had an at-bat in the fifth inning, went 0-for-1, in the game that the Bronx team won by a score of 7-4. 

“Welcome to New York,” the Yankees team wrote yesterday on social media.  José “Chema” Caballero has played in the Major Leagues with the Seattle Mariners, Tampa Bay Rays, and now the New York Yankees.  Caballero, a utility player with a good defense, leads the American League in stolen bases with 34 steals and a .638 OPS.  The last Panamanian to play for the New York Yankees was Mariano Rivera, who retired in 2013.