Cabrera to IL with ankle fracture; Yanks activate LeMahieu

SEATTLE -- One day after being taken off the T-Mobile Park field in an ambulance, Yankees utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left ankle fracture on Tuesday. Infielder DJ LeMahieu returned from his rehab assignment and was reinstated from the 10-day injured list in a corresponding move.

For the severity of Cabrera’s injury, though, manager Aaron Boone said the follow-up on the third baseman amounted to “good news.” Cabrera, who was driven to nearby Harborview Medical Center, didn’t require emergency surgery Monday night. Multiple teammates and coaches -- including Boone -- went to visit him in the hospital, but he didn’t have to stay overnight and was able to return to the team hotel in the middle of the night.

“Classic Cabby, he was in amazing spirits, making us feel good,” Boone said. “Grateful to see us all, he was feeling good at that point.”

Cabrera sustained the injury when he ran wide to avoid Cal Raleigh’s tag at the plate in the ninth inning of the Yankees' 11-5 win over the Mariners on Monday. Cabrera beat the throw and the tag, but overran the plate by multiple steps. As he tried to stop, his left ankle buckled under his momentum.

Cabrera was able to stumble back and tag home plate with his hand but stayed on the ground after the play and did not move as the training staff rushed out to check on him.

After a brief time, the center-field gate at T-Mobile Park opened to allow the cart to come out, but it made its way only to the right-field foul pole before turning back and exiting. A few minutes later, as players from both teams stood in silence on the field, an ambulance came out and made its way to home plate.

Boone said that Cabrera flew back to New York on Tuesday and will meet with a specialist Wednesday, with surgery possible after that. Despite the initial dose of comparatively optimistic news, there’s still a whole lot to clear up in the next day or two before the Yankees will have any type of timeline for his recovery.

“If and when they do surgery, they’ll go in there and get a better idea when they’re in there of what’s needed, and then we’ll see,” Boone said.

Cabrera, in his fourth season in the Majors, has been getting the most consistent playing time of his career, starting 30 of the Yankees’ first 41 games at third base. In 34 games, he’s hitting .243 with a .630 OPS, four doubles, one home run and 11 RBIs. He went 1-for-4 on Monday with a walk.

LeMahieu's activation on Tuesday was expected, with Boone saying Monday that LeMahieu would be in uniform Tuesday and make his first start of the season in the day game to end the series Wednesday. Despite Cabrera’s injury, that plan still seems largely intact. LeMahieu wasn’t in the starting lineup Tuesday -- Oswald Peraza started at third -- and Boone reiterated that he still wants LeMahieu to return to second base, where he earned four Gold Glove Awards but has only made 44 starts since the beginning of the 2022 season.

“It feels natural,” LeMahieu said before Tuesday’s game. “I mean, I played there for 12 years. I feel really good over there.”

Peraza has started 79 games across parts of four years, including 47 at third base. Rookie Jorbit Vivas has exclusively played second base since getting called up on May 2, and started there Tuesday. The Yankees also have utilityman Pablo Reyes as an option in the infield.

When LeMahieu does take the field, it’ll be the end of a long road back, itself the latest chapter in his recent struggles with injuries.

The 36-year-old didn’t make his debut last season until May 28 after breaking his foot on a foul ball toward the end of Spring Training. He then had his year end a month early thanks to a right hip impingement. He took an extended break from hitting in the offseason in hopes of coming back stronger this year but suffered another injury in Spring Training. A tweak in his left calf on March 1 ended his spring after just one game.

LeMahieu began a rehab assignment on April 22, and has played nine games since between Double-A Somerset and Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. In the middle of that run, he received a cortisone shot in his hip that Boone called “preemptive.”

The infielder had a slash line of .444/.500/.593 in his rehab assignment with one home run. In his three games with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he went 5-for-11 with a walk.

“I feel good,” LeMahieu said. “I think rehab went well; I accomplished what I needed to accomplish. Just excited to get it going again, fired up to help this team out.”