Best of the Yankees on WFAN: Time to call up George Lombard Jr.?

**Evan Roberts** (0:00)
I'm done with this game that Jose Caballero is playing. I'm done with it, it's stupid. I know we look for edges in sports.

**Tiki Barber** (0:07)
Yes.

**Evan Roberts** (0:08)
It ain't worth it. And the epiphany I had, especially when I went to minorleaguebaseball.com, is it is time. And so I want to use at least my portion of the show as a bully pulpit to tell Brian Cashman that Jose Caballero is a nice bench piece. Anthony Volpe is a bench piece. It is time on July 23rd, 2026 to call up George Lombard Jr. And let's see what we got, because here's what I know.
Caballero is fine. Volpe is fine. They are not the everyday shortstop for the New York Yankees. Either that guy isn't on the team, or that guy is Lombard. And since he's been activated five games ago, the dude is tearing it up. Enough is enough. So bully Pulpiton.
Call up Lombard.

**Tiki Barber** (1:00)
Because Jose Caballero is a pain in the ass and he's broken and breaking a rule that's been on the books since 2023?

**Evan Roberts** (1:06)
It's more, it ain't worth it. Like, I get what he's doing and I've defended it at times, but yesterday was the moment where I said, all right, this is just stupid now. Who cares if you're getting under the skin of pitchers? And it like blocks our memories that Jose Caballero is an average player. Like we've put him on a pedestal because he's better than Volpe. And he is, but how about someone better than both of them? And Lombard Jr. has that potential. And so I think this is the moment. This is my moment at least. We all come to these conclusions at different times. Some of you guys out there, Yankee fans may have come to this conclusion, you know, while Lombard was on the IL two weeks ago. I'm here on July 23rd. Now is the time to make the call because I can cite you many examples of teams having the guts to call up a young player or young prospect. And that guy really impacting a team that goes on a deep run or wins a championship.
Now is the time.

**Tiki Barber** (1:54)
Well, we saw him in spring training, George Lombard. He looked fantastic with his glove in the field, whether he's playing shortstop or third base. And so that side of it, you're not worried about. The thing you worry about is that he comes up, he struggles with major league pitching and he's just an added empty spot, kind of like a lot of these spots are empty in a lot of these games for the Yankees lineup and it doesn't really help you. Now, it gives him experience, but is that most important to you, getting him up to speed or is getting yourself better and ready prepared for the, not upcoming, but coming postseason, that you need guys who are consistently putting bat on ball?
That's the challenge, is that yes, he upgrades you defensively, but is he actually giving you a bat?

**Evan Roberts** (2:39)
Yes, I think he can be.

**Tiki Barber** (2:41)
But you don't know that.

**Evan Roberts** (2:42)
But I know Caballero and I know Volpe. Like my point is those guys have already shown me what they are. They're below average offensive players. And George Lombard Jr is a prospect. We do not know how he's going to fare. Like that's the question of calling up a young player. But I'd rather make that gamble on July 23rd. You want to make that gamble on September 10th?

**Zach Gelb** (2:59)
Is that what you want to do?

**Evan Roberts** (3:00)
So then why not now? Now is the perfect time. In fact, you could argue, unfortunately, he was hurt, which I think derailed this.

**Tiki Barber** (3:06)
That's exactly what derailed it, because he would have been up, I think.

**Evan Roberts** (3:08)
But if it happened sooner, you could have evaluated and then kind of known more about what you need to do before the trade deadline. You're not going to get enough data in the next 10 days, because that's when the deadline hits. But nevertheless, I want to see what this guy's got. He's played a bunch of games at AAA. Since his return from the IL, he's nine for 17 with a homerun. And we know his defense is ready. And here's the most important thing, and that's why the epiphany hit me yesterday, even though for many Yankee fans it was earlier.
When you watch Caballero, he's a fine player. I'm not trying to crap on him. When you watch Volpe, I'm not gonna say anything. We already know what both of those guys are. Like it's over, we know what they are. Caballero's a nice pain in the ass, super utility player.