Hour 1: Yankees Must Commit to Jose Caballero at Shortstop

**Chris McMonigle** (0:00)
It's The Carton Show. McMonigle here with you riding solo. Craig's out all week. We told you that yesterday. You know it. And I got you until 6 o'clock Yankee pregame, 888-808-1019. And we will start there. We'll get to USA, kind of embarrassing themselves last night. We'll get to all the different things on this busy Tuesday afternoon. But yes, we have to start with where we left off yesterday, the Yankees and that huge game last night. And that's what it was. We talked about it all day leading into the game. That was a massive game coming off 1-9 in the last 10, losing 2 out of 3 to Minnesota, going into a building and against a team they haven't beaten this year in a building they don't play well in for the last handful of years. And what we saw last night was Cam Schlitler make that jump, right? We've already seen it in the postseason, but he's coming off two bad starts, and they needed him in this game. And the performance he gave you, the performance from the ace, the performance from the shortstop, Caballero, the two guys we talked about all day yesterday, how important it was that Cam go out there and rebound. And we're going to get to Cam in a little bit. And not only is it the performance, not only is it the eight innings, which how often do you see eight innings? Again, Keith Hernandez last night used my five and fly term. So we know what five and fly guys look like. There's a lot of them in Major League Baseball today, but to go eight innings, four hits, one run, zero walks, and eight strikeouts. And yet he mixed in the curve ball. But again, all the people who said, oh, you can't just do it on fastballs, blowing away this Tampa Bay lineup. This Tampa Bay lineup that's so, so dominant. He did what you have to do to beat Tampa Bay. You get the first three guys out, Diaz, Aranda, and Caminero. You get those guys out. The rest of the lineup can't hurt you. We'll get through all of that as well. And the main competition for the New York Yankees. But we have to start somewhere specifically. Because we'll get to Cam throughout the show. We'll get to the actual Rays and whether or not they're a legitimate team that the Yankees should fear. And whether or not they're a team they can't beat in this division. But we have to start with what they're going to do today. We have to start with the New York Yankees not recognizing something that the rest of us find obvious. And as much as I'll defend them, I still will because there'll be calls who go overboard and I'll have to defend them. It's what I do.
But we have to admit there is a disconnect between the New York Yankees and their fanbase. And quite honestly in this department, there is a disconnect between the New York Yankees and common sense. Because we watched the game last night. And while I will give the Yankees credit, that was the most important game of the season last night. There's no two ways about it. Heading in 1-9 in their last 10, 5 in the lost column, 4 games back overall in the division. Already lost 4 out of the first 5 to Tampa, all 3 in that building earlier in the year. Playing the way they're playing. The division could be lost. It's still, they're still in trouble. They still have 3 more games to get in this series, still 3 more games to play. They better take at least one of them.
But in the biggest game of the year, and they mention this in the pregame, excuse me, during the game, at the beginning of the game, when Michael Kay said that he spoke to Aaron Boone and he asked Aaron Boone if this is the best defensive lineup he has.
Was the lineup last night with Caballero at shortstop, and yes, McMahon at third and some other things, but Caballero at shortstop, is that your best defensive lineup? And the answer was yes. And then Caballero goes out there, and I'll be the first to tell you, and we'll get into whether or not Caballero is a great player, because I don't think he is. Is Caballero, like, should he absolutely be the New York Yankee shortstop from this point on through the rest of the year? I don't know if the trade is available, I'd be looking to improve at shortstop overall. It's not necessarily that Caballero is the answer at shortstop that they have been looking for since Didi Gagoria's left. That's not the point. The point is, he's the best shortstop on the team. And the minute Grisham came back and settled the outfield, when you didn't have two outfielders missing, when you weren't in constant rotation, while the offense was struggling, which by the way, it still was, yes, three home runs, yes, five runs, but three hits and 17 strikeouts. That was not a great offensive performance last night. It was good enough to win. Ain't nobody complaining about it. I ain't apologizing about it, but it wasn't very good. There was still no hit through four innings, a perfect game through four innings by Griffin Jacks, who was throwing the ball well, but Jacks was throwing a perfect game through four, not an offensive explosion.