The Cincinnati Reds are already looking past a lost 2026 season. On Friday, they claimed utilityman Oswaldo Cabrera off waivers from the New York Yankees, a low-cost move that gives the club a longer look at a player who still has two years of team control remaining.
Greg Joyce of The New York Post reported the move.
Cabrera had been designated for assignment by the Yankees on Wednesday so New York could clear a 40-man roster spot.
The 27-year-old Venezuelan spent his entire major-league career in pinstripes, appearing in parts of five seasons. He posted a .247 average and a career-best .740 OPS in 44 games as a 2022 rookie, then settled into a regular utility role with 115 games in 2023 and 108 in 2024. Playing time dwindled after that.
He appeared in only 34 games in 2025 thanks to a brutal leg injury, finishing with a .631 OPS. He then went 0-for-9 in a brief 2026 stint before spending most of the year at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
There, he hit .288 with a .790 OPS, 19 home runs, 14 doubles and 12 stolen bases in 13 attempts.
Across 304 big-league games, Cabrera owns a .232 average and .635 OPS, with 20 home runs and 15 stolen bases. His value has always been defensive versatility.
He has seen the most action at third base, followed by both outfield corners, plus time at second, first and shortstop.
That kind of flexibility is useful on a Reds roster still searching for everyday answers after another year outside the playoff picture.
Cincinnati already tried a similar late-summer addition when it acquired Juan Brito from Cleveland earlier this season. The Cabrera claim follows the same logic: get a first-hand look before the offseason and see whether a former prospect can still develop into a contributor.
Because he remains arbitration-eligible and will not reach free agency until after 2028, the Reds can evaluate him without committing significant money. If the experiment fails, the cost is negligible. If it succeeds, they will have added a cheap, multi-positional piece for the next two years.
Roster moves this late in September are uncommon, yet they can still shape a club’s winter planning.
For a Reds team that will spend the final weeks of 2026 evaluating its own young players, Cabrera represents another data point rather than a finished product.
Whether he sticks in Cincinnati or becomes a depth option elsewhere, the waiver claim gives the organization a low-risk chance to find out.
