Yankees' Oswaldo Cabrera plays through heartbreak after Venezuela earthquakes
The Yankees' Oswaldo Cabrera takes part in fielding drills during spring training at George M. Steinbrenner Field on Feb. 19 in Tampa, Fla. Credit: Newsday/J. Conrad Williams Jr.
BOSTON — Oswaldo Cabrera is, to say the least, a unique presence in the Yankees’ clubhouse.
The utilityman, among the most popular players in that clubhouse since the day he made his big-league debut in August 2022, seldom is seen without a smile — whether that be for a teammate, clubbie, coach, member of the media or just about anyone else.
Cabrera, manager Aaron Boone often says, is a “joy” to be around.
“One of those people that makes the room better when he’s around,” Boone says just as often, including before Sunday night’s game against the Red Sox at Fenway Park.
But Cabrera, though still with a smile and a kind word for everyone, has been in a bit of a fog in recent days.
He was born in Guarenas, Venezuela, a city roughly a 30-minute drive from the capital of Caracas. On Wednesday, the region was devastated by back-to-back 7.2 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes.
“It’s not easy for us, like trying to show we are OK when everything is going so badly in your country,” Cabrera told Newsday in a quiet moment here over the weekend. “We can’t do anything except help with raising money or starting some [fundraising] foundation. Man, it’s so sad. It’s so sad seeing all the things happening over there.”
Cabrera said “a lot” of his family still lives in the Guarenas area, which includes, he said, “a lot of uncles and cousins” as well as his 28-year-old brother, Leo.
“All my family and all the people I know, they are safe, thank God,” Cabrera said.
About 1,500 have been confirmed dead, according to multiple news agencies. That total is expected to climb dramatically as, according to various reports, more than 50,000 are believed to be missing.
“In the town we grew up, my dad called me [Saturday] and said of the 16 or 17 buildings, only six are OK,” said Cabrera, whose father, Leovardo, lives in Tampa. “After that, with some damage to some of the structures, they are still falling down, so it’s really sad.”
It already had been an emotional day for Cabrera last Wednesday, but for all reasons positive. Early that morning, he was promoted from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre to the Yankees, arriving in Detroit about two hours before first pitch.
That would give Cabrera a chance to appear in his first game in the majors since May 12, 2025, when he suffered a ghastly left ankle injury sliding into home plate in a game in Seattle.
Cabrera left the field that night in an ambulance and required surgery. At the time, multiple players got choked up while speaking about Cabrera, who made his first start since then Sunday night at Fenway Park, manning third base and batting seventh.
The earthquakes occurred Wednesday night during the Yankees’ 4-2 victory over the Tigers, and Cabrera got the news when he returned to his locker at Comerica Park.
“It was so bad,” said Cabrera, who received a slew of text messages and soon saw some of the pictures and videos showing the devastation in his home country.
Cabrera said his first thoughts were of his brother, who plays for a Caracas-based team in the Venezuelan Professional Baseball League.
Fortunately, Cabrera said, Leo’s team had an away game in Barquismeto, which is a roughly 4 1⁄2-hour drive from Caracas.
“I was so worried about my brother, so I’m glad he’s safe,” Cabrera said. “We are glad, but at the same time, it’s so sad for every life that was lost.”
A second Yankee was affected by the earthquakes. Catcher Ali Sanchez was born in Carora, which is about seven hours by car from Caracas.
“It’s not an easy situation,” he Sanchez said before Sunday night’s game.
The Yankees are Sanchez’s sixth organization; the first was the Mets in 2020. As he’s bounced from organization to organization the last five-plus years, he has come across plenty of Venezuelans, not a surprise in that Venezuela produces the third-most amount of players in the majors, behind the U.S. and the Dominican Republic.
“I’m thankful that my family’s good,’’ he said, “but seeing many guys that I’ve played with, teammates, whether in [the big leagues] or in the Venezuela Summer League, they lost their families. That’s just so sad.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
