Yankees should've used Jose Caballero's ejection as motivation, not a teaching moment

Against his former team, New York Yankees utility man Jose Caballero absolutely dominated. He hit two home runs on Tuesday when he got the start. He wasn't in the lineup Wednesday, but he got called upon in extras when the game was tied after David Bednar blew it in the ninth.

The speedster put the ball in play and was safe at first on a throwing error. He then did his best to get in the head of Rays reliever Pete Fairbanks by taking aggressive leads, which led to a few pickoff attempts while Aaron Judge was in the batter's box.

Both were unsuccessful, and then Caballero took off for second base. He beat the throw and was safe by a mile, but a ticky-tack call by the umpire ruled him out on the field (not to mention, the nonsensical disengagement hoopla that preceded it). It was an objectively terrible call because the ump had no sight line to actually determine if Caballero came off the bag (he never did).

The Yankees challenged, but the ruling was upheld because ... you know how it goes. It's the most flawed replay review system in professional sports. And that's when all hell broke loose.

Caballero lost his mind on the umpire after the replay "confirmed" the ruling and he was ejected. That threw a wrench in the Yankees' plans because they were in extras with dwindling personnel, but it was all for naught. They won the game and didn't have to play beyond the 10th.

Jose Caballero's ejection vs Rays should serve as rallying cry for Yankees

After the game, Aaron Boone was (rightfully) not thrilled with Caballero putting the team in that position, and reitered that something like that "can't happen." And he's right, it certainly cannot happen, especially after how that game transpired, but since the Yankees won, couldn't they have spun this a bit differently to ride more momentum heading into their series against the Red Sox?

Caballero knows he lost his cool and it wasn't helpful for the team. He's been around baseball long enough. But this one felt personal for him. He was playing against his former team. He was adding on to his league-leading stolen base total, and got one unrightfully taken away from him. He had worked hard to get into scoring position for Aaron Judge so the Yankees could possibly tack on another insurance run to extend their lead to four.

If Boone assures us that he's always handling things behind the scenes, then why couldn't there have been a little bit of creative theater here? He could've told Caballero in his office that the behavior was unacceptable and that next time he needs to let the manager handle the umpires, and then turned around to tell the media that he liked the fire Caballero had shown against his former team and that's the type of energy the team club needs to appropriately harness to keep their hot streak going.

Boone's ejections are always fun to watch and at least show a deeper level of passion than we're used to seeing, but it's about time we saw more of that from the players. Caballero was brought in to be a pest and provide energy. He's been doing exactly that, and he should be encouraged to do so appropriately. Nobody wants the wind taken out of their sails before a showdown with the Sox.