NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Jos\u00e9 Caballero turned an inning-ending double play for the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth inning, then batted in the sixth.<\/p>\n
By the bottom of the seventh, he was on the other team.<\/p>\n
In a strange development even for trade-deadline day<\/a> around Major League Baseball, the Rays shipped Caballero to the New York Yankees<\/a> \u2014 while the teams were still playing each other Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n Caballero was removed from Tampa Bay\u2019s lineup during the seventh-inning stretch, and the deal was announced after the Yankees nailed down a 7-4 victory<\/a> in a game interrupted by rain for nearly three hours in the fifth.<\/p>\n \u201cI just saw Caballero in the clubhouse, so that was a little odd,\u201d New York manager Aaron Boone said afterward. \u201cI saw him actually hugging people in the eighth.\u201d<\/p>\n After learning he\u2019d been traded, Caballero exchanged hugs in the Tampa Bay dugout at Yankee Stadium with his Rays teammates and manager Kevin Cash.<\/p>\n Both clubs were active right up until the 6 p.m. deadline, and Tampa Bay sent the speedy Caballero to the AL East-rival Yankees for Triple-A outfielder Everson Pereira and a player to be named or cash. <\/p>\n Pereira played 27 major league games for New York in 2023.<\/p>\n The 28-year-old Caballero has 34 stolen bases this season, tied for most in the majors. He\u2019s batting .226 with two homers and 27 RBIs in 86 games and has started at shortstop, second base, third base and all three outfield positions.<\/p>\n Caballero didn\u2019t start Thursday for the Rays but entered in the bottom of the fifth when All-Star first baseman Jonathan Aranda got injured.<\/a> Caballero came in to play second base, and Brandon Lowe shifted from second base to first.<\/p>\n Caballero stayed in the game following a rain delay that lasted 2 hours, 45 minutes. But when Tampa Bay took the field for the bottom of the seventh, he came out. Lowe moved back to second base and Matt Thaiss entered at first.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s definitely weird, but you\u2019ve seen it on TV multiple times of people saying goodbye in the middle of the game in these situations,\u201d Lowe said. \u201cIt was a little weird to see it happen, but you just kind of put all the pieces together and figure it out for ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n After the game, Caballero conducted his postgame interview as a member of the Yankees in their clubhouse \u2014 after clearing out his Rays locker on the other side of the stadium.<\/p>\n \u201cI was winning today regardless,\u201d Caballero said. \u201cWe won the game, I guess. That\u2019s what I feel right now.\u201d<\/p>\n Tampa Bay made two other trades Thursday, acquiring starting pitcher Adrian Houser from the Chicago White Sox and reliever Griffin Jax from Minnesota.<\/p>\n