Yankees have MLB’s newest villain. He shouldn’t apologize for it. | Klapisch

The veins in Dennis Santana’s neck stood at attention, pulsing, ready to explode. The pitcher’s eyes were wide and wild. Several of Santana’s teammates had to hold the reliever back from the little guy who’d driven Santana crazy.

That would be Jose Caballero, who, protected by the wall of bodies in a bench-clearing incident with Pittsburgh on Monday, was smiling.

You have to credit Caballero, agitator at large, for the best week of his career. In just a few short days, he managed to annoy the Commissioner’s Office, the Pirates and fans, including a good number of Yankees loyalists.

It’s not a bad haul when your objective is to live in people’s heads.

Everyone agrees Caballero is a rogue character. So do I. But I can’t fault a player who’s trying to help his team win. The key is finding a specific talent and exploiting the hell out of it.

Obviously, Caballero can’t hit home runs like Aaron Judge or Ben Rice. He can’t throw a triple-digit fastball like Cam Schlittler. His defense at shortstop is pretty good, but he’s no Ozzie Smith.

Caballero has a huge chip on his shoulder. That’s his secret power. He couldn’t care less that opponents hate him and his pitch-clock manipulation. On the contrary, he revels in unnerving opposing pitchers, such as Santana.

But the jig might be up. Umpires have been instructed to stop Caballero from running the clock down to eight seconds. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred must feel awfully tough, putting the squeeze on Public Enemy No. 1.

Never mind that the commissioner’s most grotesque experiment — the 10^th-inning ghost runner — has yet to be retired.

No, it’s Caballero who had to be punished.

And for what? Playing by the rules? The introduction of the pitch clock specifically stated that a batter has to be in the box, making eye contact by the eight-second mark.

That’s exactly what Caballero did every time. It wasn’t like he found a loophole. He followed the rule down to the last possible second. It was gamesmanship, but it was allowable.

The problem is that most teams don’t like Caballero. As Blue Jays manager John Schneider said last week, “There are a lot of major-league players in this league, (but) there seems to be one guy that has an issue with (the pitch clock rules).”

The Yankees were themselves in the anti-Caballero army when he was playing for the Rays. Gerrit Cole threw a fastball over Caballero’s head in 2023 after Caballero pulled the eight-second waiting game on the Yankees’ ace.

But now that Caballero wears pinstripes, all is forgiven. Manager Aaron Boone said, “We love (Caballero’s mind game).”

That’s the most important measure of Caballero’s standing with the Yankees: How do teammates feel about him?

One member of the organization said, “I’ve never heard anything negative about Jose in the clubhouse.”

An American League scout offered a second salient opinion.

“I wouldn’t want Caballero if I was the manager of a young team,” he said. “But I’d take him if I had a veteran clubhouse.”

Caballero has thus far handled a delicate situation involving Anthony Volpe with professionalism. He has nothing but praise for Volpe, even though the two are primarily competing for the shortstop position.

“I like him, he’s a good player and he works hard,” Caballero told me recently about Volpe. “We both want to win.”

But that attitude isn’t enough for some local fans. They don’t think Caballero fits the classic Yankees profile: He’s too loud, too showy, just too out there to be playing the same position once occupied by the regal Derek Jeter.

That’s the most ironic criticism of all. The Yankees have a history of bad behavior that makes Caballero’s clock manipulation look benign.

Longtime fans remember Goose Gossage and Cliff Johnson beating the hell out of each other in the shower in 1979.

Consider the million-or-so water coolers that Paul O’Neill assaulted in the dugout during his career. water coolers that Paul O’Neill assaulted in the dugout during his career.

Or Alex Rodriguez getting banned for 211 games for PED use in 2013.

We could go on, but the point should be clear to the pearl clutchers. Caballero is no criminal. He’s a good player who is batting .244 with 10 home runs and 23 stolen bases.

Those are decent numbers coming from the bottom of the order. I’m betting Caballero will be the Game 1 shortstop when the postseason begins, too. The pitch clock tinkering will likely no longer be an issue.

But those who want Caballero to fall into line are missing the point. The Yankees have gone 16-plus years without a championship. The buttoned-down code of conduct hasn’t yielded any real results. The Yankees need Caballero’s swag.

I find it easy to like a guy like that. But to those who insist on hating Caballero, here’s a little secret: you’re doing him a favor.

You, my friend, are his fuel.

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