Clown Show: In Perfect Yankees Fashion Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman Gave Completely Opposite Answers Today About Anthony Volpe's Injured Shoulder That Clearly Was Bothering Him During The Season And Eventually Required Surgery

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Anthony Volpe's name has become a lightning rod when it comes to the Yankees. A guy who was once viewed as part of the solution for the franchise has become one of their bigger failures. Volpe just finished the third year of his big league career and boy are things not going well. The beacon of hope that came with Volpe is all but gone, and I'm not sure there's much left here when it comes to potential success while being a member of the New York Yankees. 

Let's take things back to the beginning. The Yankees have had a void at the shortstop position since Derek Jeter hung up his cleats. Sure, Didi Gregorius gave them a few years of productivity, but eventually it was time to move on. Gleyber Torres was a disaster defensively and had to move to second, before leaving the team entirely this past winter. IKF was given the opportunity for one season and that went just about as poorly as humanly possible. And then came top prospect Anthony Volpe, a New Jersey native who soared through the minor league system. He was seen as the long-term answer to their problems, but by handing the keys to him it meant turning a blind eye to the 2022 shortstop FA class. That crop was littered with answers to their issues. So what made Volpe the more appetizing option? He was cheap. Texas signed Corey Seager to a 10 year $325M deal. Trea Turner inked an 11 year $300M contract with Philly. Xander Bogaerts went to San Diego for 11 years/$280M. Dansby Swanson chose the Cubs for 7 years/$177M. That offseason offered the Yankees a chance at a cure to their SS plague, and they passed on it for a prospect. 

Now that's not to say Volpe was some dime a dozen minor leaguer. He was a top 10 prospect in the sport when he got the call to start the 2023 season. His combination of power, defense, and speed really made you salivate at the potential impact he could provide this team. Either way though, a prospect is a prospect. There are never any certainties with adding anyone to your roster in hopes they make you better, but your chances are higher on a hit when you bring in a proven vet compared to a young kid has never taken a big league at bat in his career. 

Well, Corey Seager immediately led the Rangers to a World Series championship. Trea Turner has had an outstanding three years in Philly. Dansby Swanson's numbers won't blow you away, but if he was the Yankees SS for the last three years we'd be a lot better off. That's because the gamble on Anthony Volpe has failed. 

Yesterday it was announced that Volpe underwent shoulder surgery to repair a labrum tear in his left shoulder. Now when the baseball season ends you typically find out some players had some cleanup surgeries to take care of nagging things they were dealing with in the latter half of the season, take for example Carlos Rodon having bone chips removed in his elbow. Well, Volpe's injury was known from the moment the injury occurred in early May. We all saw it, the same way we all saw Anthony Rizzo take a knee to the head two years ago against the Padres. 

From that point on Volpe's defense fell off a cliff. Something he could always lean on to help the team, was now compromised. His bat has never been a valuable tool at the big league level. We know what he is at this point on that side of the ball. You'll get one week where he looks like the kid who can be the next great Yankees shortstop, followed by six weeks where he's completely overmatched and swinging out of his shoes. 81, 86, and 83 are Volpe's OPS+ numbers for his three big league seasons. That tells you he's a below average hitter who isn't getting any better. Without his bat or glove what do you have? A person who should not be the starting shortstop of the New York Yankees.  

Because the Yankees are the Yankees and do things in the dumbest ways possible, they ignored his blatant injury and didn't even bother to acquire a backup shortstop who could allow Volpe to enjoy a day off here and there. They didn't address any of this until the end of July when they traded for utility guy Jose Caballero. Think about that, nearly three months of this shit was allowed to go on before bringing in a backup. The moment Caballero started playing the position at a competent level we quickly realized how fucked it was that we had to endure an injured Volpe gutting this out for MONTHS. In September things hit a breaking point and the Yankees finally admitted to the public that Volpe was dealing with a shoulder issue. It wasn't described as a serious issue, but it was enough that he was given a cortisone shot to subside the pain. 

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Volpe rode the bench for a week while the shot did its thing. During that span Caballero hit .350 with a 1.031 OPS. None of that mattered to the Yankees though as Volpe immediately regained the starting job the moment the moment he returned to active playing. For the rest of the season, including the playoffs, Caballero didn't get a crack at being the consistent starting shortstop. Did the Yankees lose in the postseason because of Anthony Volpe? No, the pitching failed them and the Blue Jays were simply the better team. But Volpe was a disaster this season and the treatment, or lack thereof, for his ailing shoulder was bizarre and borderline illogical. We've sadly seen this before whether it be for Jose Trevino or Anthony Rizzo. They simply handle injured players in moronic fashion and fail to address blatantly obvious issues. 

The real kicker here is all season long Aaron Boone told us that he felt the shoulder issue wasn't compromising Volpe's play. So by translation that meant he just play old sucked. Boone stayed consistent with those thoughts today during his end of the year media session. 

Cashman spoke afterwards and gave an entirely opposite answer on Volpe's injury. 

Just when I thought these idiots couldn't look dumber, they show up today and don't have their company line straight. 

Of course Volpe's injury hampered him. Now is he a bad hitter no matter what? Yes, but the defense clearly took a nose dive because of the injury. The evidence is, as Boone loves to say, right in front of us. Instead of addressing it and at the bare minimum adding a player who could spell him here and there, they rode the kid into the ground. As a result the fanbase crushed him and used him as their target for the team's 2+ month slump in the summer. That wasn't fair to the team, the fans, or even Volpe himself. Boone kept telling us he was physically fine, the same way he did with Rizzo's concussion the year prior. It's just insane this is the way they go about things and every fucking time they come out looking like clowns. 

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So now what? Are we truly assessing Volpe as healthy this year, as Boone wants us to believe, and that the production was down because he sucks? Or will they lean on the injury to wash away the 2025 season and go into 2026 with him in the driver's seat for the SS job once again? That would be four years of this madness when we all know the ending result. They said today Volpe's surgery could sideline him into May, which would mean Caballero would begin the season with the starting gig. Could they pivot and bring in a different guy? Boy I fucking hope so because if it's just Caballero you know by June Volpe will have that job back in his possession. They must move on from him and start fresh, but knowing this organization they'll just keep running back their same mistakes, hellbent on proving they're the smartest ones in the room when in fact they're clueless.