Friday, September 20, 2024

All year, the Yankees have played Anthony Volpe at shortstop. In October, that might have to change.

Back in April, if you were to project the future of the Yankees, every hopeful metric would start with Anthony Volpe. 

He was...

a) the next Jeter.
b) the next hometown hero
c)  the Gold Glove shortstop
d) the next leadoff fixture
e) our version of Bobby Witt Jr.
f) with a touch of Cal Ripken Jr.

Guy never missed a game, always hustled, always dirtying his jersey. He was our Gen-V. 

Soon, he might be sitting the bench.

You cannot call 2024 a "roller coaster year" for Volpe, because roller coasters go up and down. Volpe's cart just keeps descending.  

Over the last 30 days, he is hitting .222. 

Over the last 15 days, .125. 

Over the last 7 days, .111. 

Nor does he show power. His last HR came Aug. 3. In the recent week, he is striking out at a .562 clip, (9 of his last 16 ABs.) He wears a mask of bewilderment, as if watching a bad movie he cannot escape.

In April, he was a dynamo, a major reason behind the team's torrid start. By May 31, he was down to .282. A month later, .261. He's now at .245. You can argue that it's still better than last year, when he hit a measly .209. (Yeah, and aside from that, Mrs. Lincoln, how'd you like the show?) But the birds are circling, and off in the distance, the sirens are blaring. 

In Seattle, Aaron Boone pulled the plug - for one night, anyway. He sat Volpe against a righty starter and played Oswaldo Cabrera. Oswaldo went 2-for-5 with an RBI, in an 11-2 rout. (He's 5 for 13 in September, a .385 average -mostly from the left side; his switch-hitting days seem over.) 

Despite Cabrera's solid night, Boone reinstalled Volpe for the remaining two games in Seattle. He went 1-7, with a single and three Ks. Each time, striding back to the dugout, he looked broken.

To his credit, Volpe has not let the slump affect his fielding. Yesterday, he ranged to his left and made a sparkling play behind second. Of all Yankees, he remains the most likely to smear dirt on his jersey. That's not nothing.

Joe Torre used to say the playoffs are no time for a manager to make friends. He once benched Tino Martinez. He even sat Paul O'Neill. This might be Boone's last chance at a ring. If the Yankees collapse - as they have done for 15 years - the blame will fall squarely on somebody, and when it comes to avoiding the mudslide, there is nobody as gifted as Brian Cashman. 

Thus, Boone must make some harsh decisions on the likes of Giancarlo Stanton, Clay Holmes and even Gerrit Cole. But the toughest of all might be Volpe, because it strikes at the heart of our future hopes and dreams, which now seem so far, far away.

26 comments:

  1. Cabrera is just as much a symbol of our hopes and dreams as Volpe, and he's flat-out better. Boone is an idiot. He never puts the best team on the field. Never. There are always one, two, or three dumb inclusions that are inexplicable. And the exclusions they force are despair-worthy.

    There is nothing wrong with our players. Boone plays the bad ones, he sits the best and more promising ones, his dumb loyalty to underperformers has lost more games than I thought was possible by a manager. Because I've never seen a manager who's this bad.

    I think guys like Volpe and Verdugo and Trevino and Holmes are all trying. They're giving it their best. But when it's clearly just not happening for them, Boone keeps sending them out while better options sit. Why? How does nobody notice aside from us and Keefe and a few others?

    He used to be a joke but now he's just an incompetent embarrassment.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There's room on the team for both Cabrera and Volpe. There's no future with Boone, Cashman and their gaggle of geeks.

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  2. Boone is a useful idiot for Brian. He provides cover and takes orders. In the end, he'll go under the bus to save Brian's ass.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Like a expensive hooker, he’s been well paid to debase himself.

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  3. After his great game last night, Ohtani is getting more hosannahs, with people saying he's "changed the game."

    Moving in the fences over the past few decades changed the game. The bigger bases and gigantic "sliding mittens" changed the game. The pitch clock changed the game. The clampdown on throwing inside changed the game. The five-inning starter changed the game. Rules to rein in baserunners and protect defensive players changed the game. Pitchers throwing 95 miles an hour plus changed the game. PEDs changed the game. Lowering the pitching mound back in the Gibson days changed the game. The DH changed the game. The shift, along with the anti-shift rules, changed the game. To go way back, the size of baseball gloves changed the game. The expansion of the leagues to an absurd degree changed the game. Babe Ruth changed the game.

    Ohtani has not changed the game. But he has exploited all the changes that make it easier for him to be a great player--which I'm sure he would be, anyway, if the last 50+ years of tinkering were erased. That, in the end, might be his greatest achievement. The perfect player for the times he plays in.

    It's amazing that baseball--built on a history of numbers and stats--fucks round so much to make that history and those stats increasingly meaningless.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And the amazing thing is that he hasn't made an error all year....smh

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    2. Lol...which is pretty easy when you don't play a position.

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    3. Actually, Glassjaw should be playing a position...Left Out...

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  4. If Boone doesn't play the best team, why should the Yankees play like the best team. Boone is always trying to fix someone. Why doesn't he try to/want to fix the team?? I can just see him sitting Mantle to get Joe Demaestri some time in center.

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  5. For years his 'niceness' has been wrecking the Yankees.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Don’t underestimate the role of analytics in all this!

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    2. Or the really nice analytics.

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  6. I’ve been very critical of Volpe’s approach at the plate. Is he getting the proper review and coaching? I doubt it…having your manager constantly make excuses and kiss your ass is not the right approach. Volpe has gotten worse over the season and now looks completely, utterly lost.

    Still there’s this: Holmes is 31, Cole 34, Stanton 35 (soon). Volpe is 23. there’s still time for him to improve. Will he? Right now the needle is pointing down. And also right now are the playoffs. Volpe’s role cannot be sacrosanct; Boone must put the best product on the field for us to win. Period.

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  7. Boone makes me miss Girardi's style (outside of bullpen cuz he woulda had Weaver and Kahnle's a
    Shoulder clean off the bone by now)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Boone makes me miss having Billy Martin back for the sixth time. Even as a reanimated corpse, he'd do a better job than Boone (although you'd have to factor in that his zombie leg drag would make him slower to the mound than Bochy).

      Delete
    2. No problem. He can just drive his pickup truck.

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    3. JM, it was a bronco. But two tone. Not the same as OJ's.

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    4. One bourbon, one scotch and one culvert.

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  8. From the NYY PR Dept

    Prior to tonight’s game, the Yankees made the following roster moves:
    • Returned RHP Cody Poteet from his rehab assignment, reinstated him from the 60-day injured list and optioned him to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
    • Designated RHP Ron Marinaccio for assignment

    Another move to come…

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  9. Still awaiting Soto update:

    https://www.mlb.com/news/juan-soto-has-injury-scare-after-spectacular-sliding-catch

    ReplyDelete
  10. If I were Volpe, I would avoid Yankee batting advice like the plague. Perhaps a few more sessions with Wells will help. If not, then Judge needs to introduce Volpe to his batting instructor. Any assistance from the Yankee batting instructor is useless and the analytics department can only cause harm.

    Yeah. I miss having an actual manager and professional coaches. All we have is a PR hack/massage therapist in half a uniform and an army of Ivy League geeks giving all the orders.

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  11. A day after sliding into the right-field wall in foul territory at T-Mobile Park to make an outstanding catch — with his left knee taking the brunt of the collision, slamming into the unpadded concrete base of the wall — Soto was a late scratch from the Yankees lineup Friday as they began a series against the A’s at the Coliseum.

    X-rays were negative on Soto’s knee, but he still had some swelling and soreness Friday that, following pregame treatment and exercises, led the Yankees to play it cautiously and keep him on the bench at least to start the night. From the NY POST. OH BLOODY HELL!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Echos of that Yankee rookie at Comiskey slamming into the electrical box. $200 million budgets, but you can't injury-proof the field like a mid-sized manufacturing company? Jeezers, I'd have been fired if I left that type of hazard on a worksite.

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