He lived that line. At various moments, Torre benched the likes of Tino Martinez, Roger Clemens and even Paul O'Neill, the modern YES Yankee historian. Torre played his gut, regardless of whose feelings suffered. He once marched to the mound, got square into David Cone's jowls, yelled a bunch of shit and then walked back to the dugout, leaving him in. Tough decisions. No time to make pals.
Soon - well, actually, yesterday - Aaron Boone must decide on Anthony Volpe - a friend or a failure?
Right now, the Yankees are simply punting on the matter, a non-decision that is torqueing up pressure on Volpe and helping him flounder. Last weekend, they gave him two days off and pretended all was fine. It's not.
In the last month, following the All-Star break, we have watched Volpe...
1. Go on a mighty tear, hitting six HRs in 12 games.
2. Suddenly show "the yips," bouncing routine throws.
3. Mix great plays with stupid ones, then fall apart against Boston.
4. Go 1-for-32.
Yesterday, as the Yankees were piling up 11 runs on 13 hits over the washed-out Washington Nats, Volpe went 0-5, including a lunging strikeout on a ball so outside the strike zone that it seemed to vanish, like his career. He is 0-for-the-week, 0-for the Boston cataclysm, and seems like 0-for-forever: When Volpe steps to the plate, along with the boos, you can feel the sound of pressure hissing from a tire.
What Volpe needs is a big red reset button. In a perfect world, he'd go to Scranton, work out some kinks, readjust his swing and figure out a plan. This happens often with other teams. But it won't happen here. Instead, we're once again watching the Curse of the Core 4.
It's sorta scary, how the Yankees go through their next big things. In 2022, at age 22, Oswald Peraza hit 19 HRs at Scranton, was a Triple A all-star and was christened the Great Yankee Hope. The following spring - poof. Volpe got hot, captured the YES imagination, and became - well - the Great Yankee Hope. Peraza turned into a basket case. (He still is: With the Angels, he's hitting .111.) In the name of Estevan Florial, how could a guy with so much potential turn into such a non-entity?
Now, now it's Volpe on the ropes. Despite spurts of hope, Volpe has deteriorated into a batter on the brink of hitting below .200, and a fielder who cannot be counted on to make even routine plays.
I dunno what to do with Volpe. I just know that the Yankees can keep kicking his can down the road. Something has to happen, and it must be more than missing a game.
And it won't necessarily make friends.
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18 comments:
They threw the kid into the deep end and thought he would miraculously swim. Doesn't work that way.
If you were Volpe, wouldn't you be pissed off? At Cashman, at the hype, at Boone, at yourself. How could he not be? Nobody wants to look this bad, and they won't let him get the help he needs in Scranton. So his torture continues. The pressure gets worse. The boos get louder.
The Yankees are torturing yet another young player. Who I still don't like, but is human, after all. Unlike his torturers.
Dumb, Mad King George was wrong at least half the time, but his instincts were sometimes correct. He would have had him strung up from the flagpole that should have held the next pennant flag. Billy would have benched him. Torre would have done something, but not played him. Houk? I have no idea. But, as Hoss or somebody pointed out the other day, the other players would have done something back in the day.
The Pirates have IKF playing shortstop. Before the Bald Genius went out and got the guy from Colorado I thought a trade involving Volpe and Hayes might be something that could happen.
Volpe's deteriorating by the day and before it gets beyond the beyond I hope they move him somewhere. Good for Volpe, good for the Yankees. Not happening I know - the idiot would rather let him die on the vine than admit he was wrong.
Have Brian Cashman and Steven Miller ever been seen in the same room together? I believe they are the same person.
Obviously the pressure on Volpe is affecting his play. He is not the first player to have this happen. The Yankees, as is their want, are mishandling the situation. He absolutely needs a break, and a reset in the minors. But the team’s coaches are so ineffectual they not be up to the task. After the pitiful White Sox we have a gauntlet of playoff bound teams. No room for automatic outs in the lineup. Caballero should be playing every day and running wild on the base paths. But then again, winning at the sake of marketing is not what this team is all about, is it?
At this point, does Volpe have any fans? Is he even serving a PR or marketing function? I'd say no. This is down to Cashman's ego and Boone's idiocy.
For an organization that does so much according to the numbers and analysis, it's amazing sometimes how little they care about the numbers and analysis. Of course, their analysis is very suspect to begin with, but the numbers obviously are saying to get Volpe the hell out of here. Yet, he stays. Because Cashman is an arrogant bastard who hates to admit he did something wrong. Or stupid. Usually both.
I feel bad for Steve Miller the musician, having to share a name with that creep.
I asked ChatGPT to list all the players in MLB who are better than Volpe. It came back with just one name. Some guy named Ever E. Body.
"ARLINGTON, Texas — Former New York Yankees infielder Oswald Peraza endured a rough night on the mound Wednesday when his old teammate Kyle Higashioka launched a three-run homer off him in the Texas Rangers’ 20-3 blowout of the Los Angeles Angels at Globe Life Field."
The article said Peraza's pitches were all between 30 and 40mph. Gave up eight runs in 1/3 of an inning.
Because he is a former Yankees player, tomorrow it will come out that Peraza needs Tommy John surgery.
And in November the Yankees will trade for him, saying he’s going to a two-way player in 2027.
LOL...very true!
Youse guys are cracking me up!
If there is a curse, why is it not Curse of the Five.? After all, Bernie was a ghost for at least a season before he retired, And he was as irreplaceable as any of the others
The person Stephen Miller always reminds me of most is Reinhard Heydrich. Really. Take a look at the two of them. Miller could be his grandson. Not comparing them; Miller at his worst has never done anything even remotely close to what Heydrich did. But the resemblance is uncanny.
Bernie was my fav!! on that team.
JM, great point about what they're doing to Volpe. The human cost is awful. And as our Peerless Leader noted, what the hell happened to Peraza? Or should I say, what the hell happened to Peraza, Cabrera, Andujar, Sanchez, Montero, etc.
No, Triple-A is not the majors. But it should be at least SOMEWHAT predictive. There is absolutely no reason why someone who is a slugging, great-fielding shortstop at Scranton should become a major-league nonentity. And there is even less reason why this should recur, over and over again, for more than 20 years.
The only constant here is Brian Cashman. Obviously, he is incapable of running a great farm system. And this is not some revelation. It HAS been obvious for many years.
And yet...he's not replaced. The only possible explanation here is that Hal Steinbrenner is simply not interested in building another dynasty, or anything more than an outside contender.
What's also likely is that they will indeed kick poor Volpe to the curb. This is also characteristic of Cashman, and seems spurred by an almost Trump-like need for personal retribution...though in Cashman's case, he only hurts his employer (and us fans).
From Sonny Gray through Gleyber Torres, Cashie seems to be personally disappointed when his projects disappoint. They are all supposed to be proof that he is just as good as Gene Michael or anyone else. And when they don't turn out to be the next Jeter—or, yes, the next Mariano or Jorge or Andy or Bernie—he can't even bring himself to trade them for anything of worth. Not even magic beans. It's out with the trash.
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