Boston Red Sox v New York Yankees / Luke Hales/GettyImages

Less than a month ago, New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone got agitated when asked about giving starting shortstop Anthony Volpe a day off as the young slugger was in the midst of a 3-for-43 run at the plate. Eventually, he finished the month of August with a .247 average and .683 OPS. That doesn’t look too bad, but it was his best month since May.

As the calendar turned to September, Volpe finished August on an 8-for-17 run that looked like it would translate down the stretch. Except … it didn’t. Over his last 14 games, he’s hitting .163 with a .340 OPS and 17 strikeouts. Right now, his mini bursts feel more like an anomaly than anything.

A couple weeks after Boone almost blew a gasket over a very reasonable question, he gave Volpe the night off on Sept. 9. It was his first time not starting all year. Could’ve just done this … in July to start managing his workload, since the Yankees vocalized last year that Volpe was burnt out by September.

Ever since that date? Volpe is 2-for-22 with six strikeouts. And guess what? He’s getting another day off on Tuesday as the Yankees are set to open a series against the Seattle Mariners.

Oswaldo Cabrera, who’s been deserving of more playing time all year, is getting the start at shortstop. He will need the reps as Boone works to get the most flexible roster possible ahead of the postseason.

Yankees sitting Anthony Volpe again is an expiration of their stubbornness and lies

This discussion is nothing new, though. Fans have been begging for the Yankees to give Volpe a breather so he can take his mind off of what is somehow an offensive backslide from an underwhelming 2023 rookie campaign in the batter’s box. Volpe is a promising young player, but he’s very much an unfinished product. But the Yankees have already crowned him their shortstop of the future, so how were they going to justify a day off?! They could never.

This falls right in line with the stubborn manner in which the Yankees conduct business. It falls right in line with all the lies they tell about who they believe in and why their processes are better than anyone else’s or the game’s most trusted.

They beat the Clay Holmes drum for a month too long as the closer faltered for the third straight season once June arrived. The Yankees ignored it (despite calls from fans and the media) until the situation became beyond untenable and Holmes was costing them games, blowing a league-leading 11 saves. They insisted all year Holmes was “their guy” through the struggles (a lie) to try and get everyone to turn away.

They just did this with Jasson Dominguez, too. Fans have been lobbying for the Yankees to promote their top prospect since early August as veteran Alex Verdugo put up two straight months of the worst offense in the entire league. When rosters expanded on Sept. 1, Dominguez was nowhere to be found. Brian Cashman told everyone that there wasn’t a lane for Dominguez to get regular playing time (another lie), and the Yankees used the luxury of adding more bodies to do nothing impactful. Eight days later, Dominguez was promoted and, all of a sudden, there’s ample playing time available despite nothing changing. Interesting.

Austin Wells was affected by their decision making for a little while there, too. Despite very clearly doing enough to become the team’s starting catcher, Jose Trevino was immediately thrown back into the role after returning from the injured list. The team insisted they would continue to play the matchups (dumb) and that they greatly value what Trevino brings to the table (true, but also a lie because that’s no reason to punish superior play). After giving him five of the next seven starts, they had seen enough. Trevino has only played in five games since Aug. 27.

It’s just another lesson in understanding how the Yankees operate. They will never make the obvious decision. They’ll wait until the fans/media are blue in the face, pleading their very real and justifiable case. Then, once everyone’s moved on from the discussion because it’s evident they aren’t going to change their ways, that’s when they strike, leaving everyone wondering why they just didn’t make the logical decisions weeks or months prior to help them better prepare for the future.

Volpe’s situation might be the most ridiculous, however. A couple days off a month? That’s standard for just about every MLB player. The Yankees couldn’t even relent on that. They just had to wait 3-4 weeks to have it their way.

Hope it works out. That’s all we’ll say.