Yankees WIN Without Judge... But Anthony Volpe Is Still The Problem
The Yankees swept the Guardians and passed their first major test without Aaron Judge, but the biggest conversation in the Bronx isn't going away. We discuss Anthony Volpe's continued struggles, Aaron Boone's lineup and bullpen decisions, Jose Caballero's role in right field, Carlos Lagrange's future, Aroldis Chapman's comments, the Red Sox' continued spiral, and a huge upcoming series against the Blue Jays.
Video Transcript
What's up, everybody?
Thomas Carante here.
Episode of the Yanks Go Yard podcast going live on a Friday.
Why?
Um, cause I felt like it, you know.
Sweep of the Guardians this week.
Uh, but I wanted to, uh, address everything before, uh, a little bit closer to the start of the series against the Blue Jays, cause this is a big one, it's gonna be a big one.
Yankees gotta keep proving that they are a real contender without Aaron Judge if they want to get.
Into the playoffs, go on a deep run, what have you.
So, there's a lot to talk about with what happened this week, even what didn't happen.
Some other talking points about the Yankees, about what's to come, about what needs to be done, but can't complain.
Most wins in the American League, 41.
Um, Hitters are coming alive when they need to, pitching's getting the job done, the bullpen has turned it around.
Dude, did you expect this?
I didn't.
Everyone was complaining about the bullpen nonstop.
I, I would say that this is not, still not the final bullpen that needs to take the Yankees on a deep playoff run, but it's damn good for what we thought it was.
Anyway, please like and subscribe to the YouTube channel.
Don't forget to find the AceO Yard podcast on your favorite platforms, Spotify, Apple, Google, wherever you get your podcasts.
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We want you to listen to us.
We're having a great time.
Uh, it's just me, Thomas Carante solo today.
You can find me on social media at Tommy_takes.
On TikTok, I'm at TCFansited, having a great time there talking to everybody.
A lot of engagement, a lot of comments, um, a lot of people asking questions, which is all you can ask for.
It's what I like to see in the chat as well.
Thank you guys for tuning in today.
Uh, we gotta talk Yanks.
Sweep of the Guardians, first sweep of the Guardians, I think since 20 2007, was it?
Insane.
Didn't even know cause usually we handle the Guardians pretty well.
Sweeps are hard in baseball though, in case you guys uh weren't aware of it.
The fact that the Yankees were able to rebound after that home series loss to the Guardians and emphatically take care of business in the manner that they did, I mean, That gave me a lot of hope for what this team can do and what this team's identity could be without their best hitter.
So, look, Aaron Judge out for the foreseeable future, we know that, don't need to keep talking about it.
Giancarlo Stanton, don't know when he's coming back, it's just every two weeks is, oh, we have progress, and then there's silence.
But, The Yankees have gotten by.
Um, they split that series with the Red Sox, they avoided the sweep last week against the Guardians, and they win 3 straight against the Guardians in Cleveland, um, after facing two very good pitchers, uh, Parker Messi and Gavin Williams.
So, um, the Guardians have also been Fairly potent on offense this year for their standards, and the fact that our uh staff was able to neutralize them at home, or I'm sorry, on the road, in the manner that they did.
Something to look forward to.
Um, more importantly, however, the pitching is the pitching, right?
Pitching largely gets the job done.
We have seen years where, I mean, the last 234 years, for example, um, the starting rotation gets off to an incredible Uh, run out of the gate, the offense lags behind, the offense then goes in random spurts of producing a ton of runs and not, then the offense goes quiet, and then all the pressure is on a relatively tired pitching staff, end of August, September, October to Deal with a very thin, uh, margin for error.
And it's not fair to them because the Bronx Bombers, the Bronx Bombers are predicated on hitting home runs, and overwhelming the opponent, and putting up crooked numbers.
And While the Yankees are capable of doing that, we've seen it be a little bit few and far between.
We've seen them shrink in the bigger moments.
What we're seeing right now, at this one, again, it's a small sample size, it's only, they've been without Judge for 9 games, 8 games, something like that.
Um, But if this team can discover some sort of identity without Aaron Judge, without Giancarlo Stanton for however long that may be, it's going to set themselves up, as I talked about with Chris Landers uh earlier in the week, for a much Uh, I would say fortuitous path moving forward, um , welcoming someone like back, welcoming someone like Judge back into the fold, like Stanton into the fold, when you have guys like Paul Goldschmidt.
Producing the way that he's been.
Ben Rice, producing the way that he's been.
Cody Bellinger is playing like an MVP.
He's only gonna get better when the lineup gets more padded.
Um, Trent Grisham, who is, I mean, back, as back as can be, everybody was complaining about the qualifier.
Look, we had our reservations about the qualifying offer.
I ain't denying that, but at no point, Did we sit here and say this was an abominable move by the Yankees?
We knew it was an overpay, um, we knew it was somewhat questionable because of the outfield surplus that they had, but at no point did we doubt who Trent Grisham was becoming.
And then, when he struggled at the beginning of the year, we pointed to, I think, the rightful expected metrics saying, look, he's getting a little bit unlucky.
All of this is lining up to what he's done the last year.
Let's give it another few weeks, let's give it a month, let's see what happens.
Cause again, this season, this season should not live or die by Trent Grisham's performance, right?
So, when the when Yankees fans direct their anger to these other sections of the roster, it's like, no, just because we paid Trent Grisham $22 million doesn't mean now, he is the focus of everything that needs to go forward for the Yankees.
Um, the fact of the matter is, is Trent Grisham needs to pull his weight, but him performing poorly should not rip the rug out from the Yankees' offense.
So, you have Trent Grisham now hitting 232 with a um, Uh, 751 OPS.
That, that's pretty damn good for where he started the year.
Um, Jose Caballero.
is exactly who we, we believe Jose Caballero to be.
I, I think we, we put it at that.
He's a very good, he's a very solid all-around baseball player, and that's what we need in this line-up, versatility, speed, athleticism, head in the game, love that.
Jazz Chisholm Junior, another massive X factor here.
Jazz was terrible to start this season.
Jazz has historically been an average bat, if that.
Um, right around, a little above, a little below.
Um, last year, we saw him burst onto the scene , breakout season, and, um, he did not carry that momentum into this year.
Ever since Judge went down though, he's been getting a ton of clutch hits.
He had, he broke the game open against the Red Sox on Sunday with that 3-run homer.
He hit the game-winning home run on Tuesday night against the Guardians to break a 2-2 tie in the top of the 8th inning.
And then , on Wednesday, uh, right after the Guardians had hit a solo home run off Carlos Rodan in the bottom of the first inning to take a 1-0 lead, Chisholm responded in the top of the 2nd with a 2-run triple.
Uh, that was his only hit of the game, but, um, he drove in another run, um, with a sack, uh, I think it was a sack fly, or I'm sorry, an RBI ground out, um, and he walked and scored 2 runs.
So, here's, here's the deal here.
Um, Jazz is not making a whole lot of contact.
I think over his last, uh, week or so, he's hitting 150, but his OPS is 850.
So, if Jazz can simply Pull his weight.
Closer to the, to the mean, if he can come through in big moments, it's gonna make all of the difference.
We've seen it.
He was, he's, he was literally responsible for, I would say an hour like 2 wins over the last 4 days, 5 days.
He's a player of, uh, again, like the name recognition of jazz does not necessarily match up with the production you would expect from hearing his name as much as you do.
And he unfairly catches a lot of crap for that.
Um, I'll never Really, I mean, I do understand it.
I was a young fan once upon a time and um had irrational thoughts.
Um, I still have plenty of irrational thoughts, don't get me wrong, but um I'm a little, I'm a little less unhinged when it comes to um what to expect of certain players and what to expect of players in general.
Um, I do get frustrated, I do get mad.
I do get critical, but at the same time, Uh, since the beginning of the season, I have never felt bad about what Jazz Chisholm was doing.
It was a poor start to the year, like we see that across the league with so many players.
It happens, it happens all the time.
Players' path, especially offensively, they're not linear.
Uh, whatever base, that's why baseball is as unique and as like as special as it is.
Every year is different, way more than the last.
Um, players kind of, they, they, they, they take time to discover who they are, um, and it, it's a marathon.
So, for someone like Jazz, who was largely an average hitter up until last year, Started off this year regressing to the mean, but a little bit aggressively.
I think he went too far in, in the, in the underperformance direction, and that was rock bottom.
It doesn't get worse than what Jazz Chisholm was doing for the 1st 6 weeks of the season.
It, it really doesn't.
Now, he's working out of rock bottom, which is my favorite place for players to be in because it can't get any worse.
Any contributions that come forth after that period of what are we even doing here.
It are, are massive net positives.
So the fact that we've seen Jazz step up with Aaron Judge out of this lineup in a massive, using Aaron Judge's bat, by the way, don't forget it.
Aaron Judge's bat , Giancarlo Stanton's pants, what, Aaron Boone's underwear, uh, who knows, but it's working for him.
So, I don't care if he's not hitting 300.
I don't care if he's not getting on base a ton .
In the long run, if he can just come through, provide a jolt of energy, make that big play, make that heads up play, the Yankees are gonna be so well off.
And we're seeing the early results of it, based on the sweep, based on how the, uh, the Yankees finished off that series against the Red Sox after um kind of like that, that Friday loss was, was, was.
It wasn't the worst thing in the world, but it was deflating.
Um, and with how bad the Red Sox have been, it's like, you gotta capitalize on these matchups.
So, all big moments this week.
And now, you head into a series against the Blue Jays.
Um, the Yankees have not been good against the Blue Jays over the last year and change.
Um, And now they're in Toronto for 3 games, Friday through Sunday.
They're facing Treya Savage, who they're awful against, um, Kevin Gosman, who they're hit or miss against, they've gotten to Gosman plenty, but we've seen Kevin Gosman have his way with this lineup, um, and Patrick Corbin.
So that's a lefty, and that should benefit the Yankees on Sunday.
Uh, the Guardians, uh, the Guardians.
The Blue Jays, it would appear purposely, um, I think gave, uh, you Savage an extra day.
To get him to pitch in this series.
So, you can already see, they're playing the games, they wanna get in the Yankees' head, um, and if the Yankees again can just carry the momentum, can keep moving, moving the line, Paul Goldschmidt.
is the perfect example of what depth, what meaningful depth can do to this team.
Paul Goldschmidt was supposed to be a part-time player heading into this year.
He was supposed to be a veteran voice on the bench.
He was supposed to be a specialist against left-handed hitters.
He's now playing essentially every day.
Um, he's hitting 287, he's got a 9+ OPS, uh, is it?
Can I do math, 5 + 3.
And he's got an 8.
890 OPS, uh, things that we didn't expect, playing great defense at first base, um.
And the fact that Aaron Boone's been able to move him all over, uh, he's led off, he's hit a bunch of home runs, um, he's batted 5th, uh, he's pinch hit.
There, there's so much that Paul Goldschmidt is doing that is changing the complexion of this team.
It's, it's indescribable for like, you need to realize that these smaller moves have been making all the difference for the Yankees.
Um, that said, We, we, we do have problems here.
The catching position, major problem.
Uh, JC Iscara, um, I understand it's only been one series, or I'm sorry, 4 games since the Austin Wells injury news, but we've seen nothing out of him.
Ali Sanchez, uh, uh, uh, I, I, he, look, he's, he's, he's doing what he can, right?
The man is doing what he can, but he's simply not a backup catcher on a hopeful World Series roster.
Um, And then you have um Anthony Volpe.
So, I think that, uh, after talking about all those positives again, Bellinger MVP level, Rice MVP level, Paul Goldschmidt playing out of his mind, um, Jazz Chisholm, making a comeback, Trent Grisham, making a comeback, Jose Caballero being himself.
I'm about to get into Ryan McMahon in a second, but Anthony Volpe is the issue.
Um, and it would appear as if Ryan McMahon's been on a very good run.
Um, I believe it was since the beginning of May.
Uh, let me pull this up cause I actually fed this tweet, um, from someone who's been tracking McMahon pretty aggressively.
Um, yes.
So, since April 11th, he's average.
He's got a 100 WRC+, and we'll take that.
We just need the star-studded defense out of Ryan McMahon, right?
We don't need anything to be Uh, spectacular with him.
I understand the Yankees, uh, overpaid, you could say.
They traded a top 10 prospect for him.
Um, they're picking up.
Uh, I believe it was almost 40 million in salary between half of last year and the next two seasons.
Um, but Ryan McMahon was never supposed to be a lightning rod on the offensive end.
You saw it in his career numbers.
We knew the fact that he was playing in Colorado for that long, that it just never was going to be what you had expected.
Now, I will say, all the Yankees wanted, I believe, out of Ryan McMahon was Not being a black hole on offense, giving those, getting those 20 home runs, and batting in that.
You know, 250 range, cause you would assume, career-wise, he's hitting 238, and that, I, yeah, I mean, that's Uh, that was brought down significantly based on his performance, um, over the last year and a half.
But someone like Ryan McMahon, in theory, after being the guy in Colorado for as long as he was, um, should have seen offensive output increase, being surrounded by better hitters, right?
Um, but the Yankees aren't getting that.
So, at the very least, they just need him to, uh, 225 at this 0.20 home runs, clutch hits here and there, whatever.
Over his last 28 days, Ryan McMahon is hitting 259 with a 730773 OPS.
Over his last 14 days, he's hitting 320 with a 906 OPS.
Last seven days, 400 with a 1.155 OPS.
So, why am I talking about Ryan McMahon?
Because A lot of the concerns with Yankees fans, after Judge went down was that 789 spot in the lineup, that, that, that back, that back third of the lineup.
It was the worst in the league, I think twenty-ninth in all of the major stats.
And it mostly included McMahon, Austin Wells, Anthony Volpe, and then whatever roving, you know, backup Aaron Boone had put in that spot, whether it was uh JC Iscara, um, whether it was, um, you know, maybe Spencer Jones, uh, when he was down in the lineup during his first stint with the team.
Um, but either way, it was a cause for concern cause you're like, Aaron Judge is out.
We don't know when Giancarlo Stanton is coming back, and you're gonna tell me the bottom of the lineup has next to a 0% chance to turn the lineup over.
That can't be.
Long story short is that McMahon has not been a black hole.
McMahon has actually been productive and My problem with Aaron Boone at the moment is this, the playing time Anthony Volpe is getting, and the, the little bit of disrespect Ryan McMahon is getting.
So, let's go through what happened in the Guardian series, um, On Uh, Monday through Wednesday.
So, in the opener, Ryan McMahon started that game.
He hit a home run in that game.
Correct?
Just making sure I'm correct here.
Yes, he hit a home run that put the Yankees on top in the 5th inning, 4 to 3.
The Yankees would give that right back, um, but, uh, uh, Paul Goldschmidt tied the game later, it went to extras.
Cody Bellinger won the game.
In that game, Ryan McMahon was 1 for 2 with a home run, um, and Was eventually pinch hit for Anthony Volpe.
So, this is where the Volpe conversation is gonna get annoying.
I don't wanna keep talking about it, but the Yankees are doing this.
So, I don't care if the Guardians are bringing in a left-handed pitcher.
Anthony Volpe does not neutralize left-handed hitting, uh, left-handed pitching.
The fact that the Yankees don't see that, the fact that Aaron Boone doesn't see that, I will never understand.
Um, it's going to be Uh, a talking point until this ceases, because I, I, Ryan McMahon, and, uh, this is where the respect thing comes in, right?
Ryan McMahon has been in this league for 10 years.
Ryan McMahon has been an everyday major leaguer for the better part of 10 years.
Now, does he never deserve to get benched?
No.
I Ryan McMahon, at this point in his career, with what he's shown the Yankees over the last year or so, obviously, should be on the bench, maybe 1 day, 2 days per week, depending on what his performance is, uh, in real-time, week to week, uh, you know, day to day basis.
Does he deserve to get pinch hit for Anthony Volpe?
No, Anthony Volpe, again, is one of the worst qualified hitters in the league.
Anthony Volpe, since coming back.
From, uh, the minor leagues when the Yankees activated him after injuries took hold on the roster, is hitting 194 with a 606 OPS.
That is, I mean, it's terrible.
I understand he's working his way back from shoulder surgery.
I'm not discounting that.
But that still does not make him a qualified replacement for Ryan McMahon, who just homered in the game.
That put your team on top in a crucial moment.
Over the last 14 days, 9 games, which is when Volpe's gotten the most consistent run since he's come back up, he's hitting 125 with a 333 OPS.
So, Uh, it, it is unbelievable to me that this is even a thought in Aaron Boone's head.
Then fast forward to the next day, Anthony Volpe is back in the lineup, um, against, who was it?
It was, uh, Slade Cicone.
Hey, Slade Cicone, how you doing?
Um, don't know if that's how you say his name or if he Americanized and it's Slade, Slade Sassoni, hey, uh, either way, He's one of the worst qualified starters in the league, um, or at least was, uh, for, the better part of the first two months of the season.
Anthony Volpe starts this game when he downright shouldn't because again, Aaron Boone had talked about how Jose Caballero essentially won the starting shortstop job against right-handed pitching.
And that couldn't be further from the truth over the last two weeks or so.
Jose Caballero, more times than not, is either on the bench or he's playing right field during these days.
Um, Volpe goes 0 for 4 with two strikeouts.
Caballero, nowhere to be found.
Yankees win 3-2.
Jazz Chisholm with the late home run.
Thank you, buddy, Spencer Jones .
With his first career home run, Spencer Jones goes 2 for 4.
Fast forward to the next day.
Spencer Jones out of the lineup.
Ryan McMahon out of the lineup.
OK, why is Ryan McMahon out of the lineup a big deal?
Ryan McMahon went 2 for 3 on that.
The night before .
I understand Parker Messi was on the mound for the Guardians, um, in the finale.
But if you look deeper into the splits, Ryan McMahon is hitting, was again, hitting 318 with a 614 slugging percentage over his last 44 at bats.
And even more telling about this, against left-handed starting pitching, he's hitting 259 with an 801 OPS.
Why is he on the bench?
Why is he on the bench?
He's one of the team's hottest hitters, and he's the most productive, he's one of the most productive lefty hitters in this recent sample size against lefty lefty starters.
You have a day off on Friday or on Thursday.
You did, there, there was no, there was no rest issue, there was no load management issue.
It was just, again, what are we doing?
And Spencer Jones, again, lefty facing lefty, I do get it, but why are you benching him after a 2 for 4 day?
When he's finally getting a little bit of confidence.
He's also been very good at the plate since coming back up, and On one hand, I can understand if you wanna limit his appearances against lefty pitchers, but how much are we gonna limit him?
The guy is going to need to hit lefty starters.
He's, he's, he, he's not gonna be a platoon player, or at least you hope he's not gonna be a platoon player.
This guy can't be a part-time player after all of the, the hype he's gotten.
They gotta try him out to be an everyday guy.
He can't be lingering around on the bench, just waiting to be placed into the game when Aaron Boone feels is most appropriate.
No, this guy should be playing early and often.
He's athletic, he's in theory, a five-ish tool player if he can increase his contact rate.
The strikeouts are a problem, it is what it is, but he's got the profile to be an everyday player.
Why are we benching him already?
So, and again, why is Volpe back in the lineup?
When you could just start Caballero at shortstop.
Caballero starts in right field this game.
He has a collision with Trent Grisham in the outfield.
Thankfully , everything was fine, but like, why are we putting ourselves in this position when we have extra outfielders here to help us out.
So, this is where the Yankees lineup decision, Aaron Boone's line-up decision, start to get me a little upset.
And then you wanna talk about the bullpen.
Everybody was praising him for the bullpen work that he did on Tuesday night.
I was sitting there saying, how is this?
You bring in Tim Hill for one pitch, you bring in Paul Blackburn immediately after Gerritt Cole, you bring in Jake Bird and Camilo Duval back to back, you got lucky.
Uh, Simply put, you got lucky.
Why are we bringing in a reliever for one pitch in any scenario?
If he doesn't bring in Tim Hill for one pitch, and lets Tim Hill start, um, I believe it was the 7th inning or the 8th inning?
7th inning.
Yeah, it was the 7th inning.
If he lets him start the 7th inning, then you don't have to bring in either Duvall or Bird, and Bird in that one only got 1 out and had to be removed after giving up a hit and a walk.
So, people are like, oh man, Aaron Boone pieced the bullpen together perfectly.
It's like, no, we didn't.
He didn't do that at all.
He got purely luck he got lucky Fernando Cruz was able to go 1 and 2/3 innings and strike out 44 batters.
The final 3 to end the game.
He's lucky that Fernando Cruz has been lights out this year.
Granted, I'm not taking away anything from the fact that Aaron Bonez deployed him correctly, but like, You know, at the same time, there's been so many other problems with this bullpen that have been the Yankees' fault, whether it's Kamo Duval throwing too many sliders, uh, whether it's David Bednar's curveball going to shit, whether it's overusing Jake Bird, whether it's overusing Brent Hedrick, whether it's overusing Tim.
Whether it's not deploying Paul Blackburn and Brian Yarborough properly, cause I still don't know what they're doing with either of those guys.
Give me a break.
He's, he's putting the pieces together in real-time with whatever he deemed might, might work and we, we've seen it come crashing down.
So let's not pretend there's not two sides of the coin here.
We gotta meet in the middle.
Aaron Boone did an OK job, but the, the warning signs were there for how he structured these lineups and how he deployed his relievers.
And had the guardians not been completely inefficient, um, in big moments, uh, over these three games, we're talking a different story.
They went 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position in the opener, then they went 2 for 10, and then they went 1 for 7.
So, I mean, that's the, the 2 for 27, is that math correct?
I fuck, 2 for 28, that's fucking terrible, 3 for 28.
Um, so, the Yankees were lucky that There was a little depressed offense from the Guardians.
Um, again, they showed grit, they came up in the big moments, they shut the door when they needed to, but I'm not giving Aaron Boone credit for any of this.
Aaron Boone almost had it, had it fall by the wayside.
So, the lineup decisions with Aaron Boone out, the bullpen decisions with Aaron Boone out, they need to tighten up.
You can't have Anthony Volpe starting 8 of the last 10 games when he's not making contact.
Aaron Boone did his little media tour and he was talking about how uh Volpe's doing great on defense.
Uh, he's not.
He's doing, he's doing fine.
He, he's made multiple misplays and errors.
Generally, the, the play has been OK, but like it, he's not doing tremendously.
And then he's telling us Anthony Volpe is making hard contact and good contact.
No, he's not.
He's literally not making contact.
And he's not getting robbed of any hits, like we, we've seen enough of this, um.
He struck out 16 times in his, in his 19 games, um 17 times in his 20 games.
So, like he's walking a little bit better.
I think that's a good point to take away from this, but he's offering next to nothing else.
Um, When he gets on base, yeah, he steals sometimes, that's great.
Um, he had that good series against the Mets and that, um , good opener against the, the Royals, but that was it.
That's all of his stats.
So, if you, if, if, if any of those games saw a depressed uh showing from Anthony Volpe, we'd be talking about even worse numbers, which I don't even think is possible.
Again, 194 with the 606 OPS recovering from shoulder, shoulder surgery, I get it, but these numbers are not a departure from what he's been doing for the better part of the last three plus years.
So, the Yankees, it could be one of two things.
They're obsessed with Anthony Volpe, and there's no way around this, it just is what it is.
Um, I'll check to see if the lineup dropped, uh, if we have to talk about this again.
Um, Or the Yankees are giving him as much runway as possible to see if they have to make a tough decision with him.
And Joel Sherman kind of alluded to that because he said, there's a possibility that after the trade deadline, George Lombard Junior is with this team.
And if George Lombard Junior is with this team after the trade deadline, that means Anthony Volpe can't be here, because there's no roster space for Anthony Volpe.
George Lombard Jr. coming up and being able to play 2nd, short, and 3rd is going to be much more valuable no matter what he's doing with the bat, right?
The positional versatility in and of itself allows Aaron Boone to do a lot more with the lineup and you can shove him at the bottom and see what he can do.
Anthony Volpe is not versatile.
He has not played 2nd base since he was in the minor leagues 4 years ago.
Um, Aaron Boone said they were gonna give him 2nd base reps.
There's been no evidence of that.
He's not gotten in a game at 2nd base.
He hasn't logged a rep at second base.
Um, And his bat is not doing the job.
So at this rate, you are better off if you get The sample size out of Anthony Volpe that deems him completely ineffective for what you're doing.
I, uh, in my opinion, the sample size is already there, but the Yankees wanna do their due diligence because they were optimistic about his future, they were optimistic about his prospect pedigree, and I, I think there is an element of them not wanting to be wrong.
Uh, I, I think that's There there is, there is no, there is no, uh, doubt about it because they have had a lot of player development losses over the last 10 years, turning the tides, Cam Shutler, Ben Rice, um, um.
are really making them look a lot in this next wave of guys, LaGrande, Elmer Rodriguez, Spencer Jones, uh, even Dominguez, uh, having a little bit of a renaissance here.
Um, the Yankees want to win, and they want to be right, and you can't have both if This is what the situation looks like with Anthony Volpe.
So, the line-up decisions, I mean, Volpe just can't be an everyday starter.
I'm not opposed to him being a bench player and spelling uh Jose Caballero off shortstop a couple of times a week, but like, he can't be getting a majority of the at-bats and the starts against right-handed hitting.
It, it can't happen.
He's not capable.
It has nothing to do with anyone's vendetta against Anthony Volpe.
The results are the results.
The results are not there.
And there's all these other metrics out there saying Anthony Volpe is a better base runner, he's more valuable on defense than Caballero, and that's where the metrics fail, because Caballero has, um, Anthony uh I'll, I'll do the, the quick side by side for you.
So, throughout his career, Anthony Volpe has played in a total of 492 games.
Over those 492 games, he has stolen a grand total of 75 bases.
OK, that's pretty good.
It's certainly not bad.
I mean, I'll take it on my team, you know me, I like my versatile guys, I like my athletic guys.
Jose Caballero has played in 50 fewer games, and he's stolen.
60 more bases, 425 games to 134 stolen bases.
You can't tell me that Anthony Volpe is a more valuable base runner.
It's literally not I don't care what the metrics say.
I don't care if Jose Caballeros ran into more outs than Anthony Volpe has.
50 more, 60 more stolen bases over 50 fewer games.
There is no, the, the, uh, I'm sorry, almost 70 fewer games.
There, there is no argument here.
Jose Caballero is the better base runner .
Jose Caballero is the more short-handed.
Defender, he's the better all-around baseball player.
Now, I'm not saying Jose Caballro should be the shorting shortstop, he's the savior.
He should just be there more often than Volpe is.
And that's the fact, that, that's the reality of it all.
He proved it in the beginning of the year, just because they, just because Volpe came back and Volpe had a good 4-game stretch does not earn him the right to take the job away from a guy who was on one of the best heaters in the league for the prior 34 weeks.
So, this is where, this is where I have no tolerance because there's no room for error with Judge out, there's no room for error with Stanton still out, there's no room for error with Max Fried still out.
They need to keep winning games.
And I understand they, they, they, they got 4 wins in a row.
They understood the assignment, they got that done.
But this long-term, and the Yankees have long-term injuries, Max Fried just started throwing from 120 ft.
He's undergoing imaging.
We still haven't got an update from that.
We're still waiting for an update on Stanton.
Judge is probably out until August.
This is not a winning formula over the long haul, playing Anthony Volpe every day, taking Ryan McMahon out when he's on a heater, sending Spencer Jones when he's finally got some confidence after hitting his first career home run.
The shit needs to stop.
This is where it goes by the wayside for the Yankees.
Um, Sorry guys, I did a lot of yelling.
Let me catch up on the comments here.
Um, yeah, yeah, I mean, yeah, I think Volpe is gonna remain on the roster.
I think it's unfortunate.
That said, Joel Sherman was the one who said, Anthony Volpe was going to get optioned once his rehab assignment was done, and all of us, I think including people in the chat, myself said, I'll believe it when I see it, dude.
There's no way that is happening.
It ended up happening.
So maybe Joel Sherman has a little bit of intel.
Um, he's a trusted Yankees insider.
He's always at the forefront of these, uh, hot button issues.
So, I will hold out a little bit of hope.
Again, I'll believe it when I see it, but I'm not gonna completely disregard that.
Um, Paul Blackburn, yeah, I mean, We know Paul Blackburn can't get a big out.
We came into this season thinking Paul Blackburn, uh, was just going to be a long man to either help the Yankees give a starting, a starting pitcher a day off by going with the six-man rotation spot start, or just eating up garbage innings to save the bullpen.
And him and Ryan Yarborough have not really done that.
Uh, and not to the extent at least that we had wished they did.
Um, So, uh, I think there's a, there, there, there's a number of things that this team needs to fix, and I think With how they've acted this year, they have acted with urgency.
We gotta give them a little bit of credit for that.
But now they're back into the complacency stuff.
Volpe starting, removing guys on hot streaks, not making, you know, not, not being fully convicted in, um, uh, in bullpen decisions or putting guys in the right spots to succeed.
That game against the Guardians, that 3-2 win, you can't tell me that that was a sound.
Bullpen strategy for a team trying to win.
A game that was tied 2 to 2.
You go to Paul Blackburn after Gerritt Cole throws 83 pitches.
You go to Tim Hill for 1 pitch after that, you go to Camilo Duval who has blown games regularly over the last year.
You go to Jake Bird, who has been terrible.
For the most part, I mean, he's had, he's had his moments here and there, but you're gonna go to Jake Bird in a tie game on the road.
Late?
No.
Fernando Cruz was the only right choice there.
That was the, I mean, Tim Hill coming in during that jam was the right call, but he should have been in for the following inning.
Fernando Cruz was the right call there .
Um, yes, roster moves coming up.
Dominguez and Stanton, um, yeah, I, I, I, unfortunately think Max Schumann does not deserve to go down to Triple-A.
Uh, there's no, there's no way.
And at this rate, Spencer Jones doesn't either.
Spencer Jones has played his way into a longer leash.
It's just, it's just what it is.
He, he's played his way into a longer leash and um the Yankees should At this rate, if they want to have the best roster possible, um, you option Sanchez, you option Volpe.
Ben Rice starts playing some catcher.
And uh you bring Stanton, and you bring uh Dominguez back, and then you just, you have a healthy rotation of, of guys.
Uh, back and forth.
I think that's, you know, it's not gonna happen, um, but I think that would be the way to go about it.
Anyway Get a sip of water before I pass out here.
Um, you're not gonna rage bait me with the Stanton comment stuff and things, it's just not gonna happen.
Um, the Yankees have Three game set coming up against the Blue Jays , um, and it's gonna be an important one.
Why?
Because The Blue Jays have been playing better baseball.
The Blue Jays also are getting a lot of guys back from injury relatively soon.
So, uh, Shane Bieber is at Triple-A.
He's gonna be back with them, and that's gonna be a huge boost for their rotation, which has dealt with a ton of injuries.
Um, They are getting, hang on, I'm pulling up their roster.
I had this up before and I xed out of it.
Blue roster, good search idiot, um.
Let's see, who else is on the IL for them.
I know it, I just, I need to, uh, you guys, I gotta get you the right information.
I can't just like off-handedly say, oh yeah, people are on the IL.
Um, OK, Barrios is out for the year , Bieber is on his way back, uh, Bowden Francis is out for the year, Yimy Garcia, I believe, is on his way back.
Cody Ponce is out for the year.
Alejandro Kirk is on his way back.
That's their starting, that's his, uh, their starting catcher.
Um, Addison Barger on his way back.
So, Those, those are, those are 34 key injuries right there where the Blue Jays are going to get healthier, and the Yankees will have had to make sure they created enough distance between them and the Blue Jays.
Uh, cause if the Blue Jays get hot, as we saw last year, they can go on a run.
Damn good team.
I don't necessarily believe in them , um, because I think last year was a more flash in the pan based on how they've performed over the last You know, 67 years.
But they have the capability.
I'm not gonna deny that, they have the capability.
They just lost the series to the Phillies, they're now 3 games below 500.
Um, in the division, the Yankees are, uh, 9 games, uh, I'm sorry, 8.5 games up on the Blue Jays.
So, hey, You win 2 this weekend.
You get 10 up, that's a good cushion.
You sweep them, I don't think that's happening, but you sweep them.
You go 12 up, 11.5 up, whatever, they're 8.5 up, sorry, you go 9.5 up, whatever , you get the picture.
It's important because the division games have been an issue for the Yankees over the last however many years.
Um, the Rodgers Center over the last year has not treated the Yankees kindly, um, and Uh You gotta, you gotta turn the tides.
The Blue Jays have the upper hand in terms of The current dynamic right now, no, they don't have the lead um in the division, they don't have the better positioning in the division, but, um, all it takes is two good weeks.
We've seen it across the league this year, so.
Important series, not much, uh, in my opinion, not much to analyze.
I think the Yankees need to continue just, again, everybody play within their capabilities.
That's all it is.
Don't need people swinging out of their shoes, don't need people trying to play hero ball, get on base, make contact, put forth the tough at bat, make the, make the heads up defensive play.
That's it.
Uh, it's simple.
It's really simple.
And the Yankees, when they're on top of their game, when they are dialed in, they're a very good team, even with injuries.
This team is almost, I need another couple of weeks, but it could remind you of 2019 where things kind of just hum along despite missing some of the most important offensive pieces.
I think they strike out too much still.
I think there's too uh too much just swing and miss in general, and not enough contact, but the team is making more contact.
Very much year over year and over the last 2 years than they have in the last 5.
So, something to look forward to a little bit.
All right, 2 more things before we're out of here.
Carlos LaGrande made his 2nd, counted 2nd, bullpen appearance um at Triple-A.
We talked about it a couple of episodes ago.
The Yankees made the bold move uh to put LaGrande in the Triple-A bullpen.
As they prepare, you would, you would suspect for the back half of the season, where they're gonna need bullpen help, where they know bullpen help is gonna cost a shit ton at the trade deadline, cause that's what it does every year.
You end up Spending money hand over fist for relievers, and the Yankees can't afford to do that.
Because they have a good farm system right now.
They're finally building a formidable pipeline, and you can't waste it on rental relievers, and you can't waste it on guys who are, you know, only gonna be here for another year.
It's just not good business.
So, you do it for one, I think, you could do it for one reliever, um, you can't do it for multiple.
So, if the Yankees get LaGrande in this bullpen, Um, and he's effective, that would be great.
So, the first relief appearance he had, he came in in the 2nd inning.
It was not a true relief appearance, and he threw 4 innings, I think.
So again, they're working backwards to get him.
To abbreviate his appearances.
Started off the year as a starter, I believe they still view him as a starter, but remember, the inning situation with him increasing every, uh, over the last two years, hitting career highs, they might wanna preserve him a little bit more because of the stress on his arm.
So, this last appearance, um, came much later in the game.
I believe he came in, in the, uh, Um, 7th inning, yes.
So, this is a true relief appearance.
Came in in the 7th inning, uh, logged 2 and 2/3 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run , 1 walk, 3 strikeouts, 46 pitches, 35 strikes, used all of his pitches, and he topped out at 102 miles an hour, averaged 100.6 on his fastball.
What else do you want?
Yeah, I, I, it'd be great if a run wasn't in there, but it's not gonna be perfect with the transition.
It's not gonna be perfect taking on a completely new role.
I like the results from that.
Again, the Yankees don't need this guy for another 6 weeks, 7 weeks, 8 weeks, whatever it is.
So, get him to where he needs to be, keep him in that 2-inning range, I think, that'll probably be the sweet spot.
Um, and then unleash him when the time comes.
As long as he keeps putting up solid outings without any disasters or without any warning signs that, you know, uh, advanced metrics that portend doom or suggest that he's not ready for big league hitting yet, we're in a good spot.
Let it, let it happen.
Let, let it go.
So, this is a really good development for the Yankees trade deadline plans.
They, they won't get raked over the coals, um, with having to acquire multiple relievers.
Um, hopefully, it works out for them.
And again, remember, when Max Fried comes back , someone's going to the bullpen, whether it's Weathers, whether it's Warren.
Um, and that's gonna kick somebody else out.
So, that means Paul Blackburn, Ryan Yarboroughon, Jake Bird, whoever it is, um, the unit will come together and it's gonna be much stronger, it's gonna be much deeper.
There's gonna be much more, uh, swing and miss and, uh, just high velocity stuff in there, so, that's gonna be good.
Um, And lastly, um, Uh, quick thing on George Lombard, cause I wanted to, uh, touch on him.
We talked about the Sherman thing very briefly with Lombard, um, Uh, potentially jumping in, uh, after the trade deadline to play shortstop, play second play, play second base, play third base.
Uh, Lombard got promoted to Triple-A this year, um, after 20 games at Double-A.
He was, it, it was like, you had no choice.
You had to promote him.
You're just gonna let, let him 1.
OPS at Double-A, just didn't make any sense.
Bad, bad start at Triple-A, but guess what?
Over the last 28 days, he's hitting 250 with a 757 OPS.
The strikeouts remain a bit of an issue.
He struck out 30 times over that span, but he's walked 15 times.
Um, The OBP is consistently 100 or more points over the average, which is exactly what you like to see.
Um, he's making more contact.
Um, he is overall just looking a lot better.
So, it's not, I, I don't think these numbers are saying , oh, promote him now, absolutely not.
Give him another month, see where he's at.
Those numbers go up a little bit.
I mean, on the season, he's hitting 247 with a 777 OPS lucky 7 perhaps.
Um, that's uh 375 OBP is the important part.
That's a really good number.
Um, and even the 402 slug, like that's, that's fine.
Don't need George Lombard .
Don't need the Yankees' disease permeating George Lombard.
You gotta hit 25 home runs a year or else you, no.
Fucking just put forth good at bats.
We have the power everywhere else.
Not everybody needs to hit 20 home runs on this roster.
Play great defense, make contact, get on base, steal bases.
Uh, it's pretty simple.
Um, so that's great.
And lastly , we have a fuck face alert.
It is Aroldis Chapman, sound the alarm, folks.
Aroldis Chapman, I don't know, just decided he had the balls to talk to the media about something that I don't even, I, I don't even know why it concerned him.
He spoke to, I think it was Enrique Rojas with ESPN.
Um, let me pull this up.
Cause the quotes, yeah, Enrique Rojas of ESPN they were talking about Excuse me.
Oh, yeah, this is it's, it's fucking exhausting with this guy.
Um.
He was talking about the trade deadline.
Obviously, Red Sox are in a bad way, looks like they're gonna sell, looks like, are they gonna trust Craig Breslow to do it?
I have no idea, but whatever it is, it's happening.
Um, there's no need for Chapman on this roster in Boston.
Um, they're not winning games, they're not competing.
Uh, the most expendable piece you can have as a seller is relievers on expiring contracts or high leverage relievers that you just don't need, because you don't need to make sure you're holding on to leads late in games if you're not winning.
Um.
The Yankees situation came up um with Chapman's departure.
As you guys remember famously, uh, he was left off the 2022 playoff roster, um, because he got a tattoo, got an infection, um, was performing poorly, and he was not guaranteed a roster spot, um, on the playoff roster.
Uh, so he said, fuck you then, I'm not coming to a team workout.
Um, and then Mark Lighter Junior got injured, I think immediately after, and they had an open roster spot, and he didn't get it because he was not with the team.
So, um, yeah, and then unceremoniously, everything ended.
I don't know why the Yankees were in bed with this guy as long as they were .
They acquired him on Bizarre, uh, not bizarre.
They acquired him on fishy pretenses when he, his trade price was down because he was accused of domestic violence.
Um, Then, they traded him to the Cubs, signed him to a record-setting contract for a closer, then he was threatening to opt out, then they signed him to an extension again.
It's like, what the fuck are you doing?
You saw after the first, you saw after the first contract that he was not the closer you needed for the postseason.
He blew however many postseason leads it was.
Get him out of here.
Why pay 20+ million dollars?
For a closer.
Anyway, he's talking to Enrique Rojas, and he was talking about the Yankees situation.
He said, quote, what happened happened.
If something like this were to happen, in parentheses, a trade to the Yankees at the deadline, I believe someone from this organization should apologize to me first .
And then he clarified later down the road, Brian Cashman should be that person to apologize to him.
Give me a fucking break.
I am the first one.
To sit here and pick apart Brian Cashman's dealings, nonsense, whatever it is, ridiculous stuff that he has partaken, I am not afraid to voice my opinion.
Brian Cashman doesn't owe this fucking guy a single apology.
He doesn't owe him anything.
He should have actually launched him out of Yankee Stadium from a dumpster rocket and sent him wherever the destination was, didn't matter.
Aroldis Chapman was a shitty Yankee during his tenure.
Attitude-wise , um, not performance-wise, he was generally good during the regular season, but Terribly inconsistent, awful in the fucking postseason.
Then the way that it ended was, you were not a teammate this whole time, if that's your attitude.
And again, costing the Yankees.
The most amount of money possible at a position where you don't and shouldn't spend it.
So that was Brian Cashman's fault, paying this guy as much as he did.
But don't act like you weren't paid like a fucking king when you were in New York when you didn't deserve to be , and then get, get bent out of shape when you're not guaranteed a roster spot because, a playoff roster spot because, A, you were bad, and B, you decided to get your 70 fucking 500 tattoo and get an infection from it.
So, don't worry, Aroldis.
You won't get an apology because no one, the, the Yankees are not trading for you.
And if the Yankees do, then I'll be back on here for a five-hour special about how this is the worst thing that's ever happened to the Yankees and why we should fold the franchise tomorrow.
The Yankees have plenty of other relievers they can go after.
Aroldis Chapman is not one of them.
Um, this commentary is absolute BS.
The fact that when he joined the Red Sox, he was smirking and saying, finally, he got to play for his favorite team.
Growing up, fuck you, Yankees also should have known that and said, we're not signing this guy.
He's a lifelong Red Sox fan.
It's like, what happened to that?
What happened to, like, why would you sign somebody who rooted for the Red Sox their entire life?
Why?
I mean, I get maybe like, there are some incidents, why would you pay somebody the most money in the league who grew up a Red Sox fan?
Like, don't you think that that has some implications, some cosmic effect on everything ?
Anyway, Aroldis Chapman, you're not getting an apology, not from anybody.
That, that's for sure.
Um.
That's it for today's episode, everybody.
Thank you all for tuning in.
Um, Yankees, three-game set against the Blue Jays, uh, and then we got the Reds and the White Sox next week.
We'll be back, we'll be talking about that.
Uh, but we need a series win.
We need a series win, plain and simple in this one.
Kick the Blue Jays down the totem pole a little bit more, uh, get, get your standing a little bit better in the division.
Keep winning games without Aaron Judge.
Find that identity.
Let's go.
I'm at Tommy_takes on social media at Yanks Go Yard FS is the official account.
Don't forget to like and subscribe to the YouTube channel, um, YanksGYard.com, all the content there for you.
Subscribe to the Yanks Go Yard newsletter too.
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Um, and that's that.
Let's go, Yanks.
We'll see you next week.
