Are Anthony Volpe's Yankees days officially numbered?

New York Post

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00:00Anthony Volpe's slump is finally landing him to the bench on Sunday night,

00:04and he won't be in the lineup Monday against Washington.

00:07Yankees fans, you finally got what you wanted.

00:10So let's check in with New York Post Yankees beat writer Dan Martin

00:13on the whole Volpe demotion, and I got to get his thoughts

00:16on when we can see Devin Williams back as this team's closer.

00:19Dan, thanks for hanging out with this coming on

00:22before you got to head to the stadium for tonight's game.

00:24Aaron Boone said that Volpe has scuffled a bit over the last week

00:29or 10 days, so that's why he's being held out of the lineup.

00:33Could we be seeing the beginning or the end of Anthony Volpe as a Yankee?

00:38I wouldn't go that far, Brandon.

00:40They stuck with this guy for a long time.

00:42I think they will continue to stick with him,

00:44but they couldn't just continue to run him out there every single day.

00:48He's struggled most of the past two years.

00:52He had a great playoffs last year.

00:53I think that guys thought that he would build off of that this coming season,

00:58but really there's been no progression offensively since he came up as a rookie.

01:03There's been talk about, you know, they rushed him into the job a couple years ago,

01:08and they thought that he would develop at the major league level,

01:12and there were signs of that early on.

01:14But this year has probably been his worst year.

01:16You know, the production at the plate is about the same as it was the first two years,

01:21and his fielding at shortstop has definitely taken a step back.

01:24So, yeah, they've got a problem.

01:27He likes to play every day.

01:29They let him do that pretty much the first two and a half years,

01:32but now they have a little bit more depth with Jose Caballero coming in at the trade deadline.

01:38So, you know, he started there last night.

01:40He's probably going to start there again tonight.

01:42But Volpe will be back in the lineup tomorrow against the left-hander,

01:45so we'll see, you know, if he plays every day going forward

01:48or if they try to work in a few days a week where maybe he doesn't play

01:52or, you know, they go with someone else.

01:54So it's going to be interesting to see what they do over this last month of the regular season

01:58to try to straighten him out because, you know, they continue to have high hopes for him,

02:04and he just hasn't delivered on him.

02:06When you say continue to see what he does, like,

02:09is there a chance that they could send him down to the minors?

02:12Like, is it too late for that, or could that be something that you see happening next season?

02:16I couldn't – I can't see that happening.

02:19You know, he's just been here, you know, almost three years now.

02:24I don't think that would go well.

02:26I think what they could do is – and what they should have done is take a look at his swing

02:31and his approach.

02:32You know, he hit more home runs than people expected when he was a rookie,

02:35and I think that's done more harm than good because it made people think –

02:39it made him think maybe that he's a home run hitter,

02:41and people who saw him a lot in the minors before he came up said he was much better

02:46at driving the ball to all fields.

02:48He was a more well-rounded hitter than he's been in the major leagues.

02:51So, you know, there's still potential there, but I think they've, you know,

02:57kind of messed with his approach so much that it's going to be hard to get back.

03:00But I can't imagine a trip to the minor leagues would do any good.

03:04I think it would just kind of crater his confidence, whether that would be –

03:09it's certainly not going to happen this year,

03:10and I don't see it happening next year either.

03:12I think they can work on things in the offseason and spring training

03:15and hope for the best.

03:17But, you know, we'll see how this month goes with Caballero

03:20and whether, you know, they really stick to this plan of not playing Volpe

03:24quite as much as they have the past two and a half years.

03:27So do you think the Yankees have a player development problem?

03:32You know, that's certainly an issue that could be a problem for them.

03:36I mean, you look at Volpe, you look at Austin Wells and Jason Dominguez,

03:42those are guys that they had high hopes for.

03:44You know, Volpe and Wells are first-round picks.

03:47Dominguez was a huge international signing for them that they, you know,

03:51they nicknamed him the Martian.

03:53We've been waiting for him for years, and now, you know,

03:55he can barely get on the field, and that's with Aaron Judge being a DH

03:59and, you know, other guys in the outfield hurt.

04:02So they have very little outfield depth,

04:04and Dominguez still isn't playing every day.

04:07So, yeah, I think that is something that they have to look at.

04:09They've been asked those questions.

04:10They think they don't have one.

04:12They can point to a guy like Ben Rice, who has developed pretty well.

04:17But, yeah, I mean, you look at those young players that I just mentioned

04:21that have not taken steps forward, and it's a fair question to ask,

04:25and, you know, I'm sure they will ask it of themselves again this offseason,

04:29especially if it doesn't go the way they want it to go.

04:31We also had, or Yankees fans also had a lot of high hopes in Devin Williams

04:37when they brought him in.

04:39As you know, he's had a roller coaster of emotions in production this summer,

04:45and he's kind of been looked at as a liability.

04:47But now, Dan, it's kind of looking like he's getting his stuff together again.

04:51In over six and one-third innings, he hasn't allowed an earned run,

04:55and he's given up just a pair of hits and a walk while retiring 15.

04:59That's coming off that ugly five-game stretch two weeks ago.

05:03So do you think Boone has enough confidence in him,

05:07and Williams has shown enough to be put back at that closer spot

05:10before the end of the season?

05:12I think more needs to be done for him to get the closer spot back,

05:17especially now if they have David Bednar that they traded for at the deadline.

05:21He's pitched pretty well for them since he came over from Pittsburgh.

05:24So it gives him a little bit of a luxury of not having to throw Williams back there.

05:29I think, at least for now, they want to keep him where he is as a setup guy

05:34because he has pitched pretty well of late.

05:37But as we talked about after the game last night, he's had stretches.

05:42Williams has had stretches of five, ten, sometimes even longer, 15 games this year

05:48when he's looked like the guy they thought they were getting from Milwaukee

05:51when they traded for him.

05:52But then, every single time, it hasn't been like a one- or two-game blow-up that he's had.

05:59It's three or four games.

06:01And you can tell the confidence goes.

06:03So I think they want to keep him where he's comfortable.

06:06They don't need him as a closer right now.

06:08Obviously, they thought they really upgraded their bullpen at the deadline

06:11with Bednar and bringing in some other guys like Doval from San Francisco.

06:17But he's been terrible since he came over.

06:19So the bullpen's just been an issue all year.

06:21They thought it was going to be a real strength of theirs, and it hasn't been.

06:25They've got one month to get it sorted out.

06:27They hope Williams is a big part of that.

06:29But he's proven time and time again that there could be a disaster right around the corner.

06:35And until that doesn't happen, the questions will remain.

06:41So I would be surprised to see him back in the closer role unless something happens to Bednar.

06:47All right, Dan Martin, thanks for the updates, man.

06:50All right, Brandon, thanks for having me.

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