Maybe it’s fitting that we got the news about Anthony Rizzo retiring the same week we got the news of Anthony Volpe playing through a partially torn labrum since early May. Rizzo’s career was flatlined by a concussion that the Yankees refused to properly treat, and despite being a Silver Slugger-type hitter at the time of his collision with Fernando Tatis Jr., Rizzo never really recovered.
Volpe went in the MRI tube after a diving attempt on May 3rd against Tampa, an MRI that Aaron Boone publicly
said didn’t worry the club. On May 3rd Volpe had a 114 wRC+, and since then he has a 69. Do NOT make a joke.
Tony has always been a streaky hitter, with high peaks — see last year’s World Series — and very deep troughs. We’ve never seen a trough this long before, though. And while Volpe has always been an inconsistent hitter, he has consistently been a strong fielder… except for 2025. He has been the third-worst shortstop in baseball by Fielding Run Value, but more to the point was neutral on May 3rd. Since diving for that ball, Volpe has fallen off a cliff on both sides of the ball.
Now the news is out that the shortstop for the New York Yankees, in the middle of a bitter, bitter playoff fight, is playing with half a left arm. All that’s happened is speculation that he will not require surgery and José Caballero starting back to back games against the Tigers — the same Caballero who scored a run, drove in a run, and stole two bases on Thursday.
Injuries are a funny thing, because we’re actually not entitled to the medical information on other human beings. My frustration is less about the injury itself and more that every single person paying attention could see that something was wrong with Volpe. The team took no noticeable steps to address it, instead berating and mocking anyone who felt like asking a question. “He’s f****** elite,” and all that.
The former Prime Minister of my country got a little famous for talking about the “post-national world.” In years past we’ve heard of alternative facts and official government releases are AI airbrushed. Consequence for certain echelons of society have gradually been removed, and along with it, responsibility. If you’re high profile enough, like say, the most recognizable brand in North American pro sports, you don’t need to take responsibility for any mistakes.
Anthony Volpe has been visibly compromised for more than half the season. Anthony Rizzo’s career was sidelined because the Yankees couldn’t take action. Clint Frazier never really got out of the starting block. Domingo Germán got drunk, harassed a player and was chucked into a sauna. This organization has gotten worse and worse at protecting its own players. I don’t know what the fix is. The club’s overhauled its strength and conditioning program before. They’ve been burned by players not disclosing their own aches and pains. They have straight up lied to our faces about nothing being wrong.
The purpose of a system is what it does, and that’s why it’s so hard for me to say this organization is mismanaged. They made a series of conscious decisions — you’re good to play through it, you’re playing as well as you always have, if anyone asks a question we’ll ignore it, if anyone asks a second question we’ll sneer. That they’ve run similar playbooks over and over show that this is how they want the org to be run.
The way the Yankees seem to hand out lifetime appointments to the senior staff also make me think that this cycle isn’t going to change much, if at all, in the medium turn. Instead, Volpe will be showered with boos because the team failed to protect him, will likely see a lower arb raise than he would have had otherwise, and we’ll all wait around for the next curious case of a player who suddenly fell off a cliff.
