Anthony Volpe Has Become The Yankees Biggest Problem on Offense

Another lifeless night for the Yankees’ offense which has been reduced to this: Aaron Judge, Juan Soto and a bunch of bums, the biggest of which has been leadoff man Anthony Volpe. The Reds came into Yankee Stadium and jumped on Luis Gil, and the hole was too deep to climb out of which led to yet another loss for a team that right now looks lost. And down below, I answer more of your mailbag questions. Lets get to it.

July 2: Reds 5, Yankees 4

It was yet another night where the Yankees were absolute horseshit on offense with the exception of the indomitable Aaron Judge, and when the starting pitching is as horrible as it has been the last two-plus weeks, you have a pretty clear cut recipe for defeat, even if the opponent is Cincinnati.

And while Anthony Volpe certainly isn’t the only dead spot in the lineup these days, he has become the Yankees biggest problem on offense. Volpe has one job batting leadoff - to get on base for the big boppers behind him, Juan Soto and Judge, and he has been beyond abysmal for nearly a month.

“It’s been a rough week for him,” Boone said after Volpe’s 0-for-5. “Teams are attacking him in the strike zone.”

Rough week? Dude, pay attention.

On June 5 after a three-hit night against the Twins, Volpe was slashing a terrific .290/.355/.448 with an OPS of .803 and doing exactly what the Yankees needed him to do. Since then, he’s been one of the worst hitters in all of MLB. In the 24 games since, he’s slashing .190/.213/.248 with an OPS of .461. In case you’re wondering, those numbers are laughable.

And because he’s leading off and thus has more plate appearances (390) than anyone on the team, his colossal slump has turned him into a titanic detriment. He’s now in a 20-for-105 slump, and Boone has to pull the plug and move him down the order, but of course, Boone isn’t going to do a damn thing.

“He probably is missing some pitches early in counts where he’s getting a good pitch to hit,” Boone said. “He’s fouled a lot of pitches off, probably expanding a little more than he has at times this year. Confident he’ll come through it.”

Of course Boone would say that. That’s what Boone always says because it’s impossible for him to confront problems head on, especially when it comes to slumping players. He finally benched Gleyber Torres last week, though that was more because of his lack of hustle running out a ground ball rather than his own nightmarish offensive season. So as Boone and the rest of us wait for Volpe to come out of it, he will continue to kill the offense and not provide Soto and Judge better RBI opportunities.

If it was me making out the lineup card, I would put Soto in the leadoff spot with Ben Rice at No. 2 in front of Judge. Soto’s greatest strength is that he draws a million walks so he’s on base all the time. I sometimes wish he would stop trying to draw a walk every time up there and start swinging to do real damage, but that’s just not who he is.

Rice at No. 2 isn’t so much about him being great so far, but with a .270 average he’s certainly been more productive than any of these other bums not named Soto and Judge. Seriously, who else could possibly bat second? I’ll save you the time thinking of an answer because there isn’t one. So give the kid a chance.

Of course this won’t happen, either, because even if Boone did move Volpe out, Soto apparently wants no part of batting leadoff and much prefers to hit second or third. Fun times these days with the Yankees, aren’t they?

Here are my observations:

➤ For three-plus innings it looked like Luis Gil was back on track after two awful starts. But then Elly De La Cruz tripled in the fourth and scored on a groundout and Gil seemed to lose his confidence. He walked the next two men before getting a pair of fly balls to escape further damage, but then in the fifth he completely caved. He hit No. 8 batter Stuart Fairchild and then came the inexcusable killer blow, a two-run homer by Will Benson, the Reds’ No. 9 hitter who was batting .192 at the time. Gil gave up only two hits, but two HBPs and three walks indicated just how bad his command was.

➤ When Gil hit Jonathan India with a pitch right after the Benson homer, Boone yanked him and went to the worst reliever on the team, Caleb Ferguson, who immediately served up a two-run homer to De La Cruz that made it 5-0, and those wound up being the two runs that were the difference in the game.

➤ Ferguson was celebrating his 28th birthday Tuesday night; I hope someone bought him a one-way ticket out of town. What a disaster of an acquisition he has turned out to be. His ERA is now 5.67, his WHIP is 1.540 and he has allowed 33% of his inherited runners to score, including five of the six in his last three appearances. That’s untenable in every way. It’s still crazy to me that of the two Dodgers lefty relievers they traded for in the offseason, Ferguson is still here while Victor Gonzalez was DFA’d. Gonzalez wasn’t very good either, but he was better than Ferguson.

➤ Judge went 3-for-4 with two singles and his 32nd homer. The rest of the lineup went 3-for-31, the hits being a Trent Grisham bunt single in the second, and then Torres’ RBI single and Rice’s two-run double in a three-run sixth. That was it. Judge’s homer came in the seventh to make it 5-4 and from there, the last seven Yankees went down meekly to end the game with nary a threat.

➤ The ninth inning was a joke - Reds closer Alexis Diaz whiffed Grisham on three pitches, the last a slider that could not have been more down the middle. Like literally, Statcast had it in the very middle of the middle box in the nine-zone grid and Grisham looked at it for strike three. Austin Wells pinch hit for Jose Trevino and flied out on the third pitch, and then Volpe completed his shitty night with a three-pitch dud, popping out to short to end the game. Way to grind, fellas.

Thanks to everyone who sent in questions this week. I think we’ll try to do this maybe every other week because I really enjoy the interaction with my subscribers.

⚾ From John Sole: Enjoy the newsletter. Thoughts on any corner infielders Cashman may target before trade deadline? Can’t see counting on Rizzo or DJ for a long playoff run. JD Davis doesn't cut it either. Keep up the good work.

Thanks John. I think what will determine their path at the deadline for first and third base is how LeMahieu and Rice look at the time. They have a nice opportunity here with Rice to give him meaningful playing time and if he can handle it both at the plate and in the field, he could end up being their future answer at first base, with the ability to be a third catcher if need be which is always a nice luxury to have on a roster. LeMahieu showed some signs of life last weekend in Toronto then returned to being an automatic out Tuesday night against the Reds. I still think he’s mostly washed, especially as a hitter. If Rice works out, I think they should look to acquire a solution for third base, and put LeMahieu into the utility role to backup both first and third.

⚾ From Robert Craig: I think this team needs too many pieces to be a serious contender and we know they won’t go into “sellers mode.” But if they did, do they actually have anyone worth anything outside of Juan Soto and possibly Clay Holmes?

Robert, I agree with you in that in its current state, this roster is not good enough to win the World Series, nor is it good enough to even get to the World Series. But you’re correct in that the Yankees are not selling, nor should they because unless something crazy happens, they will make the playoffs. I made a wise crack on X last week that if they keep losing like they were, maybe they should sell and yes, the name I mentioned was Soto because he is the only worthwhile candidate who could bring back a haul. Remember, there’s no guarantee that he’s going to re-sign with the Yankees next year, so it’s very possible he leaves after one season and the Yankees get nothing in return. But there’s no way they’re trading him. Same for Holmes. You can do worse at closer than Holmes, and if he goes, what would the Yankees do in the ninth inning? Plus, I don’t think they’d get a worthwhile enough return for Holmes who will also be a free agent after the season.

⚾ From Steve Elwell: I know it’s still early, but I’m wondering what your thoughts are regarding the Yankees and the trade deadline. At this point in time, what do you think they should do, and what do you think they will do? And here's a hypothetical scenario: Let’s say Torres gets hot and has a great rest of the year. Do you think the front office is dumb enough to re-sign him in that case? Not a great mailbag question, I know, but it does make me curious what you think about it.

Steve, no question is a bad question and in fact, this is a good one. Torres is quite the conundrum. We all know the talent is there, we’ve seen it, but he is one of the most maddening players I’ve ever seen because the brain lapses and occasions of lackadaisical play are just too frequent. He’s been terrible this year hitting .226 with decreased power and 12 errors which are the most by any second baseman in MLB. I think the time has come for the Yankees to move on next season, so I don’t expect him back. In fact, if it were me, I’d be exploring trade options for Torres at the deadline knowing he’s gone next year anyway. There may be a team out there that would love to get its hands on him because as I said, the talent is there. You could definitely get a useful player or two back for him, maybe even a second baseman. Again, I doubt they’ll do that, but it’s worth thinking about.