SO THIS IS WHAT "F'ING ELITE" IS NOW? COUNTING CLEAN PLAYS?

I’m trying to understand what world I’m living in.

Anthony Volpe is in the minor leagues. He’s now playing second base. And somehow, we’ve reached the point where we’re literally counting the number of plays he fields cleanly as proof that he’s adapting.

Are you kidding me? Greg Joyce of the New York Post wrote this: "Volpe played second base Saturday night at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, his first game at a position other than shortstop since 2021, and cleanly fielded all three balls hit to him."

I need you to think about this for a second.  This is the same Anthony Volpe that Aaron Boone once called “f’ing elite.”

Elite?

If Volpe were truly an elite shortstop, he’d be playing shortstop for the New York Yankees. Period. Instead, George Lombard Jr. has the job in the Bronx, while Volpe is in Scranton learning another position and we’re apparently supposed to get excited because he handled his chances cleanly.

According to the New York Post, Volpe is getting work at second base as the Yankees explore ways to increase his versatility and potentially create another route back to the majors.

Think about how insane that sentence would have sounded two years ago.

We went from “f’ing elite” to “maybe second base works.”

And that’s what gets me. This isn’t about rooting against Volpe. I want the kid to figure it out. But can we stop pretending this is anything other than a massive fall from where the Yankees told us he was?

We’re watching a former starting shortstop play second base in Triple-A and counting the clean plays.

One clean play. Two clean plays. Hey! There’s another one! What are we doing here? This is the New York Yankees, not instructional league. Maybe Volpe eventually figures it out. Maybe second base becomes his way back. Who knows... to be honest, I'm done with this stupid experiment.

Spare me the victory lap because he fielded a few baseballs cleanly in Scranton. “F’ing elite” was the standard. Now we’re counting clean ground balls.

THIS IS PATHETIC.