Aaron Boone left some wiggle room between the lines of recent Anthony Volpe comments

The New York Yankees are now two games into a new era of clean baseball, devouring the Red Sox 7-2 on Sunday Night Baseball and topping the Nationals 10-5 (in a game that was 10-0 with two outs in the ninth before Yerry de los Santos ran out of gas and Mark Leiter Jr. hung slop). But between the first and the second consecutive victory, Aaron Boone let some air out of their newly inflated tires, declaring (unnecessarily) that shortstop Anthony Volpe's return to action wasn't too far behind.

According to Boone pregame Monday, Volpe's two-day break qualifies as only a momentary "reset" (and an extremely necessary one, by all accounts). The plan is for Volpe to start on Tuesday, then resume "regular" play beyond that, with Jose Caballero slotting in as the Yankees' versatile "10th man".

That's all well and good. It's smart to keep Caballero mobile. If Volpe's going to be up with the big-league roster, he has to play (at least as often as Jasson Dominguez does). But ... playing shortstop "regularly" does not have to mean the same thing as "being the everyday starter," if Boone doesn't want it to.

There should be a world — there has to be a world — where Caballero starts twice a week over Volpe, who has always shown marked improvements when he's been given a breather. Eagle-eyed fans, after they shrug off their outrage, will notice that Boone never said Volpe would play daily, or that the team would go back to the status quo. Viewing Volpe as "our shortstop" is a surface-level endorsement; arguably, it's the least committal thing Boone has said about he-who-must-not-be-criticized.

Anthony Volpe is the Yankees' "regular shortstop," but that doesn't mean he needs to play everyday

And, on top of everything, Boone's pregame comments were already rendered inaccurate by the time the final out was recorded.

While praising both Caballero and Volpe, Boone noted that he expected Volpe to enter Monday's game "in some way, shape or form". Unfortunately, despite the contest being a 10-0 blowout for about 40 minutes of run time, Volpe never entered.

Which is a real shame, because I was excited to see what "form" he might show up in. Spooky ghost? Sturdy wicker chair? Liquid, solid, gas? The possibilities were endless.

After two games without Volpe's imprint — both of which went quite well — the Yankees have gotten some data on the deadline depth they acquired to give them a chance of resting "their shortstop". For the entire first half, there was no Volpe backup plan. He was both struggling and indispensible. Now? They can comfortably go in a different direction from time to time while still keeping their third-year starter playing "regularly".

And, after years of being unable to take the Yankees' words at face value, what do you trust more: their statements, or their actions? Keep in mind those actions include benching Volpe in the biggest must-win game of the entire season.

If I didn't know any better, I'd say Boone chose his words more carefully than people are giving him credit for here.