Anthony Volpe repeating every question during Yankees interview gave us no answers

One of the most pressing questions on New York Yankees fans' minds is what happens when Anthony Volpe returns from the IL. We know that Jose Caballero, coming off a red-hot World Baseball Classic stint, will be handling starting shortstop duties until Volpe returns.

We also know that the Yankees are unlikely to follow some fans' preferred plan and send Volpe down to Triple-A to work on his game in a lower-pressure setting once he's activated. We don't know, though, what the ultimate strategy at shortstop will be.

That's because what happens then is all predicated on the circumstances surrounding Volpe's return. It will matter how Caballero looks in the interim. Volpe's level of performance during his rehab assignment might influence some decisions. But before we can get to any of that, we need to know how Volpe is progressing to this point and when a return date could be scheduled.

That's what Meredith Marakovitz tried to ascertain while interviewing Volpe on the YES Network. Volpe said a lot of words, but provided no additional clarity.

Anthony Volpe provides injury update that did nothing to inform Yankees fans

It almost seemed as if Volpe was nervous discussing the topic, as his answers almost always began with a rephrasing of the question Marakovitz had just asked. Understandably, Volpe isn't as accustomed to being out in front and speaking about the future like a more prominent figure, such as Aaron Judge, but since it's his shoulder, he's the only one who can give us answers.

The first question asked was the most important: where is Volpe in the rehab process? He responded by saying, "Yeah, I mean, I guess it's kind of a process. I'm learning along the way. I feel pretty good about where I'm at ... progressing, I think, as expected, and kind of, given [the] push and pull of them pulling me back, or me feeling really good. So, I feel that I'm in a really good spot. I don't know zero to 100 where that really is, but I'm excited about it."

Let's break this down. His rehab process is a process. Ok, check, got it. He's learning and progressing, but they're pulling him back, and at the same time, he feels really good. He's in a good spot, but he doesn't know where that spot is. Are you catching any of this? Because we're lost.

When asked what boxes he needed to check off before he could get into a live game situation, he started to say live at-bats, but stopped himself short and instead said, "It's just continuing the progression. It's like you said, there's still checkpoints I gotta ... I'm not doing everything yet. So, I'm really optimistic and excited, and I feel like it's going to be sooner rather than later, but it's just the natural progression of like doing live at-bats and getting into games and then see where that goes."

So the answer is live at-bats. We think. But we definitely know it's a progression. And he's progressing through that progression. Make sense?

Per Marakovitz, his shoulder was actually worse than expected when the surgeons went in to repair his labrum, but he's had great trainers and medical staff helping him work through it, and he wants to be intentional and diligent about putting the "finishing touches" on this process.

We gleaned from Marakovitz that the target is for him to start taking live at-bats in April, so the conversation wasn't a total loss, but wow, it was painful to try and get answers that actually made sense.

By our estimation, barring a setback, a rehab stint should start soon after he passes the live at-bat hurdle, so this shouldn't be something that keeps him out too long. Hopefully, when he returns, we get some much clearer answers about what the plan at shortstop for the rest of the season will be.