Anthony Volpe responds to Michael Kay rumor and Yankees only have themselves to blame

When it rains, it pours. When the Yankees are playing poorly, apparently their reporters and media personnel are, too. That's what happened when Michael Kay relayed a rumor about Anthony Volpe's unwillingness to play another position besides shortstop this week.

Kay took to social media on Wednesday morning to admit that his initial reporting was incorrect. He said he plans on apologizing to Volpe for creating more of a stir since the discourse surrounding the young slugger has already been unsavory. We're all responsible for it, but things have recently gone far off the rails.

Volpe spoke to the media before Wednesday's game against the Rays to address the swirling speculation. He's back in the starting lineup at shortstop with Jose Caballero at second base, so the topic was actually pertinent.

His response to the whole ordeal was actually ... quite sad. We'll be the first to admit that this isn't fair to Volpe if the accusation isn't true. We'll probably never know the full truth, but at this moment it's safe to say we need to operate under the assumption that Kay (and Joel Sherman from about a week ago) received bad information.

The conspiracy that the Yankees are attempting to cover this up will surely exist as a talking point, but it's irresponsible to peddle that right now after all parties have spoken candidly.

Michael Kay, Yankees look even worse after Anthony Volpe's response to rumors

For as frustrated as some fans have been with Volpe, there's no denying that everybody wants him to be great. Do you think Volpe isn't working as hard as he possibly can to be the best version of himself? You're crazy if you think otherwise. It just hasn't worked out.

But the trouble has been with how the Yankees have treated him. The results simply haven't been there outside of random 10-day spurts of production. After that, the bat is nonexistent and the defense is middling. Please, just stop citing OAA and watch two full weeks of Yankees games to understand where the average fan is coming from — that's all we ask.

That said, Volpe doesn't deserve this. And definitely not from one of the most trusted people within the organization. He's been through enough with fan/media criticism. Not to mention, how many more distractions does this team need as they continue to pile up losses?

We'll once again blame the Yankees for this. Why? Because they were the ones that mentioned Volpe would be taking reps at second base. Aaron Boone TOLD THE MEDIA on May 22 that Volpe would begin getting second base work. Then, on Tuesday, when the conversation started to escalate, he said Volpe is not an option at second base. He never logged warmup reps at second. He never sniffed second base reps in a game. Does anybody care to explain what happened there?

If the Yankees never openly talked about this, nobody would be wondering if moving Volpe off shortstop was an option! Caballero is a utility player and has profiled as that for most of his career, so they already had their answer. It just became a larger talking point because Caballero's production at shortstop was good and there was no need to force Volpe into the mix with everyday reps. He was coming off major shoulder surgery and was optioned after his rehab assignment.

Volpe is not the reason the Yankees are sliding. He's not the reason the Yankees won't win a World Series. The Yankees are the reason for both of those things. Volpe just happens to be an easy scapegoat, but any and all anger should be directed at Boone and the front office.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow