Clint Frazier says what every fan is thinking about Yankees’ Anthony Volpe injury

The New York Yankees seem poised to lose a little bit of flexibility, but the benefits of starting Jose Caballero at shortstop will more than likely outweigh the negatives. It's not weird that we got here with Anthony Volpe and his struggles/shoulder injury, but it's very weird how we got here. In fairness, ex-Yankee and hyped prospect Clint Frazier was trying to tell us the whole time.

Frazier has recently re-entered the spotlight by launching his own podcast, where he mostly roasts the Yankees organization (both lightly and harshly) for their many quirks and foibles, based on the internal knowledge that he collected while with the team from 2016-2021.

For whatever reason (for a multitude of reasons, it seems), Frazier lost what he'd gained in 2019 (111 OPS+, 12 homers) and 2020 (.905 OPS in the shortened season) in 2021, posting -1.5 bWAR and getting let loose at the end of the year. Frazier was involved in plenty of misunderstandings during his time in pinstripes, but it's objectively true that a severe concussion and its series of aftereffects derailed his tenure. If there's anything he knows intimately, it's the way the Yankees manage and massage lingering injuries.

Needless to say, Frazier was in his element this week after it was announced that Volpe has been nursing a partial labrum tear since early May. In response to Barstool's Eric Hubbs' rhetorical multiple choice question of Volpe malfeasance, Frazier gave the only answer he could.

Former New York Yankees top prospect Clint Frazier knows first-hand that the team is "weird" with injuries

Frazier would rather take shots at the Yankees than sympathize with them — remember Aaron Boone's UNC football trip? — but it's impossible to argue with him here. This was most definitely odd.

You know what's not weird? The way Caballero plays shortstop. In fact, it feels routine. It feels calm. It feels normal. Even without the potential offensive upside, a sense of normalcy still feels worth investing in (and, spoiler alert, Caballero's muted offense still outranks an injured Volpe, at least in tenacity).

The Yankees played Volpe as he battled severe soreness, only to watch him crumble and become the butt of the joke. Take it from Frazier, the man demonized for asking for Mickey Mantle's No. 7 before playing a single outfield rep in the Bronx, only for that to be revealed to have been a hoax. Sometimes, this particular spotlight sucks, and the Yankees just made Volpe's far brighter than it should've been. Pretty weird.