Yankees accidentally reveal shoulder injury has probably been affecting Anthony Volpe

If I were Anthony Volpe — and I'm not! — I'd probably wish that I hadn't played through pain for four months, eroding the reputation I'd built up along the way and becoming the villain in every Yankees fan's tale about how the season turned sour. I'd probably be thinking every day and night about how I would've been better off with rest and recovery rather than playing the toughest sport in the world with a torn labrum. I'd probably wish that, every time my manager was asked if my pain was a factor in my struggles, he would've said, "Yes." But hey, at least I got to meet the president.

If you spent your August wondering why every Volpe swing looked like a flail, and every Volpe throw lacked conviction, then the developments of early September should've helped ease that narrative tension a little bit. Despite Aaron Boone continuing to insist that Volpe's dive-and-popped-shoulder in May (his non-throwing shoulder, but a pretty essential one for the swing) wasn't affecting his game (and somehow still isn't), it remains less than ideal to slog through a summer nursing a trick body part.

The Yankees don't want you to believe that Volpe's been affected by his bum wing. They should be selling the opposite narrative, though. It would be much easier to justify Volpe's 2026 return if his cliff dive was injury related.

No matter what the Yankees say about his condition, they might've given away the game by disclosing that Volpe did have a cortisone injection during the All-Star break, similar to the one he was just given after re-aggravating the injury.

In the 14 games following the All-Star break, Volpe homered seven times. In the 32 since that line of demarcation? Only twice more. Clearly, the treatment had some kind of immediate effect. And clearly, Volpe was lost without it.

Yankees' Anthony Volpe performed better immediately after cortisone shot in injured shoulder

So ... maybe he fires in hot down the stretch, then? Just maybe?

This appears to mark a crucial Year 3 of Volpe's development sacrificed down the drain for reasons unknown to reasonable people. The Yankees' lack of depth would've been exposed without Volpe manning shortstop, prior to the trade deadline, but instead, they chose to expose their lack of empathy. Perhaps Year 4 will be more linear.

Nah. Too much to ask for. Maybe it'll make some degree of sense, at least? Maybe humans will behave like humans?