Yankees debut first lineup with Anthony Volpe, Jose Caballero as experiment begins

Anthony Volpe has not seen action since the Yankees' series finale loss to the Blue Jays. He ended on a poor note, going 1-for-10 with three strikeouts, falling asleep with the rest of the offense to squander a crucial series victory.

On Monday, the Yankees released their starting lineup for the Memorial Day affair against the Kansas City Royals, and Volpe is in there. He's starting at shortstop while Jose Caballero will be right by his side at third base.

Michael Wacha, a right-hander, is on the mound for KC, which seems like a curious time for Aaron Boone to have Volpe and Caballero in the lineup together. But Wacha is far worse against righties than he is lefties, so, in case you were looking to rage, there's no need.

Whatever the case, it's clear that Volpe probably won't be moving around defensively on days he's in the lineup. He's the shortstop ... unless Caballero is. Yeah, we're still trying to make sense of it, too. Can't say we're too confident about it all.

How will Yankees balance Anthony Volpe, Jose Caballero in the starting lineup?

While Caballero has overall been better at shortstop than Volpe was the last two years, he's still made four errors in his 42 games this year. And his most recent one opened the floodgates for the Rays to crush the Yanks on Friday night. He's certainly not a perfect (or long-term) solution there.

Then again, you have to wonder how it'll shake out with the Yankees seemingly downgrading defensively at two positions with both of these guys on the field at the same time. Volpe isn't as good as a defender as Caballero, and Caballero is a much weaker defender than all of Ryan McMahon (third base), Jazz Chisholm Jr. (second base) and Cody Bellinger/Aaron Judge (LF/RF) at the other positions he's capable of playing.

That means the trade-off on offense must be superior for Caballero and Volpe. We've already gotten a glimpse of the Volpe of old. He's yet to issue a walk outside that series against the Mets when the pitching was awful. It's a small sample size, yes, but that's more indicative of Volpe's future performance than the seven free passes he recorded in Queens.

Long story short? Volpe and Caballero both better get on base. They both better steal. They both better take the extra bag. Because we know this will not be an ideal defensive alignment for the left side of the infield, especially now that Caballero is being "displaced" despite a superb start to his Yankees career.

That's the only way this is going to work, or else the front office will be faced with yet another tough Volpe discussion they definitely don't want to have.

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