Yankees delaying Anthony Volpe's return could earn them something they covet

We were led to believe that Anthony Volpe would be back up with the New York Yankees by now. Vague reports had the weekend series against Baltimore as a potential target date for his activation from the injured list, yet here we are, and he's still in Somerset. The Yankees still have some time. His rehab window runs through the weekend.

But a decision is looming. They'll have to decide whether they'll activate him and call him up, or option him down to the minors when his clock expires. Does the health of Jasson Domínguez, who fortunately avoided serious injury after being struck on the elbow with an errant pitch, impact the decision at all?

Or is it all much simpler? Jose Caballero is raking and starring in the field. Do they simply take it slow? Why upset the apple cart if things are working as currently constructed? It's not like Volpe is some sort of impact difference maker.

Except that's never mattered before when it came to Volpe. Aaron Boone's recent reticence to commit has been a huge 180 from how the former top prospect has been given every preference in the past, regardless of whether or not he's earned it.

The Yankees' Anthony Volpe decision might have nothing to do with on-the-field play

As much as we'd like to believe that the Yankees are finally making decisions based on on-field play - and in the cases of Luis Gil and Randal Grichuk, that has certainly been the case - there might be something more afoot.

They've never taken that tack with Volpe before, so why start now? As Chris Kirschner of The Athletic points out, there's a real financial incentive for New York. If they hold Volpe down for 20 days, they'll gain an extra year of team control over him.

Now, just because that is a possibility doesn't mean it would be the reason why they don't activate the 25-year-old right away. But we'd be lying if we didn't say the stars are aligning for them to take advantage of this benefit.

Simply put, Volpe's working on a revamped swing, so giving him additional time to refine the kinks might make sense. His performance in Somerset so far has been slightly uneven. The good news is, he's hitting .302. The bad news is it's been a punchless .302, with Volpe posting a .091 ISO while also walking at just a 2.9% clip. Maybe they just want more evidence to definitively prove that the new swing mechanics are paying off?

Caballero's performance has made that line of thinking easier for them to stomach, but if we're being honest, we know that the pesky utility man's current run is unsustainable. New York knows this, too. The organization is one of the most analytics-forward in the game. There's no way that they don't know that Caballero hasn't actually been consistently hitting the ball hard or at prime angles.

Either way, we'll find out what's next for Volpe by the end of the weekend. With that said, we might never know the why behind the decision if they do, in fact, decide to hold him down.

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