Yankees spare Anthony Volpe as 2 roster moves make room for Gerrit Cole, Jose Caballero

If you ever wanted to be personally offended by a Yankees loss, Thursday night was your chance. New York was shut out by the Blue Jays, who threw a bullpen game. The Bombers struck out 14 times and logged just three hits and three walks. They won the first two games of the series, and then lost the final two, scoring one run, striking out 25 times, and walking just three times to let their rivals off the hook. Classic stuff.

After the deflating loss, everybody was wondering what the roster moves were going to be to welcome back Gerrit Cole and Jose Caballero, pending the situation with Trent Grisham. Well, it turns out Grisham is fine, and the Yankees made their choice. So who would be losing their spot?

Spencer Jones and Yovanny Cruz are being sent back down to Triple-A. Cruz did what was asked of him, appearing in back-to-back games even though Thursday night's appearance was a ridiculous decision by Aaron Boone (Cruz logged two innings the night prior). Jones, on the other hand, wasted away for two weeks. He hit .167/.259/.167 in 27 plate appearances and struck out 12 times. Not gonna cut it.

That means Anthony Volpe will remain in the Bronx when Cole and Caballero are activated before the series against the Tampa Bay Rays. Boone hinted Caballero would take back starting shortstop duties, so Volpe's future role seems as if it's a bit up in the air right now.

How will Yankees deploy Anthony Volpe upon Jose Caballero's return?

Yankees insider Joel Sherman previous suspected Volpe would be optioned back to Scranton to start playing other positions in an effort to become more versatile off the bench. Instead, we guess they'll be doing that in the big leagues?

That does seem like a bit of a risk given Volpe has only played shortstop for the Yankees. The other option is Caballero gets some second base/outfield reps to give Boone flexibility and give struggling players a breather.

There's also a chance Trent Grisham can't immediately return to everyday duties with his tweaked knee. If that's the case, somebody will need to play a bit of left field (hint: it won't be Volpe). Then there's the case of Jazz Chisholm Jr., who is admittedly heating up a bit, but then came crashing back down to earth on Thursday, going 0-for-4 with four strikeouts and absolutely killed the Yankees' momentum in various spots when they needed a spark. At this point, he has not earned the benefit of the doubt.

Either way, Boone and the Yankees have flexibility. Maybe Caballero returns to shortstop on Friday, Volpe gets a breather, and things shift around a bit this weekend. Maybe Volpe gets a bit more runway at shortstop, and if he doesn't deliver then the Yankees have their answer. The reality is that Caballero is the far more versatile option so he will probably be deployed in a utility role so the organization can have its way with Volpe, who impressed a bit in his return but has quickly fallen back down thanks to a 1-for-10 stretch with three strikeouts and a caught stealing.

The Yankees can't keep losing games by generating zero offense. Their entire lineup is built on power and run scoring. So whatever move Boone makes, it'll need to foster some more consistency on that front because the last two losses were as unacceptable as they come.

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