Aaron Boone's pathetic Anthony Volpe defense is everything wrong with the Yankees

The New York Yankees lost the opener of their crucial three-game series against the AL East-leading Toronto Blue Jays on Tuesday by a final score of 4-1. The team managing just one run on five hits was frustrating, but Yankees fans are more focused on the team's sloppy play on the defensive side of the ball. Oswald Peraza and Anthony Volpe committed crucial back-to-back errors, leading to a pair of Blue Jays runs. The only thing worse than the errors was Aaron Boone excusing Volpe for what seems like the 60th time this season, as he continues to play the worst baseball of his career.

Yankees fans are frustrated with Volpe, citing his underwhelming offense and defense as reasons why. Boone, even when not a single statistic or metric agrees, believes Volpe is "still a top shortstop."

Yankees fans can see right through Boone's coddling and have had enough.

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Aaron Boone's Anthony Volpe defense makes no sense

Calling Volpe "a top shortstop" is just insulting Yankees fans' intelligence at this point. Again, nothing about Volpe's season would suggest he's been close to a top shortstop in any way.

Volpe's error was his 12th of the season, the most among all AL players. Errors don't always tell the whole story, but Volpe also entered Monday's action with -3 OAA, good for the 17th percentile, according to Baseball Savant. His -3 OAA is tied with a former Yankee who notoriously struggled at shortstop during his time in pinstripes, Isiah Kiner-Falefa, for 26th among 35 qualified shortstops. Do these metrics suggest Volpe is even close to the discussion of being a top shortstop? Anyone other than Boone would say no.

Was Volpe elite defensively in the past? Absolutely. His glove was the only reason why it was easy to defend Boone playing him regularly, even with his bat being as shaky as it's been throughout his career. I'm willing to give Volpe the benefit of the doubt and assume part of his struggles can either be attributed to some unknown injury or just the mental side of the game getting in his head. However, his glove has been a negative this season, and that cannot be argued no matter how hard Boone tries.

Aaron Boone's coddling is everything wrong with the Yankees

Boone, for reasons only he can explain, has seemingly gone out of his way to defend Volpe in particular, no matter what he does. His error in this game came on a routine play and cost the Yankees a key run. Everyone makes errors, but again, Volpe has made more than anybody in the AL. At some point, he simply has to be better, and that hasn't happened. Despite that, Boone is still coddling him.

The solution to this feels so simple. Boone doesn't have to call Volpe out, but he doesn't have to lie either. A middle ground of saying he's a player who has been good in the past but is in a rut right now would suffice. Yankees fans just want to see some accountability being taken instead of just clear lies being told.

Does Volpe not take constructive criticism well? Does Boone not believe his players can take accountability? Does his coddling lead to the team disappearing in big games and taking several steps back before taking any steps forward? These are questions worth asking.

I'm all for defending my players, but if my team has to play better, I'd want that to be known. It's going to be hard for the Yankees to do anything if Volpe, a player who plays one of the most important positions on the field, cannot make routine plays, especially when he doesn't provide much value at the plate.

At this point, it's hard to envision anything changing with Volpe unless he's given a stern wake-up call. Unfortunately, it doesn't feel like that wake-up call is going to be coming from Boone anytime soon, if ever.