The Yankees just moved one step closer to a season-defining lineup change

It took nearly the entire 2025 MLB season, but New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone appears to have had enough of embattled shortstop Anthony Volpe.

Boone omitted Volpe, who leads Major League Baseball with 19 errors, from Wednesday’s lineup against the Detroit Tigers. José Caballero, who is 10-for-43 with two home runs and nine stolen bases since joining the Yankees at the trade deadline, played shortstop and batted eighth.

Volpe’s absence from the lineup comes as he’s quietly received fewer at-bats over the last two weeks. The third-year shortstop is just 2-for-21 with 11 strikeouts and no walks in September, though the Yankees have overcome his .238 OPS to win four of the six games he’s played.

Although Boone didn’t hint at the benching on Tuesday night, he did offer comments that can be interpreted as ominous regarding Volpe’s fit down the stretch. 

“We’re at a time of the year where we’re playing for a lot right now,” Boone told reporters. “I look it as all hands on deck every day.”

Volpe entered Wednesday batting .206 with 19 home runs, 70 RBIs, and a career-high 29 doubles through 141 games. However, his bWAR has dropped from 3.4 to 1.3 largely because of his poor defense. 

Aaron Boone deserves kudos if he benches Anthony Volpe for the postseason

Boone is loyal to a fault, and he’s stood by players far longer than he should have. That’s why Alex Verdugo remained in the Yankees’ lineup through their final out in the World Series, and it’s why he stuck with Volpe at shortstop all summer. Whereas Joe Girardi typically had no issue sitting players or changing their roles — including his former teammate Jorge Posada, whom he briefly benched in August 2011 — when needed, Boone often tries to avoid making those massive adjustments.

That’s not to say that Girardi got every move correct. Some Yankees fans may also remember the disastrous Stephen Drew era at second base in 2015. There’s an argument that he stuck with Derek Jeter at shortstop too long, but Girardi also realistically had no choice. 

Unless the Yankees’ front office explicitly told Boone to keep Volpe in the lineup, then Boone has had a choice all along. And while a portion of the fanbase might argue that Boone waited too long, the counter is that he made the decision before it was too late. There’s a significant difference between “too long” and “too late.” Just imagine if Volpe made a critical error in the postseason that blew a lead and cost the Yankees a win. 

By no means are we rooting against Volpe, the hometown kid who was born in Manhattan and grew up a Yankees fan in New Jersey. Baseball is a business, though, and Volpe has continuously hurt the Yankees. All the Yankees need Caballero to do is play competent defense, maybe swipe a base or two, and help lead the club to their first title since 2009.

As for Volpe, we’ll see what the future holds. Maybe we’ll get to October, and Boone will resume writing Volpe’s name in the everyday lineup. Perhaps Volpe will open the AL Wild Card Round on the bench and only pinch-hit — and he certainly has the power to make a difference in October. But if the Yankees intend to end their title drought, then keeping Caballero at shortstop is the way to go.