Hour 4: McMonigle Defends Boone and Debates Yankees Shortstop Shifting

**Craig Carton** (0:00)
As Will Warren looks to take on the Tampa Bay Rays, Caballero at shortstop. And look, this isn't just about Anthony Volpe being terrible. It's about the Yankees recognizing that right now, and specifically for this series, for me, it's specifically about this series. I still think he should be the starting shortstop, but I'm not going to go nuts. I'm not going to applaud, you know, when we find out that he's the starting shortstop every day, because I understand the ability of Caballero to play multiple positions, and you want to give the guys days off, and if Caballero is hot, you know, and if Volpe is going to be on the roster, which again, Boone doesn't necessarily control, you got to play him a little bit here or there, and he only plays shortstop. So I understand it's not going to be every single day that Caballero plays, but this series in particular against this team who puts the ball in play and has given the Yankees fits defensively, we saw it earlier in the season, they had trouble playing against this team defensively. In this building, I think it's important Caballero is a shortstop every day, and that's not to say Volpe sucks. And I don't even know if I'm being fair, the major difference in Caballero at short versus Volpe in short. I don't think it's night and day. I really don't. I don't think it's, you know, I don't think it's Ozzie Smith versus one of the worst defensive shortstops we've ever seen. It's not like, I was going to use Bichette, but then it was just on my mind. He was a Blue Jay when I thought of it, but now it's Metz, so it would be anti-Met. I don't want to do that, but Bichette's been a bad defense. Abrams with Washington. Like it's not, it's really not that big a gap, but he's just a little bit cleaner, a little bit crisper. He turns the double plays better. He's got a stronger arm and the Yankees play better when he's the starting shortstop.
And in a perfect world, he'd be a utility player. I don't think he's all that great, but he's the best they got at the moment, and the team plays best when he's there, and it needs to be him. And they did it again today. Anthony Volpe even with the left-hander on the mound who does have reverse splits. I'm sure you're going to hear that, because the manager is going to try and, he's not going to, he's going to try and downplay sitting Volpe two days in a row, and especially against the lefty. He's not going to say, well, listen, I just think Caballero is a better fit right now. Not going to say that. He's going to say, well, Seymour has actually reverse splits. He's better against lefties, and you know, Cabe hit the two home runs yesterday. Like, but you know, we still see Volpe playing against a lot of lefties. We think he has good numbers against lefties. You're going to hear that. Don't you hear it. But they needed to do this today. They need to get these wins. And this is the best version of the team. And hopefully, Will Warren can go out there, because again, the rotation last night, the offense still not great. Three hits, three hits, three hits, all three homeruns. I think it was the first time in Yankee history that they had won a game having three hits and all three hits being homeruns. But I don't care how you get the wins, and they're going to have to rely on their starting pitching. And again, when you look at this team and you wonder how can you win a championship, a large portion of that answer is going to be dominant starts from Cam Schlitler, Max Freed and Garrett Cole in specific. Those three guys are going to have to be your three aces heading into a postseason series. That's what makes you confident. And as we get close to the deadline, we could talk about them trading for another starting pitcher, whether it's Schubel or Ryan or another starting pitcher. If you think if they think that might be a way to improve them, I think they'll do that. They certainly need to catch her.
And I just saw John Heyman's report that the Rays could be in the market for a catcher. So the Yankees and Rays could get into a bidding war trying to trade for a catcher.
But I would say to any Yankee fan who says, Oh, the Yankees can't win because of this. The Yankees can't win because of that. This is clearly not good enough to win a championship. It's not a championship team. Who's the other team in the American League? Because right now the best team in the American League is the Rays. When it comes to record, Cedric Mullins was hitting cleanup.