00:00I had the privilege of speaking with the legendary Derek Jeter.
00:03Had to ask him about the Yankees shortstop Anthony Volpe.
00:06Here's what Jeter had to say.
00:09What do the Yankees do with Anthony Volpe?
00:11Every player has gone through it.
00:12Every player has gone through bumps in the road.
00:15You know what I mean?
00:15But most of the time, those bumps in the road are in the minor leagues.
00:18So it's not something that you see on a daily basis.
00:21But the Yankees are very high on Anthony.
00:25Personally, I don't know him that well.
00:27We've had a couple conversations.
00:28I don't know him well.
00:30But, yeah, I think they're banking on a big upside.
00:33And, you know, hopefully he can put it together here.
00:36They can put it together soon.
00:37You know, you go back to the World Series a few years ago.
00:40He played great in the postseason that year.
00:42So you want to get back to that point.
00:44But it's tough, man.
00:45It is tough to go through growing pains at the major league level for a player.
00:50I mean, we've all been there.
00:51You know what I mean?
00:52And every mistake is magnified.
00:55And hopefully he can turn it around.
00:58So what Derek Jeter said to me about Anthony Volpe on my SiriusXM radio show goes noted.
01:07First of all, a couple of things.
01:10He has no relationship with him.
01:12Hey, Anthony, you want to pick up the phone and call Derek Jeter?
01:16He'll return the call.
01:17He'll text you back.
01:18That's one red flag.
01:20Second of all, if you listen closely to it, and I know that you did, Anthony Volpe, I'll interpret what
01:28Jeter said.
01:29I did the interview.
01:30I asked the question.
01:30I said in the question that Anthony Volpe has not played well the last two years.
01:35I would have gotten rid of him last year after the Toronto Series.
01:38I can't look at him anymore.
01:40Guy like that should not be in the major leagues.
01:43That's the interpretation of what Derek Jeter is telling me.
01:47Anthony Volpe making these kind of mistakes.
01:50And he's been a bad offensive player.
01:52Look at his stats.
01:53Watch him play.
01:53Last four years.
01:54He can't hit.
01:55Look at his batting average.
01:56Now, he can't hit.
01:58He can't field.
01:59He can't run.
01:59And he has no fundamentals.
02:01And does some of the most insane things you've ever seen on a baseball field.
02:05You know what that is?
02:07That's a minor leaguer.
02:08And as Jeter said, you usually don't see those guys trying to work these kind of fundies out in the
02:16show, playing shortstop for the New York Yankees, for a team that still currently has the second-best odds to
02:23win the World Series this year.
02:25Anthony Volpe needs to go, in my opinion.
02:28And this is not Johnny Cumberland.
02:30I've been saying this for two years.
02:32I've been saying this all season long.
02:35Day one of Shine Time.
02:36Anthony Volpe.
02:37You can't function with Anthony Volpe.
02:41You can't.
02:42Because the players in the clubhouse know.
02:44No, it means that Brian Cashman is trying to save face and rationalize taking Volpe as high as he did
02:50in the draft and saying dumb things in the past like, well, we'll let it play out on the field
02:55and I believe in this guy.
02:57No!
02:58Volpe is everything wrong with the New York Yankees.
03:02And that's a problem.
03:04So I think it's incumbent upon the Yankees to get rid of him so they can move on.
03:10So, once they get rid of Volpe, then we can start talking about, okay, moving on here.
03:18And start getting into, with all the drama and all the negativity and Aaron Judge getting hurt and the June
03:24swoon that went into July, deep in July, and all the injuries.
03:29Are the New York Yankees still, at the end of the day, are the New York Yankees still the team
03:39to beat in the American League?
03:42And honestly, this is the problem when you take a look at it.
03:46They are.
03:47They absolutely, positively are.
03:51There is a trust issue when it comes to the New York Yankees, obviously.
03:58There is a bigger trust issue when it comes to the American League.
04:04I still love Jazz Chisholm.
04:06I still very much believe here in our guy, Cody Bellinger, who we talked about earlier, who won the MVP
04:13of the All-Star Game.
04:14Ben Rice is cooking.
04:15He's an MVP candidate in the American League.
04:18Obviously, they need a new shortstop, need a new third baseman.
04:22They need a new catcher.
04:24Austin Wells is hitting 150 and is dreadful behind the plate.
04:29Yankees starting pitching as elites.
04:30Garrett Cole is really starting to look like Garrett Cole.
04:33Cam Schlittler is unbelievable.
04:35Max Fried is coming back.
04:37Aaron Judge's health is everything.
04:39But in the meantime, it doesn't have to be the only thing.
04:42Yankees should still be able to beat bad baseball teams.
04:46That was my biggest issue with the Yankees when they started going through it here, when you take a look
04:51at what transpired in June, in July.
04:55It's one thing if you lose to great teams, you don't have Aaron Judge, I could deal with it.
04:59But when you get swept by, at the time, in a four-game series, the worst version of the Boston
05:03Red Sox that we've seen in four decades, that's a problem.
05:06When you always beat up the Minnesota Twins and your offense is terrible.
05:09We talked to Jeter about this.
05:11He agreed Yankees should be better without Aaron Judge.
05:14You can't beat the Twins.
05:16That's a problem.
05:17That's not acceptable.
05:19And then it comes back to Aaron Judge, who needs to be healthy, needs to be back.
05:23And, you know, obviously, let's see when he comes back and how he comes back.
05:27And it's a rib injury.
05:29So, you have to swing the bat, and you have torque, and is he going to come back and exacerbate
05:34the injury?
05:34And if Judge is not Judge, or if he's out for a prolonged period of time, we never had this
05:39conversation.
05:40But I still can't stop staring at the bottom of the screen.
05:45Are the Yankees a team to beat in the American League?
05:48And they just need Judge to come back, and they just need Freed to come back.
05:52And even if that's just it, they might just be the team to beat in the American League.
05:58But I also think we have to reevaluate the question.
06:03Because the goal for the Yankees is to get to the World Series and win the World Series.
06:09And at no point in the first half of the season do I look at it and say,
06:13or going into the crystal ball for the second half, and it's October,
06:16the Yankees, are they capable of winning the World Series?
06:19I don't see it that way.
06:21And that's what this should be all about.
06:25So, look, I think the Yankees will eventually, if Judge comes back sooner than later,
06:32I think they'll beat out Tampa.
06:33Even if the Yankees don't beat out Tampa, with their pitching,
06:38they should be great enough with Cole and Schlittler and Freed,
06:41we'll see about Rendon's health, in a short series to go out and win on the road.
06:47Even if they don't win the division, right?
06:49They need two to three to four new arms in the bullpen.
06:53There's no question about that.
06:54And I'd like to see them make the trades.
06:56But who do you like in the American League?
06:59Texas?
07:00The White Sox?
07:02The Guardians?
07:04The Mariners?
07:06The Blue Jays who are in last place?
07:08You're buying the Boston Red Sox?
07:11Yankees have been awful.
07:12I would like to see them start by getting Volpe the hell away from the baseball team.
07:17This kind of all coincides here without question, right?
07:22It's no doubt something that has to happen so the Yankees can move forward.
07:27I also want to eventually, at some point, and I don't know if we can, change the question.
07:34I want to start talking about whether or not the Yankees, with Aaron Judge,
07:38who's never won a World Series,
07:40if the Yankees can be the team to dethrone the Dodgers.
07:44That should be the only thing that matters for this baseball team this season.
07:49And we're a long ways from that.
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