Yankees Manager Under Fire for Strange Relationship With Infielder

The New York Yankees have made changes to their infield throughout the season and will likely make more before the MLB trade deadline. But one constant has remained within the group, and despite his struggles, the team has continued to believe in him.

This year, Anthony Volpe has been the glaring weak spot for the Yankees have several trial and errors ot find the right mix of players within the infield. During that time, manager Aaron Boone has defended Volpe, and has even called out players like Jazz Chisholm Jr. to point the blame at for moments fans clearly felt Volpe made a mistake.

Recently, YES Network reporter Meredith Marakovits revealed that Boone believes Volpe is "elite," and then defended a mistake during the New York Mets series.

"I want to tell you how protective Aaron Boone is of Volpe," Yankees play-by-play broadcaster Michael Kay said. "Subway Series, Boone's in the interview room. Meredith Marakovits asked a very legitimate question about a ball that Pete Alonso hit to the backhand side of Volpe. She said, 'Do you think he should have stopped that?' And then you can see Boone was getting exasperated, and said, 'That's a 50-50, play. That's a hard-hit ball."

Now, Boone is under some heat. Bleeding Yankees analyst Robert Casey made it known that the "elite" comment was rough to hear, and that's alarming to hear it from Boone this season.

"When Michael Kay revealed this, I fell off my chair. Boone actually thinks that this kid is good," Casey wrote. "I mean, he's not, but for some odd, and strange reason, Boone defends this kid like he's the next Derek Jeter. It's not only misguided, it's crazy and delusional."

Volpe remains the team's go-to shortstop this season with no signs of change. The team is actively looking for a third baseman, but there appears to be no signs that they will replace Volpe with another veteran.

Why? For now, it's because Boone doesn't see issues in his play.

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