"This makes it worse"; "Would've sucked a** either way" - Fans crack up as Aaron Boone insists shoulder injury had no impact on Anthony Volpe's slump

The New York Yankees held a press conference on Thursday, where manager Aaron Boone addressed questions regarding Anthony Volpe's decision to play through a shoulder injury.

This comes after Volpe made several defensive errors and even went through a slump at the plate during the season, which ended in the ALDS against the Toronto Blue Jays. Boone said he does not believe Volpe's shoulder injury significantly impacted his performance during the 2025 season.

"I think for the overwhelming majority of the year [the injury] was not affecting his play," Boone said. "There were things like, he would dive on it a certain way, tick it off, aggravate it, I think in some ways, the injury probably got a little bit worse towards the end of the year based on a couple of episodes that happened. But I don't think it was impacting performance."

Fans reacted to Boone's statement for Volpe. One fan reacted, knowing the Yankees' general manager had said something opposite.

"That makes it so much worse. 😂" the fan said. "Translation: he would’ve sucked a** either way," another fan wrote. "So if the injury didn’t impact performance, he just sucked? Got it," one fan drew his interpretation. "So he just sucks, and he kept playing him. beautiful," one fan added. "Between this ridiculous answer, and the fact that the organization allowed an injured player to start every day when he was batting 200 and making errors every day shows you the inept Cashman regime even more," one fan targeted Brian Cashman. "Okay so if the injury did not have an impact he is just a below average hitter and below average defender and the organization is okay with that?" another fan asked.

Yankees GM expressed a contrasting viewpoint from Aaron Boone

Yankees GM Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone agree on most occasions, but it seems the former has a change of thought regarding whether Anthony Volpe's shoulder affected his performance.

"I personally think now I'm starting to lean more into that yes, it was affecting him," Cashman said. "Because ultimately, he had to have the surgery. None of that was really on the table in-season..."

Volpe underwent shoulder surgery to repair a partially torn labrum and is expected to miss the start of the 2026 season. The organization will monitor his recovery closely and, at this point in time, has not ruled out the possibility of starting the season timely. Boone is confident Volpe will be able to return to form when he comes back.

Edited by Krutik Jain