NY Post | Greg Joyce: Anthony Volpe has reunited with the Yankees as they arrived in Tampa to play the Rays this weekend, the injured shortstop having taken an extended stay at the team’s complex while rehabbing from offseason surgery on his labrum. The time for a rehab assignment is nearing, and could come as early as Tuesday after meeting with the team physician for a final check-up, but once he’s fully ready to go what will his role with the team be? General manager Brian Cashman gave the strongest indication that he’ll be back as the starting shortstop that we’ve heard since the offseason, confirming “that’s always been the plan” when reporters asked. He did leave a caveat that “ultimately that’ll be the manager’s call” on starting Volpe, but there’s little doubt that the GM and manager will be in lockstep on this.
José Caballero had a chance to make this a more debatable choice with the starting gig wide open for the first month of the season, but his bat has been ice cold to start the year. A .135/.200/.162 triple-slash isn’t inspiring any confidence, and the team was already inclined to go back to Volpe once healthy after assessing the team in the offseason. Given how dreadful the bottom of the lineup has performed, an early season performer like Volpe could win a lot of favor back in his court by jumping back in with some timely hits.
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NJ.com | Bob Klapisch ($): We’ve seen high highs and low lows with this 2026 team already, jumping out to a 7-1 start that was tops in the league with electric pitching just to watch as the bats have gone missing and been unable to support the staff amidst a 1-4 skid that’s mainly been punctuated by three consecutive losses. It’s early, yes, so the answer of what this Yankees team is likely falls somewhere between those two results, but some very real flaws have been exposed as stats begin to stabilize.
AP | Ronald Blum: The average salary of an MLB player rose for another year after Opening Day payrolls were made official, seeing a 3.4 percent jump from 2025 to a record $5.34 million. Overall, the growth of the game’s major-league side of the financials has been on a steady climb following the pandemic, recovering from a slow decline in the late 2010s, but the underlying concern is that the extreme spenders and thrifters have both gotten stronger: six teams paid out over $250 million this year instead of four last year, while eight teams spent under $100 million as opposed to five in 2025. The median salary also grew slightly, up to $1.4 million from $1.35 million, but it still hasn’t come close to the median record set back in 2015. With a lockout all but assumed to be arriving after this season concludes, these numbers paint a picture of the opening lines that the union and owners will set their trenches against, so it’s worth familiarizing yourself with them now.
MLB Trade Rumors | Charlie Wright: Former Yankee Mike Ford is taking on a front office role with the Tampa Bay Rays, which would all but confirm that the first baseman is electing to retire from the game after spending last season abroad in Japan. Ford had a sensational stint with the Yankees in 2019 filling in for an injured Edwin Encarnacion, hitting for a .909 OPS in 50 games, but his subsequent 2020 season didn’t fare nearly as well and he played only a minor role in that year as well as in 2021, leading to a trade that sent him to Tampa. Now he’ll get the chance to work with the Rays’ minor leaguers in a still-undefined role.
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