New York Post | Greg Joyce: In the midst of the ongoing debate about who should be the shortstop of the New York Yankees, a rumor has begun to swirl that Anthony Volpe refuses to consider to play any other position on the diamond. Volpe himself called out that rumor, saying he’s willing to play any spot on the field, even catcher (watch out, Austin Wells). One of the purveyors of that gossip, Michael Kay, has since retracted his claim that Volpe refused to practice at second base, and has said he will apologize to Tony.
New York Daily News | Gary Phillips: After a golden sombrero on Tuesday night, Paul Goldschmidt, penciled into the leadoff spot in a Major League lineup in 2026 started Wednesday’s game 0-for-4, miring him in a career-worst 0-for-34 skid. We saw this with Goldy last year, where his excellent first half seemed to lead to him running out of gas completely in the second half. The man himself admitted how poorly he’s played, but it’s one thing to admit it and another to be capable of changing it.
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FanGraphs | Dan Szymborski: Dan’s proprietary projection system, ZiPS, has some things to say about the first half performances around the league. zStats function similarly to xStats, using a variety of batted ball, bat speed, and spray chart information to attempt to predict how hard a regression to the mean will hit a given player. So far in the first half, the Yankees have two of the bigger “overachievers” by zOPS, Paul Goldschmidt and Ben Rice. I’d buy that Paul was hitting over his skis in the first half, but I trust Ben to mostly keep it up. Austin Wells shows up as one of the bigger “underachievers”, which, yeah, makes complete and total sense.
Yahoo! Sports | Ian Casselberry: Happy trails to a cadre of longtime MLB umpires, who have agreed to the league’s buyouts and will be retiring at the end of the year. The infamous CB Bucknor, a frequent target of managers, broadcasters, and fans alike, is the most notable name in the group. If nothing else, thank you for one last great memory:
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