It seems like even Yankees manager Aaron Boone can’t settle on a clear answer at shortstop. Just yesterday, we were talking about how he staked his confidence on Anthony Volpe, starting him over Jose Caballero in the opener against the Tigers. But less than a day later, Boone seemed to walk that back. Yes, when the lineup came out for Wednesday’s game at the Stadium, Caballero was starting and Volpe was on the bench.

And when reporters reminded him of his comment about Volpe being the team’s shortstop just 24 hours earlier, Boone’s tone sounded noticeably different.

“Yankees believe and hope his best days are here for us and down the stretch, hopefully into October. We saw that last year from him, how good he was for us in October.” Boone was confident about Volpe, citing his performance last year. And now? Volpe’s status reached the day-to-day phase.

“Oh, I don’t know. Day to day. He’s in there today, and we’ll reassess tonight and head into tomorrow.” MLB insider Max Goodman quoted Boone on the eve of the second game against the Tigers. “Yeah, but that said, we’re in day-to-day mode. We’re playing for a lot right now, and I have a decision to make every day with the lineup. Whatever tough decision I think that is, I’ll make it. And I hope that he can get it going here to a point where he is that guy because I think when we’re at our best, he’s out there impacting us on both sides of the ball, and it frees up Cabby to play a different role too. But that said, I’ll make a decision day by day,” Boone further added.

So, regarding benching Volpe, Boone eventually sounded a little more realistic about the situation. He admitted that Volpe hasn’t been able to put things together offensively in his third season. Despite hitting 19 homers and driving in 70 runs, Volpe’s .206 average and .268 OBP are the worst in the AL, and his .661 OPS sits among the bottom five. Defensively, it hasn’t been much better; he’s committed a league-high 19 errors!

Caballero, meanwhile, has been a spark. Heading into Wednesday, he led the majors with 43 stolen bases and has been steady since arriving from the Rays at the trade deadline. Notably, in just 43 at-bats, he’s posted a .765 OPS with two HRs, six RBIs, while making only four errors across nearly 200 innings at multiple positions.

However, Boone hasn’t hinted at making anything permanent. He clearly wants Volpe to rediscover the form he showed last October. In other words, don’t be surprised if Volpe is back in the lineup at any moment.

Volpe had a history of getting benched

This is not the first time that Anthony Volpe has been benched.

Last month, Volpe was benched for the finale of a key four-game set against the rival Red Sox. And guess what, the Yankees have bounced back since then, riding a two-game winning streak into the series with the Nationals. Still, that Boston series was one of their worst stretches of the season. And manager Aaron Boone didn’t hide his frustration.

Things got so rough that time that Jose Caballero ended up taking over for Volpe at shortstop. And yes, the move has paid off! Notably, New York was 2-0 that time with a +10 run differential since the switch. That also helped the Yankees to have a chance to build on that momentum before their big series win with the Blue Jays in early September.

While Volpe was placed on the active roster again after a two-day bench, this time, the scene could also be the same. Especially after Boone said that he still believes that Volpe could be back to his last year’s World Series form. So let’s see how it goes for Caballero today. His performance will also determine if Anthony Volpe’s bench schedule will extend or not.