New York Yankees second base DJ LeMahieu (26) grounds out Athletics’ Max Muncy (10) during the sixth … More
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After a 60-game season in 2020 ended with a one-run loss in Game 5 of the Division Series to the Tampa Bay Rays, the Yankees were fairly quiet in the offseason.
As the calendar flipped to 2021, the one apparent move was figuring out how to keep DJ LeMahieu, whose first two seasons with the Yankees saw him finish behind Tim Anderson for the AL batting title and win the batting title in the shortened season.
It was a no-brainer at the time and often moves like the six-year, $90 million contract are made more for the present tense and not for the encompassing trip a career can take as a player ages.
Due to age and various injuries the Yankees rarely saw anything close to 2019 and 2020 and the end occurred Tuesday when he was designated for assignment with about $22 million remaining on the contract. It was one of those moves where the writing was on the wall when a day earlier, manager Aaron Boone said Jazz Chisholm Jr. was going back to second base and LeMahieu was coming off the bench and not an option for third base
It was hard to envision many at-bats for LeMahieu, who was hitting .266 with 29 of his 34 hits being singles and limited range at second base where he did not make an error in any of the 143 chances on balls hit within his vicinity but also was unable to move on balls well out of his range.
“I made the decision that I thought was best for us as we move forward,” GM Brian Cashman said during a nearly 30-minute press conference. “He’s a great player, he’s a great person. He’s done great things here. Obviously, the last few years have not been what he or we hoped for here, but that’s also part of the game.”
LeMahieu was 32 when he followed up hitting .327 with a career-high 26 homers and 102 RBI by hitting .364 in 50 games to win a batting title in both leagues in a funky year for all those involved.
At the time, the move was one the Yankees were lauded for, though the adding the sixth part might have been questioned. His track record on a two-year, $24 million contract justified the new deal when teammates were constantly referring him to as “Le Machine”
And a few weeks before the Yankees signed LeMahieu, players such as Toronto Blue Jays infielder Bo Bichette were openly campaigning for him after two years of machine like efficiency that produced a handful of steady numbers and impressive splits.
In 2019, it was .375 in 160 at-bats off lefties and .310 in 442 at-bats off righties when he got a hit in 115 out 145 games. In 2020, it was an astounding .400 (16-for-40) off lefties and .355 (55-for-155) off right-handed pitching.
Besides those really effective splits, there are the numbers in clutch situations: In 2020, it was .364 with runners in scoring position and .302, and in 2019, it was .389 with runners in scoring position and .379 with men on base.
LeMahieu never came close to replicating those first seasons. He only missed 12 games in 2021 but the average dropped to .268 with 10 homers and 57 RBIs and if the Yankees gotten past the wild-card game at Fenway Park, he would be unavailable due to a sports hernia that he attempted to play through.
In 2022, his average reached .292 but he was playing through a toe injury that limited him eight games after Aug. 31 and kept him out of the postseason when the toe turned out to be fractured.
LeMahieu was able to play 136 games in the disastrous 2023 season but also batted .243 in a year when his average dropped to .219 in early July. By 2024, the rash of injuries started as LeMahieu began the season with a foot contusion that cost him 55 games and then missed the final 22 games with hip impingement, keeping
The Yankees played 40 postseason games while LeMahieu was on the team. LeMahieu was not able to participate in any of those playoff games under the long-term contract because injuries kept him from finishing seasons.
LeMahieu missed the first 41 games with a calf injury and his name appeared at second base in minor league rehab games, a sign he could not handle third base, which is something confirmed by Cashman Wednesday.
“He was always just sharing that the recovery was really difficult,” Cashman said. “The physical toll on him to tee up that [third base] position was a problem. Obviously, the last few years, we’ve had a lot of injuries that he’s been fighting through. He strongly felt the best way for him to go forward was to stay on the right side of the infield.”
Cashman and Boone acknowledged telling someone who means a lot to his teammates is no longer needed is amongst the hardest conversations to participate in but also was appreciative of his time with the Yankees
“He’s been a great player and he’s done a lot of great things for this organization,” Boone said. “So it’s difficult, but at the end, we feel like this is the right thing to do at this time. We certainly wish all the best for what’s been a great player.”
And someday LeMahieu will get a nice reception from fans if he ever decides to attend a Yankee game in the stands or signs with someone else and is a visiting player for the first time since playing for the Colorado Rockies in 2016.
