The Yankees Did What They Had To And DFA'd DJ LeMahieu

Jim McIsaac. Getty Images.

Big news out of Yankee land today as the team announced they were DFA'ing veteran DJ LeMahieu as you can read below in the event you do not believe me. 

It's a sad day because DJ's early years were truly unbelievable. He was a fucking beast and in a way your prototypical vintage Yankee. He played like a guy who could seamlessly fit on the '98 team. A quiet assassin who came to the park every day locked in and ready to come through for the team in a variety of ways. 

I think some people are falling quickly to hindsight 20/20 when they say this was a terrible contract to hand out. At the time DJ was coming off back to back top 5 MVP finishes. In the shortened 2020 season he posted a 1.011 OPS. He was truly automatic with runners in scoring position hence the tag line 'Death. Taxes. DJLM w/RISP.' Judge and DJ carried those teams at the top of the lineup and the thought of losing him to free agency to someone like the Blue Jays was sickening. They agreed on a 6 year $90M contract that sadly never came close to being worth it. The original plan was shorter in length to something like 4 years with a higher AAV, but the luxury tax threshold encouraged the Yankees to extend it and go cheaper on the dollars per season. 

Unfortunately DJ's body broke down way faster than anyone could have ever envisioned. Sure they gave him the deal in his early 30s, but he actually couldn't move for the last few years. 

As I've said on here and on Twitter, the Yankees wanted to do this late last season, but Judge stepped in and wouldn't let them discard a veteran like DJ like that. Instead he was phantom IL'd and brought back this year in hopes he could have a resurgence. We all learned quickly that wasn't happening as his bat remained diminished along with his defensive range now borderline invisible. For too long Jazz Chisholm had to man 3rd base, a position alien to him, just to cater to DJ who could only "hold up" at 2nd. Eventually it became obvious that was a terrible idea and yesterday Boone announced Jazz would be going back to 2nd with DJ relegated to a bench piece. Today they got to the park and decided it was best to DFA and free up the roster spot to someone who could help at 3rd. It sadly had to be done. 

I loved DJ as a Yankee and it sucks to have his tenure here end like this, but they gotta have players on the roster who can contribute. A trade for a real 3rd baseman is paramount and must happen in the coming weeks. For now it’ll be a rotating cast of bad bats who can at least play defense. Hopefully Eugenio Suarez is on the way because otherwise you're looking at Ryan McMahon or Nolan Arenado. Need Eugenio in my life. So long DJ.