Quick thoughts after the Yankees DFA DJ LeMahieu

In a move that had to happen, the Yankees DFAed DJ LeMahieu this afternoon. Sounds like Jorbit Vivas will come up to fill the roster spot. The Yankees moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. back to second base yesterday and installed Oswald Peraza at third base. That is clearly their best defensive alignment. "We'll get through it and we'll all be okay,” Aaron Boone said about DFAing the popular LeMahieu.

The Yankees owe LeMahieu about $22M through the end of next season. His six-year, $90M contract was clearly a four-year, $90M contract stretched out over six years for luxury tax purposes. Four years and $90M was going the rate for an above-average over-30 infielder at the time (Josh Donaldson got four years and $92M from the Twins), and the Yankees added two years to soften the luxury tax blow. A four-year deal would have ended after last season. The six-year deal runs through 2026.

LeMahieu, 37 next month, was terrific from 2019-20, hitting .336/.386/.536 (146 wRC+) with +8.6 WAR in 195 games around the pandemic. That original two-year contract is one of the best free agent signings in Yankees history. Everything that came after it has been bad though. LeMahieu is a .256/.336/.360 (99 wRC+) hitter since signing his current contract with declining defense and injuries piling up. It hasn’t been pretty.

Brian Cashman said LeMahieu informed the Yankees he wasn’t physically up to playing third base anymore this past offseason, which really limits his usefulness. The bench with LeMahieu would have been nonsensical. Every night the bench would have been two lefty hitting catchers, a second-base only guy (I guess LeMahieu could have played first too), and whichever outfielder is not in the starting lineup. The backup third baseman would have been the starting second baseman and the backup shortstop would have been the starting third baseman. You can’t operate like that.

LeMahieu had hit some lately (7-for-15 in July), though it’s all singles, many of them ground balls that found a hole. There wasn’t a carrying tool anymore. LeMahieu’s a powerless hitter on the short side of the platoon, his arm limits him to second, and his range is inadequate for the middle infield. Decline comes for us all and it came hard for LeMahieu the last few years. It sucks, but that’s baseball.

Peraza is a wonderful defender but he can’t hit, and Vivas won’t move the needle. The Yankees still need a third baseman at the trade deadline. That doesn’t change that. All DFAing LeMahieu does is make the bench and the roster in general more functional. The Dodgers cut Austin Barnes and Chris Taylor, two popular and long-tenured but no longer productive players, earlier this year. If the Dodgers can do it, so can the Yankees. It’s a shame it ended this way, but the Yankees will be better off for it.