DJ

LeMahieu

LeMahieu’s first Instagram post in six years wasn’t a retirement announcement, but one imagines that if the 37-year-old had any interest in returning, it would have happened this spring. The two-time batting champ and three-time All-Star is making $15 million this season in what was the final year of a six-year, $90 million contract with the Yankees.

LeMahieu was released by the Yankees on Thursday despite being owed over $22 million, but the 36-year-old still gets on at a decent clip with a .338 clip, and he is capable of playing a couple of positions in the infield. His days of being a fantasy option have passed, but it wouldn’t be a surprised if he was a weapon off the bench for a playoff-contending club.

That escalated quickly. The Yankees moved Jazz Chisholm off of second base after telling him all off-season that’s where he was going to play, so that they could get LeMahieu back in the lineup at second base. They seemed hesitant to move Jazz back to second base as recently as last week. Then, in the blink of an eye, they designated LeMahieu for assignment; he went unclaimed on waivers, and now he’s a free agent. The 36-year-old is hitting .266/.338/.336 with two homers and 12 RBI in 142 plate appearances this season and will try to latch on somewhere as a bench piece.

The move doesn’t come as a total surprise since LeMahieu didn’t exactly have a role for New York after the club finally made the decision earlier this week to bench him in favor of Jazz Chisholm Jr. at second base. They’ll eat the roughly $22 million left on his original six-year contract that runs through the 2026 campaign. The 36-year-old doesn’t offer much defensive versatility at this advanced stage of his career and was hitting just .266/.338/.336 with two homers and 12 RBI across 142 plate appearances this season. It’ll be rookie Jorbit Vivas coming up to take his spot on the Yankees bench.

Chisholm had previously said he spent the whole offseason working at second base because that’s where he was told he was going to play. He then moved to third base to, among other things, accommodate the return of DJ LeMahieu, who has been a below-average player for the last few years. It seems that the Yankees are prioritizing Chisholm now and will either move LeMahieu to third base or insert Oswald Peraza into the starting lineup.

Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters Chisholm is dealing with some “shoulder stuff” that has been bothering him for a couple weeks. It’ll be Oswald Peraza at the hot corner and DJ LeMahieu still somehow entrenched at second base. The 27-year-old spark plug is riding a four-game hitting streak and is batting .308 (8-for-26) with three homers and seven RBI over his past seven games.

Chisholm remains at the hot corner despite some pointed postgame remarks following Tuesday’s game in Toronto where he seemed to express his displeasure at not being utilized at second base. Yankees manager Aaron Boone continues to inexplicably continue rolling with veteran DJ LeMahieu at the spot, despite the fact he’s been a complete disaster from a defensive standpoint. This feels like a potential powder keg situation that could explode at any point.

LeMahieu is 7-for-41 with one extra-base hit and a 14/2 K/BB in his last 15 games. He needs to heat back up if he wants to avoid seeing the Yankees upgrade at either second or third (with Jazz Chisholm Jr. moving back to second) prior to the deadline.

Exclusively a second baseman this season before suffering an oblique strain on Apr. 29, Chisholm is expected to play third base now, with DJ LeMahieu staying at second. He started at the hot corner twice and DH once while going 3-for-9 with a steal on his rehab assignment.

Chisholm was diagnosed with three separate tears in his oblique on May 7 and was expected to miss four to six weeks. The fact that he beat that timeline back onto the field is impressive, but it does make you question how healthy he is. The 27-year-old was hitting just .181/.304/.410 with a 31.2 percent strikeout rate in 30 games before getting hurt; however, he did have seven home runs and six steals to help provide fantasy value. The Yankees will allegedly use Chisholm at third base now that he’s back, which should open up second base for DJ LeMahieu and means that Jorbit Vivas would head to the bench or the minors.