Breaking - DJ LeMahieu DFA'd
- Paul Semendinger
- Jul 9
- 2 min read
By Paul Semendinger
July 9, 2025
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My Quick Thoughts:
It is always sad when a players career ends.
DJ was great in 2019 and 2020.
I was against the Yankees re-signing DJ after the 2020 season. The topic was debated a lot ever since his free agency.
I argued that he just had his career years (2020 was a shortened year, of course), and, as he started to progress through his 30's, he was not a player to invest in long-term.
Here is one of the articles I wrote at the time: https://www.startspreadingthenews.blog/post/a-look-at-how-recent-great-second-basemen-have-aged
The Yankees signed D.J. to a 6-year, $90 million contract.
For $90 million, D.J. LeMahieu produced a total of 5.6 WAR across five seasons.
His OPS+ for those seasons was 95.
What we will never know is the opportunity cost of resigning D.J. LeMahieu. What other player(s) might the Yankees have acquired for that $90 million?
We also don't know what players the Yankees "settled" on because they felt they had to play D.J. LeMahieu.
We do know that the Yankees played Jazz Chisholm out of position to accomodate LeMahieu - a move that I did not believe made sense and one that, by the Yankees' own actions, was proven that it didn't work.
The Yankees still owe D.J. $22 million.
I wish D.J. LeMahieu well. I hope he finds another team that takes a chance on him. I hope he does great for that team.
I don't think he will, sadly, because the eye test shows that he is at the end of his career.
While I feel badly for D.J. because his career is over, and this is never easy on a personal level, he was handsomely rewarded for his stay in the Bronx. Most people don't get to retire at 36-years-old with tens of millions of dollars earned. (DJ earned over $116,000,000 in his career.)
The Yankees made the right choice here. It is good to see the Yankees making the correct choice and putting the team's needs ahead of contract numbers.
Again, I wish D.J. well.
i thought a BIG piece of info from the BC press conference
BC stated that DJ told the team in the winter that he felt he was no longer able to play 3b.
the team had Goldy and Bellinger and they clearly knew they wanted to see if Rice could / would be able to impact the team. that gives the team 3 1b
so, the team had 3 guys other than DJ who could play 1b
they had Jazz who they clearly planned to give the Volpe treatment at 2b
and DJ says he cannot play 3b
two things
first, what is his role on that roster? play if and when Jazz is injured? it really seems that w…
With the 26 man roster, I'd rather have seen them give him the respect, and not cut him. He was no longer "the machine". Very true. I guess I'll hold off the criticism until we see who replaces him on the roster.
The real gusty move would have been dumping the GM.
IMO,a bad move, but the Yankees were never, pleasant when giving a player The old f*"#k you..!!!. They have No one else who can hit 250, sure he's old ,less range, but who else is there ?? Ehghemm nobody !! I hope he goes to a team that, knocks the Yankees out this year !!! Did same crap to Bernie, Gerrardi, posada.... cruel., stupid IMO.
Oh yeah Peraza, is the man.?? Lmfao 🤣 🤣!!
He can't hit .175.!! In a good day..
C. J. D
For $90 million, D.J. LeMahieu produced a total of 5.6 WAR across five seasons.
and for the two seasons that he played for the Yankees prior to signing that contract
DJ was paid a total of $24M and produced a total WAR of 8.6 ---and was voted third and fourth in the MVP balloting
Good guy who had two excellent years for us. However, Cashman did his usual thing and signed a 30 something player to a ridiculous long term contract rather than emphasizing youth and athleticism.
My question: is this DFA move a prelude to a big Yankee trade for a 3rd baseman? If so, please do not let it be Nolan Arenado, which would be repeating the same mistake. There is another 3rd baseman who might be available whose name I can't recall but who is also in his mid-30s. Please, no.