New York Yankees designate veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu for assignment

The move comes just a few days ahead of LeMahieu's 37th birthday, which will be on Sunday.

Though he was previously an excellent big league hitter capable of playing multiple positions, his production has nosedived as he has aged, both offensively and defensively.

He started this season on the 10-day injured list due to a calf strain. He came off the IL in mid-May.

The Yanks gave him a chance to take over the second base job, with Jazz Chisholm Jr. moved over to third base, but LeMahieu's offense was subpar.

Manager Aaron Boone recently announced that Chisholm would be moving back to second base.

LeMahieu had played third base in the past but Boone said this week that wouldn't be an option as it would be too physically challenging for LeMahieu.

General manager Brian Cashman said today that LeMahieu mentioned back in the winter that playing third base would be an issue for him physically.

It seemed the window was closing on him being a useful contributor for the Yankees, so they are moving on.

After many years with the Rockies, the Yankees originally signed LeMahieu ahead of the 2019 season, a two-year deal with a $24MM guarantee.

He was brilliant over the course of that contract, hitting a combined .336/.386/.536 over 195 games.

That production led to a 146 wRC+, indicating he was 46% better than the league average hitter. He did that while bouncing between first base, second base and third base as needed.

He returned to free agency but the Yanks eventually re-signed him, a six-year pact this time with a $90MM guarantee.

In hindsight, that ultimately proved to be a misstep for the Yanks. In 2021, LeMahieu's production fell to .268/.349/.362, translating to a 101 wRC+.

He bounced back slightly in 2022, with a .261/.357/.377 line and 115 wRC+, but he was a league average hitter again in 2023.

LeMahieu will be on the open market in the coming days. He is making $15MM annually through the end of next year, meaning there is still about $22MM left to be paid out between now and then.

No club will want to claim that off the waiver wire. He has more than enough service time to reject an outright assignment and keep those salary commitments in place.

The Yankees may skip that formality and simply release him. They will stay on the hook for that money.

At that point, any other club could sign him and would only have to pay him the prorated version of the league minimum salary.

That amount would be subtracted from what the Yankees pay. Given LeMahieu's health, age and recent performance, he may be limited to minor league offers.

The Yankees have been connected to players like Ryan McMahon and former Toronto Blue Jays infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa in recent weeks.

Cashman admitted today that he plans to look for third base upgrades ahead of the deadline.