{"id":25445,"date":"2025-02-12T07:38:02","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T07:38:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=25445"},"modified":"2025-02-12T07:38:02","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T07:38:02","slug":"shocking-move-yankees-expected-to-hand-key-role-to-90m-bust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=25445","title":{"rendered":"SHOCKING MOVE: Yankees Expected to Hand Key Role to $90M Bust!"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"c-content entry-content\">\n<div id=\"post-featured-container-id\">\n<div id=\"post-featured\" class=\"wp-caption \">\n<div class=\"h-responsive\">\n<figure class=\"h-responsive__inner\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"attachment-featured-image size-featured-image wp-post-image\" src=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181610583-e1739314687709.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 820px) 95vw, 780px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181610583-e1739314687709.jpg?quality=65&amp;strip=all&amp;w=780 780w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181610583-e1739314687709.jpg?quality=15&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1100 1100w, https:\/\/heavy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/GettyImages-2181610583-e1739314687709.jpg?quality=35&amp;strip=all&amp;w=1350 1350w\" alt=\"Yankees IF DJ LeMahieu\" width=\"780\" height=\"437\" data-dom-ready-time=\"1012\" data-img-load-time=\"1274\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"wp-caption-text\"><span class=\"caption-credit\">Getty<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"c-post-image-caption-text\">Yankees IF DJ LeMahieu<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>For the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-yankees\/\">Yankees<\/a>, the offseason began with the question of whether they\u2019d be able to keep up with the black-check\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/new-york-mets\/\">Mets<\/a>\u00a0in their pursuit of free-agent outfielder Juan Soto, who helped the Pinstripes to the World Series last year. Once that became a, \u201cNo,\u201d the question became how the Yankees would rebound to fill out the roster.<\/p>\n<p>They added a former MVP to play center field, Cody Bellinger from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/heavy.com\/sports\/mlb\/chicago-cubs\/\">Cubs.<\/a>\u00a0Bellinger had a down year in 2024, but is still only 29 and figures to be well-suited for Yankee Stadium. They also brought in a first baseman, Paul Goldschmidt, to play first base. Goldschmidt is 37 years old, but did knock 22 home runs and played 154 games at first last year.<\/p>\n<p>The Yankees filled in their bullpen and added another ace pitcher in Max Fried. They moved last year\u2019s third baseman, Jazz Chisholm back to his more natural second base spot. So they filled in all their needs.<\/p>\n<p>Well, all except one. With Chisholm playing second, the Yankees have a wide-open hole at third base, and did not find a replacement in free agency or via trade. They\u2019ll attempt to fill the spot from within.<\/p>\n<h2>Yankees Have a Hole at 3B<\/h2>\n<p>There\u2019s little to say that the Yankees have the talent on hand to adequately fill the third-base slot. It could wind up that utility man Francisco Cabrera plays third base, but then, that would leave the Yankees without a backup guy who can play all over the infield.<\/p>\n<p>And so Phillip Martinez,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sny.tv\/articles\/yankees-26-man-roster-prediction-2025-pitchers-catchers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">beat writer for SNY<\/a>, is predicting the Yankees do something rather unconventional with the third-base position: Give it to D.J. LeMahieu, despite the fact that LeMahieu hit just .204 in 67 games last year, and looked utterly washed up.<\/p>\n<p>That may be, But LeMahieu is in the fifth year of a<a href=\"https:\/\/www.spotrac.com\/mlb\/player\/_\/id\/10696\/dj-lemahieu\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener external\">\u00a0six-year, $90 million contract<\/a>, and the Yankees will likely at least let him have a shot at winning the job before ruling him out altogether. They\u2019re paying him either way.<\/p>\n<p>Wrote Martinez: \u201cFor all the LeMahieu doubters out there, unless they bring someone proven in (see: Nolan Arenado), the Yankees will try and get the most out of the infielder who is owed $30 million across the next two years. I think the Yankees could use a talent like Arenado, even at his age, but not sure a deal can be done.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>DJ LeMahieu Has Been a Bad Deal in the Bronx<\/h2>\n<p>A trade for Arenado would be a nice fit, especially if it keeps him away from the Red Sox, the team Arenado reportedly wants to be traded to should he leave the Cardinals. Arenado is 33 and hit .272 last season, while still registering as one of MLB\u2019s top third basemen.<\/p>\n<p>As for LeMahieu, getting something out of the final two years of his contract might prove to be akin to getting blood from a stone. LeMahieu hit .336 in his first two seasons with the Yankees, sparking the team to give him the mega-contract.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, LeMahieu has been a bust. His batting average has dropped every year of the new contract, and he has hit .252 with a .698 OPS in the four years since he got the big deal. The Yankees can give him the third-base job, but it\u2019d be a shock if he was still in the role in August.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"l-article__author-bio\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Getty Yankees IF DJ LeMahieu For the\u00a0Yankees, the offseason began with the question of whether they\u2019d be able to keep up with the black-check\u00a0Mets\u00a0in their pursuit of&#8230; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mlb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>SHOCKING MOVE: Yankees Expected to Hand Key Role to $90M Bust! - 24\/7 News America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/usatoday.azontree.com\/?p=25445\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SHOCKING MOVE: Yankees Expected to Hand Key Role to $90M Bust! 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