Yankees Predicted to Dump $90 Million Star as ‘Sunk Cost’ After Injury

Getty Yankees IF DJ LeMahieu

For a brief time, at least, it appeared that Yankees infielder DJ LeMahieu might at least get the chance to rescue his teetering career in pinstripes. Alas, that seems to have come to a halt. LeMahieu was placed on the disabled list, retroactive to September 6, on Monday, the team announced. He is suffering a hip injury and it is highly unlikely that anything will happen between now and the end of the season to get him back on the roster for the MLB playoffs.

It’s a sad ending. LeMahieu had actually hit well lately, batting .292 between August 16 and September 3 to raise his batting average to .204. That’s not impressive, obviously, but considering LeMahieu had been at .192 on August 17 and had been as low as .173 on July 30, getting over .200 was something of an accomplishment.

But LeMahieu’s injury puts a fine point on what has been a miserable season for the former star of the Yankees. Much of the shuffling that has gone on within the team’s lineup this season stems back to the fact that LeMahieu has proven to be utterly ineffective.

“It’s been something that has been kinda lingering on him the last couple weeks,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said of the hip. “He’s been getting treatment on it. It’s been kinda better some days, worse the others. But it has been kinda lingering on him for a few weeks now.”

DJ LeMahieu Future Remains Murky

That makes the future murky, at best, for LeMahieu. The Yankees are nearly a sure bet to land in the playoffs this fall, but LeMahieu is nearly a sure bet to not be part of that playoff roster.

And beyond that, as the New York Post speculated, “Based off this season, it’s certainly a possibility the Yankees could view him as a sunk cost this offseason and release him. LeMahieu has just given them another reason to do so.”

It would be an expensive sunk cost. LeMahieu signed a six-year, $90 million contract in 2021 with the Yankees and is owed $30 million over the next two seasons. In addition to being a three-time All-Star, LeMahieu is a two-time batting champ and Silver Slugger.

But the Yankees’ infield problems this season began with LeMahieu suffering a bone bruise in his foot during Spring Training, which was bad enough to keep him out of the start of the season. When potential replacement Jon Berti also went down, the Yankees were left scrambling.

Eventually, the team executed the trade for Jazz Chisholm, who was converted to a third baseman for the first time in his career. He suffered an elbow injury after just 15 games.

Yankees Finally Recall Jasson Dominguez

But while the bad news on Monday centered on LeMahieu’s exit, the good news was that the Yankees, at long last, called up phenom prospect Jasson Dominguez and also, finally, got Berti back on the big league roster.

It is unclear whether Boone and the Yankees, who had resisted bringing up Dominguez until now despite considerable criticism, have a plan to get the 21-year-old involved in the playoff push or if he is just in the Bronx for a cup of coffee. He appears ready to contribute immediately.

As Dominguez wrote in The Players Tribune when he was called up, “I know this season has had its ups and downs. I get that the expectations are high. I feel the same way. To be honest, when I signed with the Yankees, the only thing I knew about them was that they were, ‘the best team in the world.’ I don’t know if it was true at that moment but I believed it was. And I want to help make you believe again, too.”