Credit where it’s due to embattled New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone. Even as Yankee fans continue to call for his proverbial head, Boone made a bold move earlier this week and fans can’t argue with the results.
Actually, they probably can and will. Yankee fans are not likely to develop love for Boone overnight. But the end result is, the Yankees and Boone — and of course longtime general manager Brian Cashman — were so eager to rid themselves of one disgruntled veteran after Boone made the move to bench him, that they were willing to pay him not to play for the Bronx Bombers. And not a small amount either.
The Yankees released veteran infielder D.J. LeMahieu Thursday, despite the fact that they owe him the $22 million remaining on his contract, which pays him $90 million over six years.
Writing On the Wall for 15-Year Veteran
The writing was on the wall for LeMahieu after Boone responded to the Yankees’ second six-game losing streak in the past month by moving the hot-hitting Jazz Chisholm Jr. to second base and telling LeMahieu, who had been manning the position, that he would ride the bench until further notice.
Rather than move LeMahieu back to third base, where he played 36 games in 2024, Boone told the veteran that he no longer had confidence in his ability to play the hot corner, and so would become a full-time bench player instead. According to what Boone later told the media, LeMahieu did not take the news well.
But since Boone’s move, the Yankees have shown strong signs of reversing their sagging fortunes, winning three in a row for the first time since June 10-12.
LaMahieu’s release came quickly, just one day after the club designated him for assignment. When a player is DFA’d, he must pass through the waiver wire before his team is allowed to fully cut tied with him.
The 26-year-old LeMahieu went unclaimed by any other team, despite his pedigree as a three-time All-Star and two-time batting champion, most likely because no organization wanted to be on the hook for the $22 million they would need to pay him.
Now, as a free agent, LaMahieu is free to sign with any other team that will take him, knowing that the new team will be required to pay him only the Major League minimum salary of $740,000 prorated for the remainder of 2025. The Yankees must continue to pay him the balance — approximately $6.65 million this year.
The Yankees will need to write LaMahieu a check for the full $15 million owed to him in 2026, the final year of his contract — though conceivably another team could sign him and pay him the minimum once again, $780,000 next year, while New York continues to shell out the rest of the cash.
Tough Fate For Former 2-Time Batting King
The sudden parting of ways with the 15-year veteran could mark a bitter end to an otherwise distinguished big league career for the 2009 product of LSU’s prolific baseball program. The university has produced dozens of Major League prospects over the past seven decades, including six in the 2009 MLB draft alone.
That was the year LeMahieu was drafted in the second round, 79th overall, by the Chicago Cubs. He made his debut only two years later, but after playing just 37 games for the North Siders, they traded him to the Colorado Rockies where LeMahieu thrived, winning the first of his two batting championships by hitting at a .348 clip in 2016.
His performance over seven seasons in Colorado led the Yankees to sign him for $24 million over two years as a free agent in 2019. When that deal was up, they signed him to the six-year, $90 million contract that they now still must pay out.
In the pandemic-truncated 2020 season, LeMahieu won his second batting crown, with a .364 average. He also led the American League in on-base percentage (.421), OPS (1.011) and WAR (3.0) that year, while belting 10 home runs in 195 at-bats.
But in the last few years of his Yankees tenure, injuries began to derail LaMahieu’s career, ultimately leading to his release by the team.
Yankees Cut Ties to Disgruntled Ex-Batting Champ, Pay Him $22 Million to Go Away