Yankees officially DFA DJ LeMahieu

Yankees officially DFA DJ LeMahieu

In the midst of another disappointing season, the New York Yankees have officially designated veteran infielder DJ LeMahieu for assignment, ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan first reported Wednesday.

LeMahieu, 36, signed a six-year, $90 million contract with the organization ahead of the 2021 MLB Season. He will be owed $22 million through 2026, when his contract was set to expire, Passan notes.

Infielder DJ LeMahieu has been designated for assignment by the New York Yankees. He is owed nearly $22 million on the remainder of his six-year contract that ran through 2026.

— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 9, 2025

Jorbit Vivas was recalled in LeMahieu’s place.

The 15-year veteran was the Yankees’ primary second baseman when Jazz Chisholm was shelved on the injured list, sporting a .266/.338/.336 slash line with two home runs and 12 RBIs. He was objectively bad defensively, whether it was from the eye test or the analytics, which signaled he’s been below-average defensively through 45 games.

In the five seasons since signing his six-year contract, he was a below-average bat, owning a .697 OPS and a 95 OPS+. Over those five seasons, he accumulated a mere 6.3 fWAR after racking up an 8.0 fWAR over his first two seasons with the Yankees.

Injuries, age and regression ultimately soured the end of LeMahieu’s tenure with the Yankees. It was a good contract at the time–just one that he didn’t live up to in the end. He finished top-4 in MVP voting each of his first two seasons before signing the extension — his age-30 and 31 seasons. There should be no hindsight bias needed; he earned that deal, but there’s no shame in admitting he underwhelmed and that his time expired.

After all, he did provide Yankees fans with one of their best postseason moments in recent memory — even though it was soured 30 minutes later.

October 19, 2019
ALCS Game 6
DJ LeMahieu ties it up in the 9th pic.twitter.com/DuLEF9fq8I

— NY Yankees Throwbacks (@yankeethrowback) January 20, 2022

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