DJ LeMahieu is hitting .167 in his last 29 games and slashing .189/.263/.249 this season, on pace for career worsts by far across the board. He’s also seemingly slowed a step in the field, and made a handful of questionable decisions at first base in the Yankees’ 12-inning loss Tuesday night.
For a player that has won two batting titles in the last decade, was a .297 career hitter entering 2023, and has four Gold Gloves (including the AL Utility one in 2022), one has to wonder if Father Time and recent injuries have caught up to him, because he’s gone too long this season to be considered a ‘slow start’ off a spring foot injury.
Whatever it is, though, to turn a phrase from John Sterling’s home run call, Keith McPherson seemingly wishes that David John WAS long gone.
“Put Oswaldo at first base, man. I'm done with DJ,” Keith said in the midst of a rant on the entire team early Wednesday morning. “Dude, DJ, we love you for what you did in the years where we didn't get it done, but we're trying to get done this year. Like, DJ, step on the bag dude; Steven Kwan thought you did, how do you not? In what league, bro? It’s like The Machine short-circuited. DJ is a minus at first base. Put Ben Rice there, or hell, if you're gonna play Trevino, put Austin Wells at first base.”
He’s not the only offensive problem or defensive problem, but to Keith, LeMahieu being the current first baseman against lefties is endemic of two Yankees issues: sticking with their guns too long (perhaps because of contracts) and trying to be smarter than the field when it comes to platoons.
“I can't do the post-game with the Yankees anymore. Like, don't tell me anything about DJ, you’re working on it and we got to grind it out with him. Stop! At this point, just come out and say we are loyal to his contract and resume, and we’re going to ride that out for the rest of the year because we have no better options in our estimation,” Keith said. “I told y’all when DJ had that one good week with the six RBI game in Philly and the walk-off, that he just bought himself a month – but it’s not good enough, and the Yankees are die hard in their trades and contracts; they keep running those guys out there to try and squeeze everything out of that contract and get a return on the investment, even though you know, I know, and they know it's not good enough, it's not cutting it.”
And yeah, that’s the other problem: LeMahieu earned a six-year, $90 million extension off that 2020 batting title, and there’s still two years and $30 million left on it after this year – a lot for the Yankees to eat, especially on a team with so much underperformance.
But it’s time to do SOMETHING.
“It feels like we're watching this stuff and they're like, it doesn't have to be this way, but y'all have chosen for it to be this way with the guys that you choose to put in the lineup with the guys that you choose to put in the game,” Keith said. “It’s not good enough for what the Yankees are supposed to be. And if that's how we're going into the postseason, who can believe in that? I can’t. These are veterans, stop leaning on the fact that they're veterans and that they played more than these kids. These kids want to play, let the kids play.”