After watching DJ LeMahieu boot a ground ball and commit a costly error before fouling out in a crucial ninth-inning at-bat, Shaun Morash declared that DJ LeMahieu is no longer a big-league hitter, and the Yankees need to move on.
And how the Yanks handle that situation will tell Shaun how serious they are about winning a title this year.
“Are we serious about taking this year with Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and Gerrit Cole...are we serious about doing all we can to win a World Series?” Morash said. “There is a way in the post-trade deadline world for the Yankees to rev things up with a month left in the season and get serious about being all in.
“The Yankees need to get cutthroat now if they are serious about being a World Series champion.”
Being “cutthroat” would imply ditching LeMahieu and sparing Ben Rice when Anthony Rizzo returns, and to stop using Austin Wells as a platoon catcher, and instead let the youngster hit against lefties and make Jose Trevino a true backup.
In short, the Yankees need to stop being loyal to their struggling veterans and simply play the better players.
“Teams that are serious about winning World Series don’t play nice to people,” Morash said. “They don’t play nice to good ‘soldiers’ on the team. Those soldiers include DJ LeMahieu, Jose Trevino, and even - I’m gonna give Verdugo a pass and assume they won’t have the guts to, and they shouldn’t - and Trent Grisham. If the Yankees are serious about winning a World Series, two of those guys mainly need to be gone, and the other guy, Trevino, basically should only be seen in a day game after a night game and Wells is physically unable to go.
“They’re gonna do the simple thing. The comfortable thing. They’re gonna send Ben Rice back down to Triple-A. and I know he’s struggled...but he also hasn’t had a chance to get consistent at-bats because Aaron Boone has a love affair with DJ LeMahieu. Because of that, DJ LeMahieu will stick around on this roster while a young, enthusiastic kid gets buried and sent back down to Triple-A...that is wrong. That should not happen. Real teams - true, serious teams, do the uncomfortable.”