The New York Yankees’ postseason trip will begin this weekend against the victor of the Baltimore Orioles-Kansas City Royals matchup. They will, however, do it with an improvised first baseman, as their best option, Anthony Rizzo, shattered two fingers last weekend against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
They called up Ben Rice, and Oswaldo Cabrera is also ready to play the role. However, there could be a third option: DJ LeMahieu, who is capable of playing the position, is now recovering from a right hip impingement. He stated that he has no idea if the Yankees will utilize him, but he is working to be ready for the start of the ALDS.
However, the Yankees are arguably better off without LeMahieu, and there are statistical reasons to support that claim. LeMahieu had the eighth-worst OPS among players with at least 200 plate appearances (.527). We’re talking about 365 guys with that minimum, and just seven of them were worse than him.
The Yankees are a worse team with LeMahieu
LeMahieu has been a real Yankees ambassador since joining the organization in 2019, but he simply doesn’t have it anymore. He is 36 years old, has had several injuries in previous seasons, and his swing simply does not cause harm at this point. When he makes contact (which is common given his lack of strikeouts), it is nearly always on the ground and not hard enough.
In addition to the reasons already stated, it is a bad idea to bring back a player from the injured list without a few competitive tune-up games to face, potentially, Cole Ragans or Corbin Burnes, to name a couple of pitchers the Yankees could face this weekend who could make LeMahieu look bad.
Even with Rizzo out with an injury – he wants to return later in the postseason, but the chances are stacked against him – the Yankees should go with Cabrera or Rice. Neither of them will carry the team, but they should be better options than an aging veteran returning from an injury.
Fans have made their feelings clear: most of them do not want LeMahieu on the postseason roster. Most of the time, it’s nothing personal: they admire what he’s done for the Yankees over the years, especially during that incredible 2019-20 run. However, he does not deserve a seat on the team based on performance, and if the club wants to win the World Series, they must abandon their loyalties.
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