DJ LeMahieu’s Yankees career has come to an unceremonious end.
In a move that seemed like a long time coming as a series of lower-leg injuries made him a shell of himself in recent years, LeMahieu was designated for assignment on Wednesday, a day after the Yankees announced that Jazz Chisholm Jr. was moving back to second base.
With third base being too much a physical challenge for the soon-to-be 37-year-old LeMahieu, according to Aaron Boone, that left the veteran as a bench player without much of a role moving forward.
The DFA leaves the Yankees on the hook for the roughly $22 million left on LeMahieu’s contract through next season.
The former two-time batting champion signed a six-year, $90 million deal entering the 2021 season.
He was solid for the first two years of that pact, but had his production sapped by a toe issue late in the 2022 season that left him off the playoff roster that year.
LeMahieu had manned second base regularly since coming off the IL in May for a calf strain suffered in his first Grapefruit League game of the spring.
