The D.J. Madness Must End

By Sal Maiorana

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Sal Maiorana, a friend of the site, shares some of his thoughts on the Yankees.

For Sal's complete analysis on the New York Yankees, you can subscribe to Sal Maiorana's free Pinstripe People Newsletter at https://salmaiorana.beehiiv.com/subscribe.

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DJ LeMahieu had a base hit Wednesday night, so that qualified as breaking news for the Yankees given how utterly horrible he has been since his season began in late May.

What happened in the fourth inning was not breaking news as LeMahieu reverted to form and grounded into a double play with men on first and third, killing a rally for about the 3,000th time in the three months he’s been back.

Of course, LeMahieu should never have gotten the chance to do either because he should never have been in the lineup. He shouldn’t be in the lineup ever, but Aaron Boone - in his never-ending mind-numbness - keeps rolling out a player who is literally one of the worst hitters in all of MLB.

For the third night in a row, the Yankees faced a left-handed starter, Washington’s Mackenzie Gore. And for the third night in row, because he’s a righty swinger, we were treated to LeMahieu playing first base. Maddening. Just absolutely maddening that Boone continues to use a player who is slashing .202/.268/.258 with a .525 OPS.

But here’s where it really gets ridiculous. Coming into the game, lefties were hitting .305 with an .862 OPS against Gore while righties were hitting .282 with a .764 OPS. So, someone with a brain would realize that using the lefty-swinging Ben Rice - who admittedly has been just as bad as LeMahieu - made slightly more sense, right?

Oh, but it gets better. LeMahieu against lefties was slashing .149/.228/.194 for a .422 OPS. Only two of 136 qualified batters have a lower OPS against lefties than LeMahieu. Rice’s OPS against lefties is is a putrid .521, but that’s still 99 points better than LeMahieu. And still, LeMahieu was the choice.

When he was asked why he continues to play LeMahieu, it was the same old baloney with Boone.

“His season has been a little different in that obviously the track record matters,” Boone said.

Track record? Yes, he won two batting titles back when he could hit, but those days are gone forever. Since 2021, he has gone from mediocre, to bad, to unplayable if there was any other manager making out the lineup.

“He’s obviously been behind the eight ball a little bit from an injury standpoint to start the year,” said Boone, which was more baloney because when do we stop using his late start as an excuse? He’s been back for three months!

“You want to let things really declare themselves to where you're making sound decisions moving forward,” Boone continued, unable to end his nonsensical babbling.

Dude, things have declared themselves for LeMahieu. The only sound decision you can make is to stop playing him.

Maybe that’s close to happening because Anthony Rizzo has ramped up his rehab and appears on the verge of returning. Understanding that Rizzo was terrible before he got hurt, it’s not like I think he’s going to finally give the Yankees production from first base, but there’s no way he’ll be as terrible as LeMahieu, and Rice, have been. At least I hope not.