3 teams DJ LeMahieu absolutely cannot sign with if he leaves Yankees

1. Boston Red Sox

If the Red Sox get Alex Cora back and sign DJLM, Yankees fans should riot.

Every Yankees fan’s worst nightmare should be the Red Sox over-bidding for DJ LeMahieu and Trevor Bauer this offseason after re-signing Alex Cora following his one-year ban from baseball. The Red Sox need a second baseman and another starter, so this isn’t out of the question.

And when you look at their payroll, there are only two long-term commitments after 2022 in Chris Sale and Xander Bogaerts. Bauer could be another one of those fixtures and DJLM can help them with their win-now endeavors in 2021 and 2022. If they can’t afford this, then they’re lying to everyone.

On top of getting rid of a hypothetical Mookie Betts megadeal, they dumped half of David Price’s salary to the Dodgers and will have Jackie Bradley Jr.’s $11 million coming off the books this offseason as well as Eduardo Rodriguez and Dustin Pedroia’s $10+ million figures after 2021.

Right now, the missing piece in the Sox infield is at second base, and a three- or four-year deal for DJLM could line up perfectly for them since they still have a formidable core with Rafael Devers, Xander Bogaerts, Andrew Benintendi and Alex Verdugo. Sign those two guys and get a couple of bullpen arms, and just like that the Sox could be World Series contenders again.

I hate that we’re even thinking about this, but it’d really be a shame if we overlooked them this offseason and then they turned around to do something insane like this to further interrupt the Yankees’ championship window.

Yankees: 3 salary-matching trades that can help NYY address needs

The New York Yankees should explore these salary-matching trades in order to change up their roster but not inherit more money on the payroll.