Yankees shouldn’t underestimate new rival for DJ LeMahieu

The Yankees can’t underestimate the Nationals in the DJ LeMahieu chase. They’ve been burned before.

DJ LeMahieu is a perfect fit on the New York Yankees for any amount of time, up to and including the next five years. LeMahieu would like to return to the team, and the Bronx Bombers appear to adequately appreciate his role, embodied by back-to-back top-three appearances in the MVP chase.

Unfortunately, none of this means the Yankees can exhale.

Though we’ve heard plenty this week about how LeMahieu would like a five-year deal, but would take a discount to return to the Yankees, there’s still a solid chance the Yanks never offer such a deal.

There’s also a chance that a competing team not only outbids the Bombers in an effort to obtain LeMahieu’s services, but does so by a massive margin.

That’s why we shouldn’t laugh off the Washington Nationals’ pursuit of LeMahieu, a team that’s proven in the past that they’re rather unshackled when it comes to paying free agents they deeply desire.

They’re certainly more likely than the Mets to make our nightmares come true.

This is round two of their personal LeMahieu chase, and it’ll be a far more expensive endeavor this time around. When it comes to these two franchises butting heads, though, the Yankees were emasculated the last time they tried it.

Long though to be the favorite for lefty Patrick Corbin (after all, Corbin’s brother put on a Yankee hat during his wedding toast!), it turned out that the Yanks weren’t even in the ballpark of the Nats with their offer.

Needless to say, if the Yankees wind up $40 million short in the LeMahieu chase, he won’t give them the benefit of the doubt. That’s not how all this works.

Of course, none of this means the Yanks’ pursuit is doomed, even though we’re all extremely jumpy these days. All recent rumors indicate mutual interest and a little bit of bending between the two familiar parties.

But even though the Nationals are a reported “long shot” for LeMahieu’s services, per Dan Federico, we’re here to tell you not to shrug this one off like you may have done with Corbin.

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