Yankees: 3 moves NYY can make while waiting for DJ LeMahieu

The Yankees are waiting for DJ LeMahieu to make any moves, but they don’t have to.

The New York Yankees have made it quite clear that they only intend to go as far as DJ LeMahieu does this offseason.

And until their All-Star second baseman decides on his next destination, or chooses to maintain the status quo, the rest of Brian Cashman’s assets are basically frozen.

But although retaining LeMahieu should be the No. 1 priority, that doesn’t mean the Yankees have to halt their operations entirely.

Sure, it takes them out of the middle infield market. But that’s not really a space they should be wading into anyway; Didi Gregorius and Marcus Semien should probably plan to make $15 million annually somewhere else.

Accepting that LeMahieu’s deal will end up being between $20-25 million annually, though, the Yankees have about $10 million more they can comfortably spend regardless of where that extension eventually settles before passing any sort of luxury tax threshold. And so we think they should do that.

In order to make sure they don’t miss out on necessary upgrades elsewhere, the Yankees should pile on these cheap deals before LeMahieu (hopefully) arrives back at the facility for a mid-winter unveiling.

3. Trevor Rosenthal

The Yankees should come to a swift agreement with Trevor Rosenthal.

Trevor Rosenthal is already spending the month of December tweeting hypotheticals about showing up clean-shaven to Zoom meetings with the Yankees organization.

Why not go the extra mile and offer him a contract already?

Rosenthal was Yankees property once upon a time back in Summer 2019 when his mechanics had betrayed him to the point he’d become minor-league fodder. In 0.1 of an inning at Triple-A with the Yanks that year, he posted an unfortunate 108.00 ERA, which honestly can be attributed to bad luck (kidding) before ultimately landing in Kansas City to open up 2020.

There, he became one of the game’s great comeback stories — damned if the Royals don’t know exactly how to run a bullpen.

Rosenthal, in KC and San Diego post-deadline last year, posted remarkable numbers, whiffing 38 men in 23.2 innings pitched, walking just eight men one season after walking 26 in 15.1 big league innings, and sporting a sparkling 0.91 ERA down the stretch in SD’s playoff race. If not for Daniel Bard’s out of nowhere return to elite-level relieving, Rosenthal might’ve been the comeback story of 2020.

MLB Trade Rumors projected him to receive a two-year, $14 million early in the offseason, but that projection could very well be reduced to a singular year of commitment at this point. Even if it becomes a multi-year pact, this would be well in range of something the Yankees could afford, LeMahieu or no LeMahieu.

1. Jon Lester

The Yankees can’t let the starting pitching market pass them by.

If Jon Lester’s going rate really is $5 million for a single year, as MLBTR seems to predict, then he’s a must. As is Cole Hamels. They’re both musts. Dual musts.

With Luis Severino on the shelf until mid-summer (and potentially with the reins still on for the entire year), and Domingo German suddenly very important, the Yankees will be letting the city down if the emerge from the offseason with the same rotation, as currently constructed.

This doesn’t mean they need to dip into the relative deep end for Jake Odorizzi or Tomoyuki Sugano and sacrifice their flexibility with LeMahieu’s deal. It just means they should definitely use some of that excess $10 million or so to bring in a veteran arm known for stardom on the biggest stage, instead of acting like they don’t have a few inches of wiggle room.

Jon Lester isn’t all-caps JON LESTER, or Chicago curse-breaking Jon Lester, or guaranteed seven innings Jon Lester from his Boston days anymore. In fact, in 2020, he wasn’t even very good, posting a 5.16 ERA and only striking out 42 in 61.0 innings of work. 2018 was his last great season (18-6, 3.32), and his 4.39 FIP that year predicted future regression. Even if Lester’s at a late-career Sabathia level of effectiveness, he’d be valuable to this team as an innings-eater.

And that’s the main thesis statement of this piece. Whether you believe there are game-changers on the market or not, the Yankees are being wise by waiting for LeMahieu’s deal to come together before taking any gigantic leaps.

But there’s enough untouched money in those conversations that they can get going plugging other holes without ever impacting their most significant chase. Lester’s one of those additional pieces they can simply have, so long as they stop waiting around.

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