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Yankees: 3 2021 DJ LeMahieu alternatives we won’t really be happy with

By Adam Weinrib |
Oct 7, 2020; San Diego, California, USA; New York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu (26) runs home to score on a double by center fielder Aaron Hicks (not pictured) against the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth inning during game three of the 2020 ALDS at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 7, 2020; San Diego, California, USA; New York Yankees second baseman DJ LeMahieu (26) runs home to score on a double by center fielder Aaron Hicks (not pictured) against the Tampa Bay Rays in the fifth inning during game three of the 2020 ALDS at Petco Park. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports
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The Yankees might be shopping around for DJ LeMahieu replacements for 2021. Here are three that don’t thrill us, for various reasons.

DJ LeMahieu is angry. The Yankees aren’t budging.

And, though none of their rivals seem uniquely poised to meet the second baseman’s demands — or anyone else’s, thus far this offseason — the Yanks have to at least be planning for a world without LeMahieu.

The problem? All of the alternatives for the immediate future range from “unfortunate” to “impossible.” Forget 2022 for a moment; someone needs to play second base this season. And if Gleyber Torres moves, they’ll need to fill the shortstop spot.

And, considering this team has World Series aspirations for this year and the next (and, well, annually), the alternative better be a damned good baseball player.

As far as we can tell, there are three directions the Yankees can go for next year if this rift with LeMahieu proves to be irreparable: short-term second base help, short-term shortstop help, or a long-term solution at short who’ll have to be acquired in trade (and then paid).

This isn’t a list of unworthy or ineffective ballplayers, but it does stand as proof that every “solution” to a world without LeMahieu comes with immediate warts.

Kolten Wong #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)
Kolten Wong #16 of the St. Louis Cardinals (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

3. Kolten Wong

The Yankees could get an elite glove in Kolten Wong to play second base.

The news we received on Sunday night that the Cardinals were among the teams to engage with LeMahieu in the early part of his free agency process was laughable for many reasons, first and foremost the fact that the Cards had already cut bait with Kolten Wong at a cost of just $12 million for 2021.

If they want to consider paying LeMahieu $20-25 million annually, why would they have found Wong’s $12 million salary too tough to bear?

Wong would be a pleasant addition to the Yankees, but…how can we put this…he’s just not the same? He’s the definition of a stopgap. He downgrades the position. He’s…fine.

The ex-Card is a special defender, but he doesn’t hit for power, and, despite the grit factor, checks in as a below-average bat, sporting a career OPS+ of 94, six ticks under the threshold for acceptable play. LeMahieu’s career mark — adjusted for Colorado — is 102, and during his past two seasons in the Bronx, he’s checked in at 135 and 177. There’s something special about this marriage that just works.

And if Wong is slotted in, the team will get worse. There’s no way to manipulate statistics to pretend this is an upgrade. This would be a tacit acknowledgement that the Yankees are fine to take a step back during their current, shrinking window.

Andrelton Simmons #2 of the Los Angeles Angels (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images)
Andrelton Simmons #2 of the Los Angeles Angels (Photo by John McCoy/Getty Images) /

2. Andrelton Simmons

Andrelton Simmons playing shortstop for the Yankees is tempting, but solves nothing long-term.

Andrelton Simmons, a true generational defender, would be an intriguing addition to the Yankees in a vacuum, and would represent easily the greatest shortstop glove in franchise history.

For the purposes of this argument, he’s our stand-in for any one- or two-year shortstop move; that’d push Gleyber Torres back to second, which remains the Yanks’ dirty little secret in this entire chase.

But Simmons’ bat, which peaked at the ages of 27 and 28 in 2017 and ’18 in Los Angeles, has regressed the past few years; he posted a 78 OPS+ in his most recent full season in 2019, and opted out of 2020 once it became clear the Angels would not make the postseason. The Yankees need an injection of defense wherever they can get it, but they’d have to ask themselves if they’d be satisfied if it came with a low-OBP, backsliding bat. Simmons, over the past few years, has become nearly a black hole in the lineup — is that really going to tempt the Yanks to move off their best contact bat?

And, for what it’s worth, Simmons is a career .261 hitter with runners in scoring position in 1,035 career plate appearances.

If the Yankees were trying to patch over a hole or cover for, say, a retiring Derek Jeter, Simmons would be a fantastic short-term solution. But paying a 31-year-old instead of a 32-year-old familiar player with a better bat, and cutting off the long-term development of Gleyber Torres at the position, which you’re theoretically committed to (and learned very little about last year)? This creates more questions.

Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images)
Trevor Story #27 of the Colorado Rockies (Photo by Lachlan Cunningham/Getty Images) /

1. Trevor Story

Would the Yankees really rather pay twice for Trevor Story than sign DJ LeMahieu?

Trevor Story’s our representative of the 2021-22 high-dollar shortstop class in terms of this offseason experiment, since he’s the only one likely to be available in trade (nope, not Corey Seager, Javier Baez or Carlos Correa).

If the Yankees are being tight-fisted in terms of accruing costs, though, would they really opt to pay up for Story in prospect capital now, only to pay him $250 million or more next offseason? Why is that preferable to simply paying your key cog in LeMahieu over $150 million less?

Would the Yankees really pay twice for a shortstop now, cutting bait on the Torres Experiment after just 42 out-of-shape games, mid-pandemic? Or would they just…wait around for next offseason, choosing to get worse this time around?

Story is a fantastic player. He’s also really the only shortstop available to the Yankees in next offseason’s “frenzy”; Francisco Lindor’s not walking through that door. Is the small chance Story comes here worth the headache of letting LeMahieu go? Is it worth making the current championship-esque roster worse?

The Rockies know they have the Yanks bent over a barrel here (especially post-Lindor), and they’ve made it quite clear they expect Story in their Opening Day lineup and won’t let him go cheaply. If Brian Cashman chooses chaos and trades for Story, it’ll be much more costly than any $92-$110 million LeMahieu extension.

And it’ll reveal he’d never really made LeMahieu his “top priority” all along.

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