Yesterday, in the 1st inning against Detroit, DJ LeMahieu grounded out to the shortstop.
In the 3rd, he grounded out to the first baseman.
In the 5th, he struck out.
O for three. Thus far on the meaningless season, one for nine, no extra base hits, three Ks.
Look, I don't wanna be one of those creepy bean-counters who constantly complains about gas. Farts come with the beans. It's way too early in March to circle a number in a box score and deduce much of anything. Way, way, way too early...
But it's also too early to insist - as the Yankees are doing - that David John LeMahieu's improvements last August signal a return to his status as one of baseball's toughest outs.
In the month of August - supposedly fully healed from a broken big toe that damaged ligaments across his foot - LeMahieu batted .291 with 5 HRs. This raised hopes that his two seasons of flirting with .260 mediocrity were over, and he would return to the nickname LeMachine, given to him by Gary Sanchez, The Kraken. (Oh, the days of wine and nicknames!) Trouble is, LeMahieu backslid in September, hitting .245 with 2 HRs. Of greater concern were the Ks. LeMahieu - notoriously hard to fan in earlier seasons - stuck out 125 times last year, by far the most in his career. (Only once, in 2015, did he reach 100 Ks.)
Aaron Boone says LeMahieu will bat leadoff this season, sandwiching lefty Juan Soto with two RH bats, (Aaron Judge, being the second.) If LeMahieu returns to his glory days - the only player in modern times to win batting titles in both leagues - all will be well. But the beans show that LeMahieu hit a meager .243 in 2023, with a .327 on base percentage that barely beat Billy McKinney and Willie Calhoun. He's 35 - older than that crone, Taylor Swift - with two years left on his Yankee contract. It's not hard to imagine him twirling one more solid season. Nor is it difficult to see him disappearing into the twilight.
The Yankees want LeMahieu to play 3B every day. In the past, he's played everywhere, the ideal utility man. Can he give them 120 games? Can his foot take the grind? Because if his toe barks, the cavalry of 3B replacements is troubling, unless you still believe in Oswaldo Cabrera and Oswald Peraza. That's becoming hard to do.
Listen: LeMahieu does not have to prove anything in Tampa. Not to Boone, not to you, not to me. He'll go north as our everyday 3B and leadoff hitter. Boone won't change plans - not yet, anyway.
But LeMachine has one job this spring: Stop striking out. Simple, eh? O, if only it were so...
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If history has taught us anything it’s that the Trump Shuttle was a quick and efficient way to get from NYC to Washington DC during the early 1990s and that hitting machines eventually stop hitting.
It’s as clear as an unmuddied lake, Fred. As clear as an azure sky of deepest summer.
The team as presently constituted does not have a true leadoff hitter. Verdugo is probably closest, and IMO should leadoff when he plays. Torres another option, and what of batting Soto leadoff and Judge 2nd?
Unfortunately DJLM has THREE more years on his awful contract and the thought of him creaking around the infield at 38 should give one pause. Eventually he will be released like all the declining veterans the Yankees have overcommitted to.
The Trump Shuttle was insolvent a year after he bought it. The Eastern, Pan Am, Delta, and American shuttles were predecessors, competitors and later shuttles. All of which were great.
I worked at the ad agency that had the Trump Shuttle business. He stiffed us on the bills. In retrospect, no surprise there.
Sadly, DJ may be headed to the same kind of ignominious year. We should've signed Gio, but that shuttle has sailed. Sad.
“Eventually he will be released like all the declining veterans the Yankees have overcommitted to.”
One of the truest sentences you’ll read all week.
Sometimes I sit awake at night wondering if Judge and DJ sadly stare at each other’s damaged, naked feet.
JM - call it California rain-ripened psychic energy (I’ll wait) but somehow I just sorta knew that you would respond to my Trum Shuttle comment.
I had to take it a few times for business and was convinced that I would see Donald in the cockpit, peddling as hard as he could during takeoffs….(that was a pre-political observation).
Thankfully we took off and landed every time
It’s good to see that Stanton remains steady. Should be a typical “Iron Mike “Season
Duque, I nominate you to be the one to tell Warner that he's dead!
All kidding aside, I thought he died about 20 years ago as well. I asked a few friends (3)
and they unanimously thought the same. I wonder why most think he has departed from this Earthly plane.
@ JM....One of my former clients has long been on the Trump stiff list. He makes Trump water that is distributed to all his hotels and golf clubs. The owner (a conservative Republican) described how he always short-pays invoices for no reason even after being forced to negotiate over the most trivial parts of the deal which requires Trump's personal signature. One example he cited was Trump's picture on the water bottle. No rendering satisfied the guy even though Trump approved the picture. This dates back to about 5 years before Trump first decided to run for office. The owner said that it was made very clear that if he tried to sue him for the balance of the 6-figure "disputed" charges he would counter countersue Village Springs and bury them in legal costs.
I’m gonna be the optimist and say Volpe is gonna breakout and be the leadoff bat and Peraza is going to be manning third, both by June 1st
@BTR999 "...and what of batting Soto leadoff and Judge 2nd?"
NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! For God's sake, no!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think the best option right now might be to bat Twinkletoes "The Invisible Man" Gleyber Torres leadoff. DJ should sink way lower in the lineup. When or if The Martian comes back, he could lead off.
Eventually, we could have a lineup like this:
1. The Martian CF
2. Verdugo LF/DH
3. Judge RF
4. Soto LF/DH
5. Wells C
6. Rizzo 1B
7. Torres 2B
8. Volpe SS
9. DJL 3B
Notice that Stanton is the designated Bench Boy in my lineup.
At the trade deadline, they should bring up Spencer Jones and put him in CF, move The Martian over to LF. Soto becomes the DH. Verdugo and Torres should be traded for pitching. And we all know Soto will leave for greener pastures after 2024.
@ JM "...the Trump Shuttle business. He stiffed us on the bills. In retrospect, no surprise there."
Yep, I don't why anyone would want to do business with that bastard. He's always been a deadbeat bastard who declares bankruptcy to get out of paying. I heard he stiffed the small contract workers who helped build his casinos. He even owes Rudy Guiliani, another bastard. This guy's signature on a contract means absolutely nothing.
@ Carl "...The owner said that it was made very clear that if he tried to sue him for the balance of the 6-figure "disputed" charges he would counter countersue Village Springs and bury them in legal costs."
Abusing the legal system appears to be the Dumbass bastard's finest talent.
@ Jaraxle, I don't know if Volpe will be the leadoff hitter this year, but there would be a chance of DJL getting benched if he hits .220 with a strikeout every three at-bats.
Look. I love DJ. But he is aging. One cannot hold back the slowing of the hands and feet. It happens to them ALL. If this isn't the year he is no longer fit to be in the Show, then it will be next year or the year after that. Age comes for all of us.
Feel it creeping up your spine...
All of us.
Meanwhile - all the players try not to stare at Judge's and DJ's injured feet as they walk past them in the clubhouse.
Last week Gleyber broke down in tears and had to be consoled by Jason Zillo because the site of their damaged feet was too much for him to handle.
Winny is mostly right when he says that one can feel age as it creeps up their spine.
However - it can also creep down the spine.
Oh - - - - and enjoy your retirement Josh Donaldson.
Be a good Dad.
Happy you're not on our roster any more.
AA,
I hear he's looking to move to Forsyth county, Georgia. Said he feels at home there.
Roofus - That suits Me
Piss on our legs and tell us it is raining.
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