I am not in the habit of telling you not to read what is to follow. It is bad business. Bad for my egomania. Just bad.
But if you are a Yankees fan, I do think you should seriously consider if you want to cross this paragraph to the next. Because what is about to follow is an argument for why the Yankees need DJ LeMahieu to return as a competent, healthy player.
Now before anyone initiates a sanity check on me, notice that I did not write that I expect LeMahieu to be a competent, healthy player. I would say the chances of that are no better than 15-20 percent. And I did not write that the Yankees need him to be a highly productive player and healthy. Because that is well below 15-20 percent.
Since a sports hernia in 2021 that ultimately took him out for the playoffs, LeMahieu has not been a consistently healthy or — save for a nice run in the second half of 2023 — productive player. He is 36 now. So the chances he rediscovers how to stay on the field and deliver consistent quality performance is not great.
