New York Yankees Infielder's Contract Ranked Among MLB's Most Problematic Deals

With spring training coming to a close for the New York Yankees, they have a couple of glaring issues on their team heading into the new campaign.

Despite it being a really strong offseason for the Yankees, injuries have really cooled expectations for 2025. Just a couple of weeks ago, this was a team that was expected to win the American League East and be a contender for the World Series.

Now, they are just trying to piece together a lineup and a starting rotation that has been ravaged by injuries.

Even prior to some key players getting hurt, one position that was an issue for New York was at third base.

The Yankees, despite making numerous acquisitions, didn’t spend to improve at the position, and instead relied on DJ LeMahieu and Oswaldo Cabrera.

To little surprise, LeMahieu is already injured once again, and it appears like the starting job will be Cabrera’s heading into the year.

It is another unfortunate injury for the former All-Star, who just simply can't stay on the field anymore.

Recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report spoke about the worst contracts in baseball and for the Yankees highlighted the poor deal for the veteran infielder.

“The Yankees rewarded LeMahieu with a six-year, $90 million deal on the heels of that, likely trying to spread out the average annual value over an extra year or two to manage the luxury-tax threshold. They just haven't gotten the same player since, largely because of LeMahieu's inability to stay healthy.”

After getting the talented infielder for a great deal for two years, the re-signing of LeMahieu turned out to be a really poor decision a couple years ago.

Unfortunately, injuries have been what have derailed his career, but the six-year, $90 contract doesn’t look like a good one.

The 36-year-old is owed $30 million more by New York over the next two seasons, which is certainly money that could have gone to a productive player at the position.

Unfortunately, with the Yankees’ unwillingness to go much higher in payroll, a contract like LeMahieu’s is really having a negative impact on the team.

New York seemingly came into the offseason with the belief that LeMahieu would be able to be a positive contributor for them this season. However, that appears to be a poor decision as of now.

With a significant decline in production over the last couple of years to go along with the injuries, the former All-Star being penciled in as a starter for a team that has World Series aspirations wasn’t a good idea.

While there is time to turn it around in 2025 if he can get healthy, it appears unlikely that LeMahieu will be a positive contributor this coming year.

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