After a half-decade during which the biggest splash the Yankees made in free agency was the ill-advised $153 million splurge on Jacoby Ellsbury, and during which they skipped out on bidding wars for the game’s best available targets, the Yankees have landed the top player on my team’s wishlists for the second year in a row. After nabbing Gerrit Cole for a gargantuan sum of $324 million over nine years last offseason, the Yankees have signed DJ LeMahieu to a team-friendly deal of $90 million across six seasons.
Not only is the return of LeMahieu’s stabilizing offensive presence a boon to the 2021 Yankees lineup, but represents a huge win for the club as they retain some financial flexibility below the Competitive Balance Tax line with a couple additional areas of need to address.