Most overpaid players on the Yankees roster for the 2024 season
The New York Yankees are coming off of one of their most disappointing seasons in recent memory, entering the season as AL East favorites only to go 82-80 and miss the playoffs. To put into perspective how underwhelming an 82-80 season is for this Yankees franchise, that was their worst record since the 1992 season when they went 76-86.
What the Yankees did in response was something even their fans can appreciate, trading for Juan Soto and signing Marcus Stroman. New York has a roster that is more than capable of not only competing in the AL East, but winning an AL Pennant or even the World Series if things break their way.
While this roster certainly looks formidable on paper, they can definitely use another piece, perhaps Blake Snell, to really give themselves the best chance of winning big this season. Unfortunately, there's a good chance he's going to be out of their price range and that's in large part because of some of the bad contracts on their roster. Here are the three worst ones.
3) D.J. LeMahieu, 3B
When D.J. LeMahieu signed his six-year contract worth $90 million in the 2020 offseason, it looked like a steal. Yes, the six years were probably a couple too many for an older player, but a $15 million AAV for a player of LeMahieu's caliber looked like a complete fleece.
LeMahieu had enjoyed two unbelievable years with the Yankees, finishing fourth in the AL MVP balloting in 2019 and third in 2020 to earn the contract he got from New York. The problem is, he has not been the same player since inking the deal.
The now 35-year-old has been nothing more than average offensively since signing the contract, and is coming off of what was probably his worst season in a Yankees uniform. LeMahieu slashed .243/.327/.390 with 15 home runs and 44 RBI in 136 games. He finished the season strongly, posting an .809 OPS in the second half, but the Yankees are going to need a lot more from him if they want to go where they envision.
That $15 million is a bargain if LeMahieu can get back to who he was, but if he continues to be the .700 OPS player he's been since signing the deal, he's simply not worth the money even with his strong defense.