Yankees' worst-case scenario at third base has now become their only hope

New York Yankees fans spent all winter begging Brian Cashman to please, for the love of all things holy, bring in a third baseman. But as the weeks went by and that third baseman never came, they were forced to lower their sights a little bit: "Bring us a new third baseman" became "just anybody but DJ LeMahieu".

Sure, neither of the other potential options — utility man Oswaldo Cabrera and one-time top prospect Oswald Peraza — inspired much confidence as an everyday starter at the hot corner. Still, they had to be better than LeMahieu, or so the thinking went after the 36-year-old posted a dismal .527 OPS across 67 injury-plagued games in 2024.

Well, fans got their wish. LeMahieu suffered a calf injury while ramping up early in spring training, handing the third-base job to Cabrera more or less by default. LeMahieu began the regular season on the Injured List, far away from the Bronx, while Yankees fans could at the very least try and talk themselves into different being preferable to the same old thing.

Uh, about that. Flash forward a few weeks, and Yankees fans ... are once again furious with their team's third-base situation. Cabrera has swung the bat about as well as can be expected, but a league-average OPS without much of any power isn't something to write home about. Peraza, meanwhile, has been downright bad: An 0-for-2 effort in Monday's 4-3 loss to the Baltimore Orioles dipped his average below .200, and he threw in a truly baffling error in the field to boot. It's clear that continuing with this platoon simply isn't sustainable for a team with championship aspirations.

Of course, it's late April; starting-caliber position players aren't available off the street at this time of year, and the Yankees don't have a top prospect waiting in the wings. Hard as they tried to avoid it, Yankees fans are now back where they didn't want to be: hoping against hope that LeMahieu still has something left in the tank. The difference now, however, is that there's some reason to believe he might.

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DJ LeMahieu resurgence represents Yankees' last, best chance at third base

Granted, this needs to be taken with a massive grain of salt. But LeMahieu began his rehab stint at Double-A last week, and he tore the cover off the ball, with six hits in 10 at-bats including a homer.

Again: This is Double-A, not the Majors, and it's just a few games. LeMahieu is still 36, with an increasingly lengthy injury history, and it's been a long time since he was a positive at the plate. But it's also been a long time since we saw him drive the ball in the air the way he has in the Minors so far, and that has to be at least some cause for optimism. LeMahieu's sturdy defense hasn't left him; if, now finally healthy again, he can rediscover the stroke that made him an All-Star early in his Yankees tenure, he's still the team's best bet for at least league-average production at the position.

This certainly isn't where Yankees fans wanted to be at this point in the season. In a perfect world, Cashman would've been more proactive about addressing third base over the winter. The Baseball Gods are not without a sense of humor, though, and LeMahieu will get at least one more chance to write a new ending for himself in New York.