DJ LeMahieu is the player the Yankees can least afford to lose

TAMPA, Fla. — Who is the position player the Yankees can least afford to lose for a lengthy stretch?

When asked that question, a cross-section of opposing team scouts assigned to the Yankees the last handful of years brought back an overwhelming consensus:

The Machine.

"Pretty easy," one said. "For me, [it’s] LeMahieu."

Added another evaluator: "He’s the key. He’s the igniter [for that offense]."

Indeed, DJ LeMahieu — who emerged as a New York star in 2019 and ’20 after signing one of the team-friendliest deals in baseball (two years, $24 million) and was re-signed to a six-year, $90-million deal in the offseason — has become the most indispensable Yankee, even on par, perhaps, with ace Gerrit Cole.

Said one longtime National League executive: "You’re talking about a Gold Glover and batting champion who seems to enjoy that [New York] spotlight. [That’s] a pretty complete package."

The Yankees have gotten used to playing stretches of recent seasons without Aaron Judge. The star rightfielder played in 155 games in 2017, when he was unanimously named American League Rookie of the Year and finished second in the MVP voting, but since then, various injuries have limited his playing time. He appeared in 112 games in 2018, 102 in 2019 and 28 of 60 in the COVID-19-shortened season of 2020.

The Yankees got through those stretches without going into a prolonged nosedive, for the most part, but they would prefer not to try to do that with LeMahieu.

Besides being a three-time Gold Glove winner at second base, LeMahieu is a two-time MLB batting champion. He did it with the Rockies in 2016, hitting .348, and with the Yankees in 2020, batting .364. He became the first player in MLB’s modern era (since 1900) to win a batting title in each league, led the American League (and was fourth in MLB) with a 1.011 OPS and finished third in the AL MVP voting.

"There’s not much more to say about DJ," Aaron Boone said in December, well before the Yankees re-signed him. "Other than, I think if we look over 2019-2020 and did a two-year MVP in the American League, it’s probably him. His play completely speaks for itself."

Not that LeMahieu was content.

"Every season’s different," he said early in spring training. "I played well last year, but that doesn’t mean anything going into this year. Obviously, it’s a big confidence thing coming off a good year, but at the same time, I'm not taking anything for granted."

Almost as soon as the offseason began, general manager Brian Cashman declared that bringing back LeMahieu was the organization’s No.1 winter priority. With managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner’s decree to bring the payroll under the 2021 luxury tax threshold of $210 million, negotiations crawled into January before LeMahieu, who received plenty of interest from other clubs, agreed to terms.

"Two of my most fun years [came] in ’19 and ‘20," he said. "To have the opportunity to do that six more years, it’s exciting. Honored to be a part of this organization for sure. It was a long offseason, but I’m glad it all worked out. I couldn’t be more excited."