Yankees fans today are interesting.  They sure have a way of looking at the world through some tinted glasses.  For example, they think the Yankee way in the past 50 years (since free agency started in 1976) was to find the best hitters in the league and offer them the longest and most expensive contracts you can come up with.  Well, that isn’t really true, but yes, the Yankees have given some hitters some big contracts. Let’s take a peek:

Dave Winfield (10 years and $23 million) – A contract that played out well, except in the eyes of people who love pigeons

Aaron Judge (9 years and $360 million) – Suddenly looks like a steal and has already paid off, since he is the best hitter on the planet

Alex Rodriguez (10 years and $275 million) – I am no fan of the cheater, but he was the best player on the planet when he received this deal

Derek Jeter (10 years and $189 million) – The captain of the dynasty years and a well-deserved haul given the championships

Bernie Williams (7 years and $87.5 million) – A homegrown hero and worth every penny

Mark Teixeira (8 years and $180 million) – Product of a bidding war for the best available first baseman, and they had to outbid his home team (the Baltimore Orioles)

Jason Giambi (7 years and $120 million) – Another cheater, but he was the best player in baseball the prior two years before this deal

Jacoby Ellsbury (7 years and $153 million) – Can we just delete this from memory and award the contract to Robinson Cano, who is who the Yankees wanted?

DJ LeMathieu (6 years and $90 million) – Now it’s “the Machine” who I want to discuss …

DJ came to the Yankees in 2019 after seven solid seasons with the Rockies, where he won a batting title and had a solid slash line of .299/.352/.408.  A guy who was basically a throwback to the players I grew up with and could play any position in the infield.  In 2019, he wasn’t even a starter, but that changed quickly.  He ended up hitting .327/.375/.518, finally discovering a power stroke and finishing 4th in the MVP vote.  In the shortened season of 2020, he improved that slash line to .364/.421/.590 (in 50 games) and finished 3rd in the MVP vote.  Entering his age 32 season, he also entered free agency.   He basically had one suitor, the Yankees, and they wanted him back as a fan favorite.  Eventually, they signed him to a 6-year deal worth $90 million — a deal that expires this season.

So, how did DJ do under the new contract?  Not good, and frankly, it’s one of the worst contracts they have given out (btw notice that his contract was only $15 million a year — funny that just six years later his comparison is asking for more than twice that amount).  Even in his first healthy season, he slashed just 268/349/362.  His next season looked very similar, and after that, it’s just been a series of injuries.  Last year, the Yankees released him, and as I told other people, no one even picked him up for the league minimum.   Which brings us to Cody Bellinger.

Cody, who will turn 31 this season, wants to be the 10th Yankee hitter to receive a contract over 5 years.  Ask yourself, who does he resemble on that list?   I think the answer has to be DJ.  Cody was solid last year, but he was not an all-star, hit about league average against righties and away from the Bronx, and to date, his market has been quiet (just like with DJ).  Like DJ, he is known for having a solid glove (but DJ has four gold gloves in his career vs. Cod,y who has one).  

Similar to DJ, it looks like the Yankees are simply bidding against themselves (and in a sense of irony, it might be paying the last year of DJ 1.0’s contract that holds the Yankees back from meeting his demands).  So, as a Yankee fan, ask yourself this: Do you want DJ Version 2.0?  To me, the answer is clearly NO, because just like in Hollywood, most sequels do not turn out better than the original …