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Kevin Smith Accepts Outright Assignment With Yankees

By Anthony Franco | May 29, 2024 at 6:34pm CDT

May 29: The Yankees clarified on Wednesday that Smith has decided to accept the outright assignment. He’ll head back to Scranton and await another opportunity in the Bronx.

May 28: DJ LeMahieu is set to make his season debut, as the Yankees reinstated him from the 60-day injured list before tonight’s game in Anaheim. New York outrighted infielder Kevin Smith off the 40-man roster in a corresponding move; Smith has already elected minor league free agency in lieu of an assignment back to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. New York also activated reliever Ian Hamilton from the COVID-19 list after optioning Yoendrys Gómez on Sunday.

LeMahieu is at third base and hitting ninth against Griffin Canning. He should take over more or less every day at the hot corner now that he’s back from the foot injuries that cost him the first two months of the season. LeMahieu broke a bone in his right foot on a foul ball at the tail end of camp. The team tried to get him back in late April, but he felt renewed soreness immediately after embarking on a rehab stint. That shut him down again for another couple weeks, but LeMahieu has gotten through six minor league games dating back to May 17.

Third base has been a rare question mark amidst one of the game’s most potent offenses. While Oswaldo Cabrera got out to a strong start to the season, he’s hitting .230/.273/.295 in 66 plate appearances over the past month. Spring Training trade acquisition Jon Berti has been limited to 17 games around a pair of injured list stints. The speedy utilityman went on the 10-day IL over the weekend with a left calf strain. He’ll be out well beyond the minimum, telling reporters this evening that he could miss between six and eight weeks (X link via Greg Joyce of the New York Post).

LeMahieu is coming off a league average offensive performance in 2023. He hit .243/.327/.390 across 562 plate appearances. His performance improved over the course of the year. LeMahieu carried a meager .220/.285/.357 line into the All-Star Break before posting a .273/.377/.432 slash in the second half. He’s unlikely to recapture his 2019-20 form as he approaches his 36th birthday, though he should still be an upgrade over Cabrera, who fits better in a multi-positional role off the bench.

Smith, a New York-area native, signed a minor league contract with the Yankees over the offseason. He played in 29 games with the RailRiders, hitting .204/.270/.286 while striking out 41 times in 111 trips to the plate (a 36.9% rate). The Yanks called him up twice as utility depth. He appeared in two games as a pinch runner and didn’t take an at-bat at the major league level.

The Yankees had already outrighted the 27-year-old once this season, sending him through waivers in April. That gave him the right to test free agency this time around, as is the case for all players with a previous career outright. It’s not uncommon to see players circle back to their previous organization on a minor league contract after electing free agency, but Smith and his camp could look for a non-roster deal elsewhere now that LeMahieu is healthy. One of four players whom the A’s acquired from the Blue Jays in the Matt Chapman deal, Smith is a .173/.215/.301 hitter in 333 MLB plate appearances.

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New York Yankees Transactions DJ LeMahieu Ian Hamilton Jon Berti Kevin Smith

Red Sox Place Tyler O’Neill On Injured List
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View Comments (17)
Post a Comment

17 Comments

  1. helloworld

    1 year ago

    did the trojan troll get banned? His comments seem to be gone in recent posts

    3
    Reply
    • CravenMoorehead

      1 year ago

      Your guess is as good as mine. Bro disappeared like Hoffa.

      6
      Reply
      • Lars MacDonald

        1 year ago

        I’ll bet it’ll be more like Herpes.

        6
        Reply
      • LordD99

        1 year ago

        There’s a better chance he resurfaces than Hoffa.

        5
        Reply
        • Yankee Clipper

          1 year ago

          L99: So you know where he’s buried too! Awesome, I thought it was just me…. Wait, that’s not what you meant, is it?

          Redact! Redact!

          3
          Reply
    • wefwewefwe

      1 year ago

      Looks like he’s gone. Will he return is the question.

      Reply
    • Roll

      1 year ago

      he made a pretty bad comment on one of the other topics and all his posts were gone so the chain was all over the place lol

      Reply
      • wefwewefwe

        1 year ago

        Will he return?

        Reply
    • wefwewefwe

      1 year ago

      Do you think he will return?

      Reply
  2. CravenMoorehead

    1 year ago

    Good to see DJ back finally. Hopefully this means Gleyber Torres gets more days off at this point (then again after watching most of the games this season Torres been taking numerous days off…)

    1
    Reply
    • RussianFemboy

      1 year ago

      gleyber is having a very unlucky season this year sadly… he’s a great player! kinda underrated if I say so myself :3 but right now, I would maybe have gleyber over DJ, mostly because his numbers have been declining due to injury and age! but, I wish DJ the best.

      Reply
  3. Mikenmn

    1 year ago

    Hopefully, DJL is healthy and not just pushing to get back on the field. If he’s not really ready, then all this does is burn 40 man roster spots

    2
    Reply
  4. wefwewefwe

    1 year ago

    Kevin is going back to his movie career?

    5
    Reply
    • Dread Pirate Roberts

      1 year ago

      Clerks 4 is in pre-production.It will focus on Triple A ticket booth “Clerks”

      4
      Reply
    • Dumpster Divin Theo

      1 year ago

      Ask silent bob

      1
      Reply
  5. Well Hung

    1 year ago

    Welcome Back dj please listen to your home attendant and try not to get hurt rest of the season

    Reply
  6. t3f

    1 year ago

    I would like to see LeMahieu take over 2nd and let Cabrera keep getting regular reps at third.

    Reply

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