Yankees’ DJ LeMahieu hopes the players’ next proposal will end the MLB lockout, start spring training

TAMPA — In the days after surgery to repair a sports hernia, DJ LeMahieu was overwhelmed by the rehab. A few weeks in he finally had enough.

“I told them to just let me play baseball,” the Yankees super utility infielder said with a laugh Thursday afternoon. “So I’ve been hitting pretty much since then, all winter.”

But months later, LeMahieu is still hoping to just play baseball again ... soon.

“I hope they can get something done,” LeMahieu said after a workout at a local college with other big league players. The infielder said he was hopeful that the scheduled meeting Thursday afternoon, when the union was expected to respond to the owners’ last proposal, would bring about some progress.

The meeting in New York is an attempt to end the owner’s lockout and salvage spring training, which technically would have started on Wednesday with pitchers and catchers working out. The Yankees’ first spring training game is nine days away and, while MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said it would be possible to get players in camps in under a week, it seems unlikely that the Grapefruit League games will go on as scheduled.

The lack of a deal is also now close to threatening the scheduled Opening Day of March 31 if players aren’t in camp by March 1.

“I need two days,” LeMahieu joked about getting ready for the season. “But all players are different. I think four weeks is possible.”

The sides seem to be hung up on the competitive balance tax, which the players argue is a soft cap, and revenue sharing, which they point to as having encouraged tanking among teams receiving those checks.

After contentious negotiations to restart the 2020 season after the coronavirus pandemic shut down spring training for four months, this collective bargaining has been slow and bitter so far.

“I’m not surprised,” LeMahieu said of the slow negotiations. “We kind of expected this.”

The owners voted unanimously to lock the players out on Dec. 2, saying it would spur negotiations with the union. The league made its first proposal of the lockout six weeks later.

The sides met Saturday in hopes of salvaging spring training, but were still far apart.

As the negotiations go on, however, players like LeMahieu are just trying to do what they do best. Thursday morning he and fellow big leaguers from the Yankees and who live in the area worked out with college players. They are not allowed to use team facilities or communicate with team personnel.

“They helped us out in during the [coronavirus pandemic] shutdown,” LeMahieu said. “They’ve been really great. We have a lot of great people trying to help us get ready.”