DJ LeMahieu not on Yankees’ ALDS roster due to lingering foot injury

The Yankees were on a record wins pace early in the season. They hit a midseason lull and tailed off a bit down the stretch, but a strong month of September locked up the AL East title in convincing fashion. Their reward: a first-round bye as the AL’s #2 seed and an ALDS matchup with the Guardians, the Central division champs who dispatched the Rays in two games in their Wild Card round.

Here’s the roster the Yankees will roll out for this set:

Right-Handed Pitchers

• Miguel Castro
• Gerrit Cole (Game 1 starter)
• Domingo German
• Clay Holmes
• Jonathan Loaisiga
• Clarke Schmidt
• Luis Severino (Game 3 starter)
• Jameson Taillon
• Lou Trivino

Left-Handed Pitchers

• Nestor Cortes (Game2 starter)
• Lucas Luetge
• Wandy Peralta

Catchers

• Kyle Higashioka
• Jose Trevino

Infielders

• Matt Carpenter
• Josh Donaldson
• Marwin Gonzalez
• Isiah Kiner-Falefa
• Anthony Rizzo
• Gleyber Torres

Outfielders

• Harrison Bader
• Oswaldo Cabrera
• Aaron Hicks
• Aaron Judge
• Tim Locastro

Designated Hitter

• Giancarlo Stanton

Injuries are much of the story for New York. Notably, infielder DJ LeMahieu is not on the roster, as he continues to battle a right foot injury. The veteran hitter was reinstated from the injured list on September 30 after missing three weeks with toe inflammation. Joel Sherman of the New York Post reports (Twitter link) that LeMahieu has a fracture in his foot/toe area that inhibits his ability to swing. While the Yankees aren’t ruling him out for the entirety of the postseason, he won’t be an option for this series and could be sidelined even if New York advances.

In LeMahieu’s place, the Yankees welcome back Matt Carpenter from the 60-day injured list. Carpenter has been out since the second week of August with a foot fracture of his own, his occurring after fouling a ball off his foot. While the 36-year-old hasn’t played in a game since the injury, he has taken live batting practice in recent days. Manager Aaron Boone informed reporters this afternoon he’s likely to deploy Carpenter as a left-handed bench bat but didn’t entirely rule out the possibility he sees some defensive action (Twitter link via Yankees Videos). Signed to a major league deal after being granted his release from a minor league pact with Texas in May, Carpenter ranked at a .305/.412/.727 clip in 47 games before going down.

There’s also a fair bit of intrigue in the bullpen. It was surprisingly revealed this morning that Scott Effross would require Tommy John surgery. He’s of course not on the roster, while Aroldis Chapman has been left off after missing a team workout last week. Boone told reporters that Chapman has been throwing in Miami over the past few days but “for now, he’s staying away” from the team (via Bryan Hoch of MLB.com). Clay Holmes is on the roster after not pitching since September 26 due to a shoulder issue.