Yankees, DJ LeMahieu come to decision on return

TORONTO — Yankees manager Aaron Boone talked things out with DJ LeMahieu, the training staff and probably a lot of others before a final decision was made.

Wednesday was a possibility for a return, especially after the Yankees clinched the AL East the night before with a 5-2 win over the Blue Jays, but the final verdict was to wait until Friday to activate LeMahieu from the injured list.

‘DJ is going to go through another full workout (Wednesday) with the idea that Friday’s he’s going to give it a go,” Boone said.

At that point, the Yankees will start giving LeMahieu at-bats over the final seven games and six days of the regular season to see if his injured right second toe will allow him to keep playing and get off good swings. If LeMahieu can pass these two tough tests, and it might be a longshot at best, then he’ll probably be on the Yankees’ Division Series roster when they begin postseason play on Oct. 11.

Counting Wednesday’s game, LeMahieu has missed 21 in a row since last playing on Sept. 4. He was placed on the 10-day IL inflammation in his toe, his shutdown period coming after he had two hits in 38 at-bats over his last 10 games.

LeMahieu’s toe issue only affects him when he’s hitting, so his return probably will put him back into his old role of being a regular who rotates between first base, second and third.

LeMahieu’s first game back will be at Yankee Stadium on Friday night when the Yankees play the Baltimore Orioles. The Yankees are home for three against Baltimore this weekend, then head to North Texas to close out the regular season with four games in three days against the Texas Rangers, the series including a day-night doubleheader next Tuesday.

Here are other recent Yankees posts on NJ.com to check out:

-- What it was like in Yankees clubhouse after division clincher

-- Now what? Yankees’ 7 immediate priorities after winning AL East

-- Yankees are confident they’re just getting started after winning AL East

-- Aaron Boone’s direct message to team before wild celebration

-- Yankees clinch AL East, finish job after ‘keeping their blinders on’ during long stretch of bad baseball

-- MLB magic numbers, schedules: Yankees, Cardinals clinch; Mets, Braves tied for lead (9/28/22)

--- Aaron Judge is (still) chasing Roger Maris. Has the wait become the weight? | Klapisch

-- Cool cat Harrison Bader impacting Yankees right away in so many ways

-- Yankees have a Gerrit Cole problem with time running out before playoffs | Klapisch

-- As history awaits, Yankees’ Aaron Judge’s 1st home run derailed pitcher’s career

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Randy Miller may be reached at rmiller@njadvancemedia.com.