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Yankees designate DJ LeMahieu for assignment, still owe him $15 million in 2026
NEW YORK — The writing was on the wall for DJ LeMahieu when manager Aaron Boone said that he would be a bench player for the New York Yankees. A day later, LeMahieu’s seven-year career in pinstripes ended when the Yankees announced Wednesday they had designated him for assignment.
Unless another team claims him, the club will owe LeMahieu about $22 million, which includes the rest of his $15 million salary this season, along with $15 million in 2026.
“It’s been a tough couple days, some hard conversations and then ultimately coming to this decision, obviously not easy for what’s been a great player,” Boone said. “He’s done a lot of great things for this organization, but in the end, I feel like this is the right thing to do at this time.”
Boone said LeMahieu did not ask for his release. According to the manager, LeMahieu had a long talk with general manager Brian Cashman on Tuesday night and they talked a couple of times Wednesday.
In LeMahieu’s place, the Yankees have added infielder Jorbit Vivas to the 26-man roster. With Jazz Chisholm Jr. moving over to second base and LeMahieu off the roster, Boone said Oswald Peraza, Vivas and JC Escarra will be the third-base options.
LeMahieu, 36, becomes the fourth notable veteran since 2023 to be placed on waivers by the club, joining Aaron Hicks, Josh Donaldson and Harrison Bader. When the Yankees released Hicks in May 2023, the club owed him $27.6 million — $10 million of which is being paid out this year.
LeMahieu originally signed a two-year, $24 million contract with the Yankees in 2019 before agreeing to a six-year, $90 million extension following the shortened 2020 season, in which he finished third in the American League MVP race behind Jose Abreu and José Ramírez. But since then, LeMahieu’s offense has cratered as he’s dealt with several lower-body injuries. His 99 wRC+ since the start of the 2021 season is the 20th-worst among all major-league hitters with at least 2,000 plate appearances.
With LeMahieu no longer having the positional versatility he once possessed, his departure from the Yankees became inevitable. In announcing LeMahieu’s benching Tuesday, Boone said it was a “challenge” physically for him to play third base. This was after the club planned on having LeMahieu be an option to start at the position entering the 2025 season, but a left calf injury sustained in spring training made that no longer possible.
His defense at second base became untenable as he displayed limited range in the middle of the diamond. That left the Yankees no other option but to move Chisholm back to second. On their active roster, the Yankees already have Giancarlo Stanton, who is incapable of playing the field. Having two such players, with LeMahieu being less of a threat offensively than Stanton, proved impossible.
LeMahieu finishes his Yankees career with two top-five MVP finishes, two Silver Slugger Awards and a Gold Glove Award as a utility infielder in 2022.
— The Athletic’s Brendan Kuty contributed to this report.
(Photo: New York Yankees / Getty Images)
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Sofia Vergara and Tom Brady Got Friendly on Ritz Carlton Yacht in Europe
Tom Brady and Sofia Vergara are spending time together on a European summer vacation.
The retired NFL star and the Modern Family actress were spotted hanging out on a celeb-filled outing aboard Ritz Carlton’s new superyacht, Luminara, in Europe. An insider told Page Six, that Brady “asked to switch seats to sit next to her at dinner.”
Vergara shared a photo of the pair to her Instagram. In the snap, they’re seated next to one another as J Balvin comes over to greet Vergara. The singer puts his arms around both of them and plants a kiss on the Griselda star’s forehead as she laughs with her eyes closed and Brady smiles at the camera.
TMZ reported that while the pair have been enjoying the trip together, they are not dating.
Reps for both stars did not return PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Sofia Vergara/Instagram; Kevin Mazur/Getty
The meeting occurred amid the luxury vessel’s maiden voyage, a two-night journey for 400 guests that departed from Rome on July 1 for Malta, and culminated in a massive, star-studded party. Kendall Jenner, Patrick Schwarzenegger, Martha Stewart, Kate Hudson, Naomi Campbell and Brady’s rumored former flame Irina Shayk, were among the other celebs reportedly on board.
Page Six also reported that Vergara and Brady continued to hangout afterward in Ibiza, where he was also photographed on a yacht with Hudson and Dakota Johnson.
Both Vergara and Brady are currently single.
The sportscaster split from wife Gisele Bündchen in 2022 after 13 years and was later linked to Shayk after they were photographed cozying up in a car in 2023.
Vergara split from husband Joe Mangianello in July 2023 after nine years together. She first sparked romance rumors with orthopedic surgeon Justin Saliman in October 2023, but revealed they had split at the the 2025 Golden Globes in January, when she she cheekily admitted she was looking for “a boyfriend…or a lover, maybe.”
Brady and Bündchen share son Benjamin, 14, and daughter Vivian, 12,. He is also dad to son Jack, 17, with ex Bridget Moynahan. Vergara is mom to Manolo, 33, whom she shares with first husband Joe Gonzalez.
Luminara is Ritz Carlton’s third luxury yacht. The hotel brand launched Ilma and the Evrima last year. It features 226 luxury suites, all with balconies and 24/7 butler service. There’s also five restaurants, Cartier and Chanel boutiques, and a spa on board.
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Tom Brady Makes His Move With Sofia Vergara After Viral Photo Sparks Rumors of a ‘Summer Romance’
Retired NFL quarterback Tom Brady and Modern Family actress Sofía Vergara have sparked rumors of a “summer romance” after being spotted together in Ibiza, Spain.
The pair first met a week ago on the luxurious Luminara superyacht, part of the Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection, during a star-studded two-night voyage that included celebrities like Martha Stewart, Naomi Campbell, and Kendall Jenner.
The New York Post reports that the two were “googly-eyed over one another.”
According to the newspaper’s sources, Brady intentionally requested to switch seats to sit next to Vergara at a gala dinner, and their chemistry was evident as evidenced by a viral photo in which the two are leaning in each other’s direction.
Pretty slick, Tom.
Tom Brady and Sofia Vergara Romance?
Following the cruise, Tom Brady and Vergara reportedly continued spending time together in Ibiza, fueling speculation about a potential relationship. Neither has officially confirmed a romance or even commented on their stay in Spain.
That said, gossip site TMZ has indicated their sources are saying the “summer romance” claims are a bit “ridiculous.”
According to them, there is no there there, and the two are not involved in any romantic fling – at least not for now. In fact, if one picture equates to a relationship, then Brady has been spotted with several women this summer.
The seven-time Super Bowl winner was also spotted alongside stars Dakota Johnson and Kate Hudson. And he happened to be caught dancing with bombshell actress Syndey Sweeney.
Brady is certainly living the life, definitely upping the game when you consider who his former coach is dating. Why not? You can do these things when you’re one of the greatest quarterbacks to ever play the game.
Which team are you on – Team Vergara, or Team Jordon Hudson? Seems like a no-brainer.
What’s Next for These Two?
Both stars are recently single, with Tom Brady having divorced Gisele Bündchen in 2022 and Vergara ending her marriage to Joe Manganiello in 2024.
Vergara has been sharing glimpses of her Ibiza vacation on social media. Notably, none of them feature Brady. All of them are worth looking at.
The high-profile setting of their encounters, combined with their past high-profile relationships, has captivated fans and media.
Will there be more to share in the future? Or will the two part ways after leaving Spain?
Also Read:: Deion Sanders Snaps Over Reporter’s Question About His Health, Refuses to Take Question
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The CEO who never was: how Linda Yaccarino was set up to fail at Elon Musk’s X | X
In May 2023, when Linda Yaccarino, an NBC advertising executive, joined what was then still known as Twitter, she was given a tall order: repair the company’s relationship with advertisers after a chaotic year of being owned by Elon Musk. But just weeks after she became CEO, Musk posted an antisemitic tweet that drove away major brands like Disney, Paramount, NBCUniversal, Comcast, Lionsgate and Warner Bros Discovery to pause their advertising on the platform. Musk delivered an apology for the tweet later at a conference – which he called the worst post he’s ever done – but it came with a message to advertisers, specifically the Disney CEO Bob Iger: “Go fuck yourselves”. Yaccarino was in the audience of the conference.
“I don’t want them to advertise,” he said. “If someone is going to blackmail me with advertising or money, go fuck yourself. Go. Fuck. Yourself,” he said. “Is that clear? Hey Bob, if you’re in the audience, that’s how I feel.”
In the two years since, Yaccarino has had to contend with the unpredictability of Musk, ongoing content moderation and hate speech issues on the platform, increasingly strained relationships with advertisers and widespread backlash her boss received for his role in Donald Trump’s administration. Her response in some cases was to remain silent; in others, she chose to defend the company. Through it all, however, experts say it was clear Yaccarino was the chief executive in title only.
“The reality is that Elon Musk is and always has been at the helm of X,” said Mike Proulx, research director at Forrester VP. “It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company’s chief executive. Her background and actual authority positioned her more as the company’s chief advertising officer, rather than its CEO.”
Even in her de facto role as a chief advertising officer, Musk’s incessant posting, impulsive decision making and obsession with X and other platforms becoming too “woke” posed huge obstacles for Yaccarino.
“The only thing that’s surprising about Linda Yaccarino’s resignation is that it didn’t come sooner,” said Proulx.
This week alone, Grok, the AI chatbot integrated with X, posted several antisemitic remarks, including some praising Hitler, after the company included new guidelines for the chatbot. In guidelines xAI published, Grok had been instructed not to “shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated”. xAI removed that guideline from its code on Tuesday evening.
Yaccarino’s tenure as CEO of X was not only bookended with antisemitism scandals – Musk’s and Grok’s offensive tweets – but was also punctuated with several accusations of antisemitism against her boss throughout her short stint. In 2023, the non-profit watchdog Center for Countering Digital Hate published a report on the prevalence of hate speech, both antisemitic and otherwise, on X as well as the lack of moderation. The company’s response was to sue the organization; the suit was ultimately dismissed. Similarly, the non-profit Media Matters for America highlighted the appearance of pro-Nazi tweets alongside branded advertisements in a report that preceded a mass advertiser exodus from the social network. X sued Media Matters.
Most notably, Musk was accused of doing back-to-back Nazi salutes at a Trump inauguration rally at the start of 2025. Musk brushed aside the allegations that it was a Nazi salute and posted several Nazi puns on X. At the time, Yaccarino provided no additional comment, but posted a laughing face emoji in response to Musk’s jokes. Musk’s salute and the ensuing backlash was one of several moments that solidified the overall rightward shift of the social network as droves of users began to flock to alternative platforms like Bluesky and even Reddit communities began banning X links.
Promises of an X revitalization
When Yaccarino joined X, she set about courting celebrities and partnerships to reinvigorate the social network’s brand and repair relationships that Musk’s contentious takeover had damaged. Musk had long talked of making X into an “everything app” that would integrate payments, AI, messaging, livestreaming, and other new features alongside the social network’s public posting, another task given to Yaccarino.
Yaccarino led a delegation of executives, including Musk himself, to meet with industry leaders at the Cannes Lions festival in 2023, and began seeking media figures who could feature on the platform.
after newsletter promotion
One of Yaccarino’s moves toward making the platform into what she described as a “global town square” was reaching out to the former CNN host Don Lemon to start a show on X, much as the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson had agreed to put his content on site. Lemon’s first interview for the platform was with Musk, in what was intended to be a showcase of how X was shifting and bringing in big-name creators. The plan backfired after Lemon’s interview with Musk grew heated over questions about the billionaire’s drug use, which was quickly followed by Musk telling Lemon’s agent that his contract was canceled. Future shows with big-name creators never materialized.
In the ensuing two years, rather than become a destination for mainstream talent, a streaming powerhouse or the “everything app” that Yaccarino promoted, X has largely become a megaphone for Musk to air his grievances, boost and then feud with Trump, and promote his companies. Far-right influencers, porn spambots and meme accounts proliferate, while many media outlets have deprioritized the platform or left it altogether. Misinformation and extremism are rampant, sometimes coming from Musk himself.
The day before Yaccarino resigned, X became involved in a scandal that epitomized much of what the platform has become. Musk had recently posted that he would be reconfiguring xAI’s chatbot, Grok, because he did not agree with the responses it was generating. On Tuesday, users noticed that the chatbot had begun to reply to queries with blatantly antisemitic posts praising Nazi ideology. A flood of users began posting more screenshots of Grok posting rape fantasies, identifying itself as “MechaHitler” and promoting conspiracies before the company removed the posts.
Incidents like Grok’s foray into Nazism are some of the many reasons Yaccarino’s goal of revitalizing X has sputtered. Although she succeeded in courting a number of major companies to begin advertising again last year, at a time when Musk’s connections to the White House were strongest, the platform’s ad revenues have never reached anywhere near their pre-Musk era, according to research firm Emarketer. The platform also resorted to threats of lawsuits against major companies such as Verizon if they did not buy advertising on the site, according to a Wall Street Journal report that Yaccarino has denied.
After more than two years of Yaccarino running damage control for her boss and the platform’s myriad of issues, Musk issued only a brief statement acknowledging she was stepping down.
“Thank you for your contributions,” Musk responded to Yaccarino’s post announcing her resignation. Minutes later, he began sending replies to other posts about SpaceX, artificial intelligence and how his chatbot became a Nazi.
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