The New York Yankees’ two-year nightmare at the hot corner is finally over. And that comes at the expense of the Colorado Rockies, whose bid to avoid the worst record in modern major league history just got a lot more difficult.
The Yankees acquired third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Rockies on Friday, July 25, galvanizing a position that’s haunted them even as they advanced to the 2024 World Series and positioned themselves for another playoff run this season.
In McMahon, 30, the Yankees get a 2024 All-Star with significant power, but also a propensity to strike out. He leads the National League with 127 strikeouts this season and was punched out a career-high 198 times in 2023.
Yet he’s also heading toward his sixth season of at least 20 home runs and has averaged 22 homers and 27 doubles per 162 games in his career. McMahon has two more seasons remaining on the six-year, $70 million extension he signed with Colorado.
And he will provide a name that manager Aaron Boone can write confidently in the lineup every night after a revolving door at third.
Yankees: Ryan McMahon solves third base problem
Yankees third basemen rank 22nd in the major leagues in OPS, despite trying a slew of them this year: Oswald Peraza, Oswaldo Cabrera, miscast second baseman Jazz Chisholm, Jorbit Vivas and Pablo Reyes have all earned starts there this season, and that doesn’t include DJ LeMahieu, who was released with $22 million left on his contract this year after flailing at second base with All-Star Chisholm at third.
That alignment wasn’t great for the Yankees in 2024, even as Chisholm’s midseason acquisition provided punch to the lineup. But he was never fully comfortable at third, contributing to a defensive incontinuity that dogged the Yankees in the World Series against the Dodgers and lingered through this year.
That won’t be a problem now. McMahon ranks fourth among all major leaguers with four outs above average, and the left-handed hitter will now be able to pepper Yankee Stadium’s short right field with his elite power.
And the Yankees will have to pay less of a premium for McMahon than they would have for Diamondbacks slugger Eugenio Suarez, whose market just got a lot more expensive for clubs hoping to acquire him.
Rockies: On pace for worst record in modern MLB history
The Rockies received minor league pitchers Griffin Herring and Ryan Grosz in exchange for McMahon. Herring, a left-hander, was ranked No. 17 among Yankee prospects, according to Baseball America. Largely a reliever at LSU, Herring, 22, has moved to the rotation in the minors and has a 1.71 ERA and 102 strikeouts in 89 innings at three levels.
The Rockies figure to assign him to high A or Class AA.
Grosz, 22, reached Class AA with the Yankees and struck out 131 2/3 batters in 121 innings at three levels this season.
But they’re of no help to the big league Rockies, who entered Friday 26-76 and with a .255 winning percentage, putting them exactly on pace to equal the Chicago White Sox’s 41-121 record last season – worst in the modern major league era.
Avoiding that history will be harder with McMahon gone – and likely a few more players to ship out before the July 31 trade deadline. McMahon was replaced in Friday’s lineup at Baltimore by journeyman infielder Orlando Arcia, who has a .177 average and .473 OPS.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Ryan McMahon trade: Yankees land third baseman from Rockies
