Yankees Acquire Ryan McMahon

The Yankees have a new third baseman. New York announced the acquisition of Ryan McMahon from the Rockies for pitching prospects Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz. The Yanks already had an opening on the 40-man roster, so no additional move was necessary.

The Yankees are taking on the remainder of McMahon’s contract. He is making a $12MM salary this year, leaving a bit more than $4MM to be paid out, then will make $16MM in each of the next two seasons.

McMahon, 30, will join a new franchise for the first time in his career. He was drafted by the Rockies in the second round of the 2013 draft. He climbed up to the majors and eventually established himself as a regular in Colorado, playing quality defense at multiple infield positions.

It’s hard to say what the Yankees will be getting from McMahon offensively. He has generally been good for 20-25 home runs a year, though while playing his home games in the hitters’ haven of Coors Field and with some high strikeout totals. Despite some good surface-level stats, he’s generally been ranked as a subpar hitter by metrics that adjust for the Coors effect. He has a career batting line of .240/.323/.420 but a wRC+ of 89. In other words, that metric considers him 11% worse than league average at the plate.

For his career, McMahon has hit .263/.343/.476 at home and .216/.302/.362 on the road, obviously a huge difference. At first glance, that might suggest he can only hit in Denver and will fall to pieces in a new jersey. The truth is likely more nuanced than that. Pitches move differently at elevation than they do at sea level due to the differences in resistance or drag. Most notably, breaking balls move less in Denver than in other parks, so it’s tough for Colorado hitters to constantly adjust as they go on the road and back.

Over the years, many players have had big home-road splits as Rockies but then evened out after leaving Denver. One such player is DJ LeMahieu, who also moved from the Rockies to the Yankees. During his time with Colorado, LeMahieu hit .329/.386/.447 at Coors but just .267/.314/.367 on the road. When he left Denver for the Bronx, the move wasn’t difficult for him at all. He slashed .336/.386/.536 over his first two seasons with the Yankees.

In terms of the glovework, there’s little question that McMahon is strong there. He has played lots of first base and second base in his career but has settled in as Colorado’s third baseman. The Yanks will surely keep him at the hot corner. They recently moved Jazz Chisholm Jr. from third to second, both due to his personal comfort level and some shoulder soreness he was experiencing. That led to LeMahieu getting bumped off the roster and released.

They’ve been connected to various third basemen for weeks, including McMahon, Eugenio Suárez and others. In the meantime, they’ve been covering the position with Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas. Neither of those two have been hitting well this year. Vivas has a .164/.270/.255 line this year while Peraza is at .147/.208/.237.

For McMahon’s career, he has 5,550 innings at third. He’s been credited with 64 Defensive Runs Saved and 44 Outs Above Average. Dating back to the start of 2021, when he first got regular run at third, he has 54 DRS and 42 OAA. In both cases, he trails only Ke’Bryan Hayes among big league third basemen for that span.

The Yankees can bank on sure-handed defense at third. The Yankees love ground-ball pitchers, on account of their hitter-friendly park, so McMahon should be a notable upgrade in turning those grounders into outs. The offense is a bit more of a question mark, as outlined above, but it will still likely be an upgrade over the in-house options.

Due to his contract, McMahon should be able to cover the hot corner for not just this year but two more. The Rockies signed him to an extension just ahead of the 2022 season. As mentioned, that deal pays McMahon $12MM this year followed by $16MM in each of the next two years. The Yankees will be paying him at a higher rate than that. They are a third-time competitive balance tax payor and above the highest CBT tier. That means they pay a 110% tax on any new spending.

A player’s CBT hit is recalculated at the time of a trade to account for what is left on the contract. McMahon is still owed about $36.2MM over two seasons and the roughly 35% of this year’s schedule that remains. That works out to a CBT hit of about $15.4MM. Prorate that over the rest of the year and McMahon adds about $5.4MM to the 2025 CBT. 110% of that is a bit over $5.9MM in taxes. That means the Yanks are paying more than $11MM total to have McMahon for the stretch run. Taxes will likely be a factor with his 2026 and 2027 seasons as well.

In addition to the financial cost, the Yanks are also subtracting a couple of pitchers from their system. Herring, 22, was a sixth-round pick in last year’s draft. He has made 16 starts this year between Single-A and High-A, eight at each level. He has a combined 1.71 earned run average, 28.5% strikeout rate, 10.1% walk rate and 50% ground ball rate. Baseball America gives him a 45 grade on the 20-80 scale and had him listed as the #17 prospect in the Yankee system.

Grosz, 22, was an 11th-round pick in 2023. He has since pitched 208 2/3 innings in the minors with a 3.97 ERA, 25.7% strikeout rate and 10% walk rate. BA doesn’t list him as one of the top 30 prospects in the Yankee system.

For the Rockies, it’s a notable shift for them. They haven’t had a winning record since 2018 but haven’t always capitalized on their losing seasons by trading players at the deadline. Trevor Story wasn’t traded and ended up departing for just qualifying offer compensation. Jon Gray didn’t even get a QO, so he departed for nothing. Players like Daniel Bard and C.J. Cron got ill-advised extensions instead of being traded.

However, the team seems to be accepting that they are in a rough spot and need change. Their struggles have reached a new nadir this year. Their 26-76 record is easily the worst in baseball. In fact, they are on pace to challenge the modern-day loss record, which the White Sox set just last year.

The scope of the franchise’s struggles has opened up more willingness to try new things. Though the club has often been considered loyal to a fault, they fired manager Bud Black in May. McMahon was reportedly a favorite of owner Dick Monfort, but that’s no longer enough to keep him off the trading block. The club is also reportedly open to offers on controllable pitchers like Victor Vodnik and Seth Halvorsen.

Parting with McMahon allows them to add some young pitching prospects, which is an ongoing concern for them. They regularly struggle to put competent pitching staffs together and even some of their modest success stories are running out of steam. Germán Márquez, Antonio Senzatela, Kyle Freeland and Austin Gomber have all had some success for the Rockies but they’re all now in their 30s and nearing free agency. Márquez and Gomber hit the open market in a few months. Senzatela and Freeland have options in their contracts but are only guaranteed through 2026.

The Rockies will ideally develop younger pitchers over time, but even their most notable prospect struggled this year, as Chase Dollander had a 6.68 ERA in 15 starts before being sent back down to the minors. Improving their long-term pitching outlook will be an ongoing project and they’ve added a couple more arms today.

The move could also have impacts on the broader market. The Yankees were one of several clubs connected to Suárez, so there is one less suitor for him now. However, he has reportedly drawn interest from a dozen different teams, so the Snakes should still be able to do well there. Even after adding McMahon, the Yankees should still be on the lookout for pitching. The Rockies, meanwhile, could make a few more trades before next week’s deadline. In addition to the aforementioned pitchers, position players like Thairo Estrada and Mickey Moniak could be available.

Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first reported the Yankees had an agreement to acquire McMahon for two prospects. ESPN’s Jorge Castillo reported Herring’s inclusion. Bob Nightengale of USA Today was first with Grosz heading to Colorado. Joel Sherman of The New York Post reported that the Yanks were assuming McMahon’s entire salary.

Photo courtesy of Isaiah J. Downing, Peter Aiken and Jim Dedmon, Imagn Images