In Part 5 of our continuing series breaking down how the Yankees should navigate the offseason position by position, we look at third base.
The Yankees had among the majors’ worst slash lines at third – .215/.271/.358. That is more tolerable if they were getting elite defense at the position. The Rays, for example, live annually with Taylor Walls’ feeble bat because his shortstop defense is special. The Brewers just won the NL title with the same paradigm with Joey Ortiz, initially at short and now at third.
That was Ryan McMahon for the Yankees last year after his trade-deadline acquisition provided a strong glove, which was particularly valuable, say, when lefty contact-oriented Max Fried started. But McMahon’s defense regressed and so his poor offense became more problematic. Meanwhile, the Yankees were willing to accept Amed Rosario’s lesser glove at third in exchange for him hitting lefties well. Except for the first time in his career, he didn’t.
The overall result was unacceptable, so this position must improve for next season. McMahon’s $16 million due for 2027 complicates matters. The Yankees have gotten in the habit of eating that range of contract after releasing Aaron Hicks and DJ LeMahieu. But the first route will be to try to trade McMahon by either eating a good deal of what he is owed, taking on a bad contract as a counterbalance or perhaps including him with more desirable pieces in a bigger trade.