Your need to know about the Yankees acquiring Ryan McMahon…
If you’re initial reaction to the move was “Here goes Cashman with another half measure…” you’re not wrong – heck I agree with you. In this case, Arizona’s Eugenio Suarez* – who’s been one of the best players in MLB for over a calendar year* – wasn’t seriously considered by the New York brain trust.
(*Since July 2nd of last season, Suarez is ninth in all of MLB in fWAR with 6.9. For some perspective, that’s more than Juan Soto and Vlad Guererro Jr. over that span.)
That said, the Yankees position that McMahon’s bat “has some upside” isn’t wrong either. McMahon draws a lot of walks (85th percentile) and hits the ball damn hard (97th percentile exit velocity) – that’s a very good combination of skills. With a BABIP 25 points lower than his career norm, it’s not unreasonable to guess he may have been on the wrong end of randomness so far in ’25.
But…
His career wRC+ is 89 over 3,824 PA. His current 2025 wRC+ is 88.
(Plot thickens…)
To thicken the plot even further, McMahon has been freakishly consistent over the course of his career: In his six full seasons in the bigs, McMahon has posted a wRC+ of between 88 and 97 every season.
Although there may be some upside, it’s more likely that he is what he is: A slightly below average hitter.
To be clear, “slightly below average hitter” is a massive upgrade over what the Yankees have received from their third basemen in 2025. (Reminder: The Yankees came into the 2025 season without a third baseman on the roster, so that’s not a knock on the players who did their best, it’s a knock on the organization.)
Combine that with the fact that McMahon is one of the best defensive third basemen in baseball (second in both Fielding Runs and DRAA among third basemen in 2025) and it’s clear the Yankees are better with him than they were without him.
Similar to the additions by subtraction of replacing Rizzo and Verdugo (it’s not that Goldschmidt and Dominguez are good – they’re just not god awful) this is a good step in the right direction.
Did I miss something? Let me know in the comments, or yell at me on the “My Baseball Page” on Blue Sky.
Recommended reading: “The Bronx Zoo” by Sparky Lyle. Sparky was something else and that ’78 season was even crazier.
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