Yankees Acquire 2024 All-Star Ryan McMahon to Fill Void at Third Base

McMahon, 30, spent his entire nine-year MLB career with the Colorado Rockies and hit at least 20 home runs in each of the past four seasons.

The Colorado Rockies' Ryan McMahon is congratulated after hitting a two-run home run off Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Ranger Suárez at Coors Field in Denver on May 26, 2024. David Zalubowski/AP Photo

In what could be the first of several transactions prior to the MLB trade deadline, the New York Yankees acquired All-Star third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies on July 25.

McMahon, 30, will head to the Bronx in exchange for a pair of minor league pitchers: Griffin Herring and Josh Grosz. He fills a huge need for New York, which had a glaring hole at the hot corner all season. The Yankees were using All-Star Jazz Chisholm at the position earlier in the year but recently moved him to his natural position of second base.

The Yankees also released DJ LeMahieu, himself a former Rockies player, and even though he hadn’t manned third this season, he suited up at the position for 254 games for the Yankees over his seven-year career in pinstripes. Since making the Chisholm position switch, Oswald Peraza and Jorbit Vivas had shared time at third base, but neither player entered Friday hitting better than .164.

McMahon is hitting just .217 on the season, but much of that is due to a dreadful start. Since May 1, he has an .804 OPS  with 14 home runs over his last 71 games. He was also an All-Star a year ago when he reached 20 home runs for his fourth straight season. Overall this year, McMahon has 16 home runs and 35 RBI, and has played Gold Glove-caliber defense.

McMahon’s glove is his best asset—his 54 defensive runs saved since 2021 are the second-most among third basemen and fourth-most among all positions. Despite never winning a Gold Glove, McMahon has been elite defensively for years. He’ll also provide the Yankees with versatility if something were to happen to Chisholm as McMahon has logged nearly 1,800 MLB innings at second base.

But McMahon leads the National League with 127 strikeouts. Since becoming a full-time player in 2019, he ranks third in all of baseball in strikeouts. However, the Yankees believe they can fix some holes in his swing and reduce his whiffs, as they have done with other veterans.

Cody Bellinger and Paul Goldschmidt are MVP winners in their first years in pinstripes, and both just happen to have the lowest strikeout ratios of their careers in 2025. The Yankees, as a team, rank eighth in batter strikeouts, which is laudable considering they are a slugging team that leads the majors in home runs.

McMahon, who spent his entire nine-year career with Colorado after being drafted in the second round of the 2013 MLB Draft, is under contract through 2027. The Yankees are now on the hook for the approximately $4.5 million he will make over the rest of this year, plus $16 million for the next two seasons.

Like LeMahieu, McMahon is the latest in a line of former Rockies All-Stars who headed to New York. There has been a mixed bag of success, with LeMahieu representing one of the transactions that paid off. Despite his recent release, he won a batting title, made an All-Star Game and had a pair of top-four MVP finishes in pinstripes.

On the other hand, Matt Holliday and Troy Tulowitzki didn’t fare as well in New York—each lasted just one forgettable season.

The Yankees are certainly hoping McMahon performs better in Yankee Stadium as one of their own rather than as an opponent. He’s just a .130 career hitter at Yankee Stadium, which is his fifth-lowest batting average in any MLB ballpark.

This move solves the Yankees’ biggest hole approaching the July 31 trade deadline, but they could still make a move or two to fortify their bullpen. While New York’s starting pitchers have a cumulative ERA that’s fourth-best in the AL, the Yankees’ bullpen ERA is the sixth-worst in the league.

As for what the Rockies get in this deal, they add a pair of 22-year-old pitchers, both of whom were playing in High-A. Herring, a southpaw, was New York’s eighth-ranked prospect but is now Colorado’s No. 5 prospect. He immediately becomes the Rockies’ best left-handed pitching prospect and has an estimated arrival in MLB of the 2027 season. Grosz, a right-hander, was the Yankees’ 21^st-ranked prospect but is now the Rockies’ 18^th-ranked prospect.

To fill their new void at third base, the Rockies may have to dip into their minor league system for long-term answers. On the day of the trade, Colorado used converted shortstop Orlando Arcia at third base in its game versus the Baltimore Orioles. While he was an MLB All-Star in 2023, Arcia entered play on Friday hitting just .177 with an OPS of .473 that ranked as the second-worst in MLB.