The Yankees have a lot to sort through this winter, and third base is right near the top of the list.
Ryan McMahon arrived as a useful piece, but his first season in New York fell short in just about every offensive category that matters. In 124 games, the 31-year-old hit .213/.279/.357 with a 78 wRC+, which was 22% below league average.
His strikeout rate sat at 29.4%, placing him in the ninth percentile on Statcast and right in line with his career 29.3% mark. The damage showed up in the other direction too: his walk rate slid to a career-low 7.8%, his on-base percentage landed at .279, and his power dipped sharply as he managed only 11 home runs after topping 20 in six of the previous seven seasons.
His .143 isolated power checked in below the league average of .156 and marked another personal low.
The defense, which has long been McMahon’s calling card, didn’t carry him the way it usually does. The Yankees got a 74 wRC+ from third base overall, tied with the Marlins for the fifth-worst production in the majors.
McMahon, who averaged 2.3 fWAR per season from 2021-25 because of his glove, was worth just 0.5 fWAR this year. He went from +10 Defensive Runs Saved and +7 Outs Above Average in 2025 to -3 DRS and 0 OAA at the hot corner this season.
Statcast still liked him when he moved side to side, but not nearly to the same degree as before; that part of his game looked much closer to average.
He did stay on the field for most of the year. McMahon had played at least 151 games in every season from 2021-25, and this year he got into 124 contests.
His missed time came after a throat infection at the end of June and then a left thumb sprain at the end of August, which were his first IL stints in more than seven years. Neither injury really explains a loss of range, though, since both were unrelated to his lower body.
That leaves the possibility of a one-year dip, or something more permanent tied to age.
At $16MM guaranteed, McMahon is not easy to dismiss. That figure is only the seventh-highest on the Yankees’ payroll, but it’s still a meaningful commitment for a player who has never been much of a hitter and now has questions attached to his defense. New York also has to weigh that against its broader offseason needs, which makes the decision even trickier.
The bullpen is part of the same equation. Fernando Cruz is a non-tender candidate because of his injury situation, while Paul Blackburn and David Bednar are headed for free agency.
Reports indicate the Yankees are expected to issue Bednar a qualifying offer, and if he sticks around, his price only goes up - either through the QO or a longer-term deal. New York may also need several more relief arms, even with pitching coach Matt Blake’s track record of squeezing value out of lesser-known pitchers.
There are lineup questions beyond third base, too. The Yankees have given some thought to Luis Garcia Jr. at second base in place of Jazz Chisholm Jr., and Chisholm himself is a free agent who may wind up elsewhere despite wanting to remain in New York. If Garcia is at first base, the club’s next internal second-base option would be Anthony Volpe, who has his own offensive shortcomings.
Then there’s Giancarlo Stanton. The 36-year-old, who turns 37 in November, is entering the final season of the 13-year, $325MM extension he signed with the Marlins in November 2014.
He’s due a $25MM salary next year along with a $10MM buyout on a 2028 club option, and the Marlins will cover $20MM of that guarantee, leaving the Yankees responsible for $15MM. Given another injury-filled season and the possibility of DH time for Ben Rice and Aaron Judge, there’s a real chance New York simply pays the remaining money and moves on.
The payroll picture makes every one of these calls more complicated. MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker has the Yankees at a $282.1MM luxury tax payroll in 2027, and that number will climb once arbitration is added in.
Matt Swartz projects New York’s arbitration class at $36.7MM. That would leave the Yankees near the top of the luxury-tax penalty structure, and if the CBA talks produce a salary cap, the pressure to trim payroll would only increase.
In that kind of setup, eating dead money on McMahon or Stanton would sting, especially if the club still has to find replacements.
If the Yankees decide to move on from McMahon, the market doesn’t make it simple. Teruaki Sato stands out as one of the best bats available at any position, not just third base, which means plenty of teams will chase him and the price won’t be modest.
The other free-agent names are less certain: Alec Bohm is a rebound candidate, while Jazz Chisholm Jr. and J.P. Crawford would be out of position at third.
Trade options exist, but they come with their own complications. The names on that list include Isaac Paredes of the Astros, Royce Lewis of the Twins, and Nolan Gorman of the Cardinals.
Houston has a $13.35MM club option on Paredes that becomes a mutual option if he finishes in the Top 10 of AL MVP voting, and since he’s in the last season of control, he could be moved if the Astros decide to redirect that money elsewhere. Lewis and Gorman, meanwhile, are both viewed as rebound candidates.
However the Yankees handle it, the mission is clear: the offense needs more punch. After Judge went down with a rib injury, the lineup slumped badly, and New York’s 93 wRC+ after that point was tied for fifth-worst in the majors. The Yankees don’t have an easy path to upgrading over McMahon, but that may not change the fact that they need to do it.
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