The Yankees’ latest postseason mess did more than put them one loss from elimination. It may have cracked open the blueprint for their infield next season - and that blueprint does not leave room for both Jazz Chisholm Jr. and Ryan McMahon.
Monday night’s Game 2 loss at Tropicana Field started with a familiar kind of disaster. The first ball hit to the infield skipped away from McMahon, and before the inning was over, New York had piled up three errors.
That had never happened before in one inning across the franchise’s 61 postseason appearances. Tampa Bay rode the chaos to a 5-2 win and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five American League Division Series.
Cam Schlittler, the presumptive AL Cy Young Award winner, was chased in a four-run fifth, and Ben Rice’s two solo homers were the only Yankees offense. But the bigger takeaway was what the game exposed about the roster’s shape going forward.
McMahon’s season has been headed in the wrong direction for a while. The 31-year-old hit .213/.279/.357 with a 78 wRC+ in 360 plate appearances, his weakest offensive year since 2020.
He is 1-for-7 in the postseason. Even the glove that made him appealing at the 2025 deadline has backed up; after posting 7 Defensive Runs Saved at third base for New York in 2025, he fell to minus-3 this season.
Chisholm brings a different kind of uncertainty. He’s headed for free agency after the season, and his second-base defense has been shaky over time. Since the start of 2021, he has committed 39 errors at second base, tied for fourth most in the majors at the position.
That’s where the Yankees’ conversation starts to get interesting. Before Game 2, Aaron Boone was asked about Luis Garcia’s defensive future, and the manager left the door open to a change that could ripple across the entire infield.
“Obviously an infielder in his past,” Boone said according to Brendan Kuty. “And feel like that could even be in play, you know, moving forward in coming years.”
That’s not a throwaway line. If Garcia moves to second base, Chisholm no longer has a clean everyday spot.
It also creates a path for Anthony Volpe at third base, after he lost the shortstop job to rookie George Lombard Jr. in August. And if Volpe slides over, McMahon’s place on the roster gets even shakier.
Boone has already thought about that possibility. He said he considered starting Volpe at third in Game 2, but did not want Volpe’s first start there to come on the Tropicana Field turf in a playoff game.
The defensive numbers help explain why the Yankees would even entertain such a reshuffle. Garcia played more than 4,000 innings at second base for Washington, but the results were rough: minus-29 Defensive Runs Saved, minus-18 Outs Above Average and minus-15 Fielding Run Value.
Chisholm, by comparison, posted 13 OAA at second base this season. That’s a massive gap over the course of a full year.
Garcia has looked much better at first base, where he has 2 DRS and 3 OAA. He also delivered the kind of offensive breakout that makes the whole idea more plausible. He hit 30 home runs, nearly doubling his previous high of 18, and slashed .277/.309/.521 with a 124 wRC+.
He remains under club control for one more year through arbitration, with projections around $11 million. McMahon is owed $16 million in 2027, the final year of the six-year, $70 million contract he signed with the Rockies. Together, that’s a $27 million question mark for a 2027 infield that may only have room for one of them.
Volpe adds another wrinkle. A Gold Glove shortstop as a rookie in 2023, he made his first big-league appearance at third base on Sept. 25 against Baltimore and handled three chances there without an error during his summer stint at Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre.
Nothing is locked in yet. Chisholm could still get a qualifying offer, though Trent Grisham accepted one from the Yankees a year ago.
McMahon’s salary would make any trade tricky. Giancarlo Stanton, who is signed through 2027, complicates the picture too; with Garcia and Rice handling first base and designated hitter, Stanton has been limited to pinch-hitting this postseason.
A move for Garcia to second would reopen the DH spot.
The market could offer alternatives as well, with Brandon Lowe and Luis Arraez among the free-agent second basemen.
For the moment, though, the Yankees have a more urgent problem: survival. Boone has used the same lefty-heavy lineup against right-handed starters three times this postseason, and whether Volpe starts at third base in the Bronx on Wednesday has not been announced.
One more loss ends the season. One more win gives the Yankees another night - and, maybe, one more look at the infield that could be coming next.
In Other News...
Cam Schlittlers Brutal Reaction Says Everything About These Yankees
Cam Schlittler gave the Yankees exactly the kind of performance that usually buys a win in October, working eight innings and allowing just one run with eight strikeouts even as the defense behind him wobbled throughout the afternoon. Tampa Bay still walked away with a 5-2 victory to grab a 2-0 lead in the American League Division Series, a game that quickly became less about the scoreboard and more about how New York failed to support one of its best outings of the season.
Afterward, Schlittler took the loss on himself and was blunt about the clubs overall performance, a reaction that reflected how frustrating this series has become for the Yankees. Aaron Boone pointed to the defensive issues while still praising Schlittler for keeping the game within reach, but the bigger concern now is obvious: New York has run out of room for mistakes, and the tone coming out of the clubhouse suggests the players know it. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Boone Just Made Yankees Fans Even More Furious
With the Yankees trying to steady themselves before their playoff series against the Rays, Aaron Boone found himself answering for a defensive group that has given fans plenty to grumble about. The manager addressed Trent Grishams defense and said there is room for improvement, but he pushed back on the idea that this is a bad defensive team even after the club piled up errors.
The concern is hard to wave away when the mistakes are happening on the October stage, and Game 2 of the Division Series only deepened the frustration. New York committed multiple errors in that game, including a franchise first with three errors in a single playoff inning, leaving Boone to defend a unit that has become an increasingly uncomfortable talking point at exactly the wrong time. [Read more 🡒]
Luis Garca Jr.'s Next Yankees Decision Could Change How He's Viewed
The Yankees trade deadline swap for Luis Garca Jr. gave them another left-handed bat and a player with some versatility, even if most of his work since arriving has come at first base. Aaron Boone has already floated the possibility of moving Garca back to second base down the road, which would give the club another option as it tries to juggle a roster that could be shaped by Giancarlo Stantons contract status and Jazz Chisholm Jr.s defensive fit.
It is a notable idea because Garcas old position is also the one where he has had trouble before, and the Yankees know any move there would be about more than simply finding an open glove. If Garca can handle second again, it would change the way the organization views him and add a layer of flexibility Boone values, but for now it remains one of the quieter offseason questions hanging over a roster that is still being sorted out. [Read more 🡒]