The Yankees’ third-base situation is already drawing attention with free agency less than a month away, and Ryan McMahon sits right at the center of it.
McMahon’s first season in New York didn’t give the club much reason to feel settled at the position. Over 124 games, the 31-year-old hit .213/.279/.357 with 11 home runs, 41 RBIs and a .635 OPS. In the postseason, he went 1-for-7 with a double and finished with a .476 OPS.
The glove wasn’t enough to carry the bat, either. McMahon posted a .960 fielding percentage at third base, just barely above the league average of .958, while committing nine errors and finishing at minus-3 Defensive Runs Saved Above Average. That was a sharp drop from what he did after arriving from Colorado at the 2025 trade deadline, when he put up a .971 fielding percentage, made four errors and recorded 7 Defensive Runs Above Average in 30 games.
That’s why plenty of Yankees fans would rather see general manager Brian Cashman move on now, especially with McMahon under contract for one more year before free agency in 2028. The problem is obvious: finding a team willing to take on a third baseman set to make $16 million in 2027 after a season like this won’t be simple.
Still, one possible landing spot is starting to make sense. The St. Louis Cardinals may have interest in exactly the kind of short-term third-base solution McMahon represents.
Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch touched on the idea in a recent mailbag, saying the Cardinals "are open to a short-term starter at third base" and adding, "also will spend some time looking at trades for players who could fit multi-year needs at a few positions, and third could be in that discussion." He also noted that any addition would likely be temporary, making room for a player in the minors.
That fits the Cardinals’ recent reality at the position. This season, Ramon Urias, Cesar Pierto, Jose Fermin, Thomas Saggese, Blaze Jordan and Nolan Gorman all saw time at third, and none of them locked the job down.
For the Yankees, the appeal in moving McMahon would be twofold: clear the path for a different third-base plan and maybe salvage some value from a player whose production dipped in 2026. His hard-hit rate fell from 50.5 in 2025 to 45.0 this year, another sign that the bat isn’t carrying the same weight it once did.
If New York did work out a deal with St. Louis, catcher Pedro Pages could be a name to watch in return.
The Cardinals have plenty of depth behind the plate, and Pages checks a lot of boxes for the Yankees as a backup to Austin Wells. He’s 28, has two minor league options left and is arbitration-eligible.
This season, Pages hit .217/.275/.312 with six doubles, four home runs, 12 RBI and a career-low .588 OPS. His batting average has slipped in each of the last three seasons, from .238 in 2024 to .230 in 2025 and then .217 in 2026.
But the defense is where he helps. Pages threw out 31% of attempted base stealers this season, his framing ranked in the 75th percentile and his pop time checked in at 1.90 seconds, good for the 73rd percentile, according to Baseball Savant.
A Wells-Pages catching tandem would be a strong defensive alternative to what the Yankees got from Ali Sanchez and J.C. Escarra this season.
So while McMahon’s fit in New York looks shaky after one uneven year, St. Louis may offer the kind of clean landing spot the Yankees need if they want to reshuffle third base and pursue another option, such as Teruaki Sato, this offseason.
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