The Yankees have a third base problem and they are going to be tempted to ignore it, because ignoring it is cheaper. They should not. Ryan McMahon cannot be the everyday third baseman in 2027.
McMahon hit .213/.279/.357 in 124 games this season with 11 home runs and a 78 wRC+. That works out to 0.5 wins above replacement by FanGraphs math, which is replacement level dressed up in pinstripes.
The Glove Was Supposed to Be the Point
You can carry a bad bat at third if the defense is elite. That was the entire premise when New York took McMahon on. It stopped being true this year.
His defensive runs saved went from plus-10 in 2025 to minus-3 in 2026. Strip out the glove and there is nothing left to justify the at-bats. He is owed $16 million guaranteed next season, which is real money but not so much that it should buy 150 games of a 78 wRC+.
The position-wide number is uglier. Yankees third basemen combined for a 74 wRC+ in 2026, tied with the Marlins for the fifth-worst mark in baseball. New York is paying luxury tax rates to get Marlins production out of a lineup spot.
There Are Real Options
The free agent market offers Alec Bohm as a rebound bet, a hitter with a track record of doing damage who had a down year. That is a different kind of gamble than running the same disappointing player back out there.
The trade board is more interesting. Isaac Paredes comes with a $13.35 million club option from the Astros and one final year of control in 2027, which fits a team that wants flexibility before a new labor deal reshapes the rules. Royce Lewis in Minnesota and Nolan Gorman in St. Louis are both bounce-back candidates available at a fraction of what a free agent third baseman would cost.
None of those three is a star. None of them has to be. Clearing a 74 wRC+ out of the lineup is the kind of improvement that does not require a star.
The Money Argument Cuts the Other Way
The pushback will be payroll, and the payroll picture is tight. MLB Trade Rumors projects New York at roughly $282 million against the luxury tax for 2027 before adding an arbitration class projected around $37 million. There are also decisions coming on David Bednar, who is expected to get a qualifying offer, plus Paul Blackburn and the injured Fernando Cruz.
That is exactly why McMahon is the wrong place to spend. A team with that little room cannot afford to burn $16 million and a lineup spot on a player producing nothing, then explain in July that the offense needs help.
The front office has spent the last several winters paying premium prices to patch premium holes. This one is cheap to fix and will get expensive if they wait. Third base is the easiest problem on the Yankees roster, and that is precisely why it would be inexcusable to still be looking at it next August.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.