CLEVELAND — The trade rumors and roster speculation keep swirling around Ryan McMahon, and the Yankees third baseman keeps giving one kind of answer. He cannot quiet the noise with words, so he is doing it with his bat. On Monday night, he landed another blow at exactly the right moment.
With talk building that his roster spot is in jeopardy, McMahon picked the middle of a tense game to remind the Yankees why he is in the lineup, even as the broader questions about his future refuse to fade.
A clutch swing in Cleveland
McMahon delivered when it counted in the Yankees’ 7-5, extra-inning win over the Guardians. He went 1-for-2, and the one hit was a big one.
His solo home run in the fifth inning broke a 3-3 tie and briefly put the Yankees ahead, the kind of timely contribution the team has been begging its struggling bats to provide. It was his seventh long ball of the season, and part of a notable recent power surge. After homering just three times over his first 45 games, McMahon has now gone deep four times in his last 14 contests while batting a respectable .293 over that stretch.
The timing of the surge matters. With Aaron Judge sidelined, the Yankees need production from every corner of the lineup, and McMahon has started to supply some pop at the hot corner just as the spotlight on him intensifies.
The numbers behind the doubts
The skepticism is not unfounded. McMahon’s overall season line gives the Yankees real reason for concern, even with the recent power.
Through 58 games, he is slashing .208/.263/.346 with a .609 OPS and six home runs, a clear drop from his career norms. Last season, split between the Yankees and Rockies, he posted a .214/.312/.381 line with 20 homers across 154 games. His best years, like a .780 OPS and 23 homers in 2021, feel distant. One analysis described his spot in the lineup as a black hole, a harsh label that reflects how thin his offensive output has been for long stretches.
There is a deeper red flag too. Even during his recent hot streak, McMahon has stopped drawing walks entirely. He carries a 0-to-14 walk-to-strikeout ratio over his last 14 games and has not drawn a single walk since May 7, a span of 23 games. That lack of plate discipline raises questions about whether the power burst is sustainable.
His glove keeps him valuable
Despite the offensive doubts, McMahon is not without value to the Yankees, and that is a key part of the story. His defense at third base remains a genuine asset.
McMahon is widely regarded as one of the better defensive third basemen in the game, and the Yankees value that glove highly, especially with their infield depth in flux. General manager Brian Cashman has publicly backed his struggling regulars, expressing belief that the bats will come around. The Yankees also have right-handed options like Jose Caballero and Amed Rosario who can play third, but none offers McMahon’s defensive ceiling.
That defensive reputation, combined with the contract, is a big reason the Yankees have not acted on any cut talk. For now, they appear willing to ride out the slumps in hopes the recent power is a sign of better days.
The cut talk hanging over him
Here is the noise McMahon is swinging through. Just before the Guardians series, an insider singled him out as the Yankees player most likely to be cut loose.
Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report predicted that the Yankees would ultimately designate McMahon for assignment, tabbing him as the organization’s biggest cut candidate. Miller pointed to a problem that goes beyond performance, noting the financial and roster complications that make the situation thorny.
“The two-fold problem with trying to do anything about it is that McMahon is owed $32M between this season and next, and the ideal player to replace him on the 40-man roster, NYY’s top prospect George Lombard Jr., hasn’t been hitting well since his promotion to Triple-A in late April,” Miller wrote.
That combination of a heavy contract and no ready replacement complicates any move. But the very fact that a respected analyst floated a release at all underscores how far McMahon’s stock has fallen in some eyes.
A high-stakes stretch ahead
The broader context raises the stakes for McMahon and the Yankees alike. The team entered the week at 38-26, locked in a tight race atop the American League East with the Rays, and the offense has sputtered without Judge.
That environment leaves little patience for prolonged slumps. The Yankees need McMahon to keep producing, and his recent homers have bought him goodwill at a critical time. If the power dries up and the strikeouts pile up, the cut speculation will only grow louder. For now, though, McMahon is answering the doubters the best way he knows how. Every time the Yankees or the analysts question his place, he steps to the plate and lets his bat respond.
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