3 bold trades Yankees can make to dump Ryan McMahon's salary this offseason

It's fair to say that the New York Yankees' Ryan McMahon experiment has been a complete failure. According to MLB insider Joel Sherman, the club is ready to move on and could "redirect" the $16 million that McMahon is slated to make in the final year of his deal elsewhere.

Sherman suggests three bad-contract-for-bad-contract swaps that New York could make to rid themselves of the struggling third baseman in exchange for an equally distressed asset that may hold more value given the Yankees' roster construction. The three names he came up with were San Francisco Giants outfielder Harrison Bader, Minnesota Twins catcher Victor Caratini, and Arizona Diamondbacks third baseman Nolan Arenado.

Of the three, Arenado is the most interesting. Bader was coming off a fool's-gold season in 2025 that led to his sizable contract, and then he mangled his foot in a scooter accident. Caratini is a decent backup catcher and a switch hitter, while Arenado hit 30 homers in a turn-back-the-clock season, but makes nearly twice as much as McMahon, and it's unclear whether his newfound magic will play outside of the desert.

Beyond Bader, these are reasonable options, but we're dreaming bigger and thinking of ways that New York can use McMahon's contract to get something much more impactful.

Ryan McMahon's contract could help facilitate these exciting Yankees trades, even if they are long shots

Ryan McMahon plus prospects for Rafael Devers

While the Giants would like to rid themselves of Bader, they'd really love to be out from under Rafael Devers' deal. The former Boston Red Sox has seven years and roughly $223 million left on his contract, so exchanging that for one year and $16 million could be attractive to them.

San Francisco is dealing with their own declining third baseman, Matt Chapman, who will also be coming off sports hernia surgery that prematurely ended his 2026 campaign. However, he's a right-handed bat with a .768 OPS against lefties this year, so he and McMahon might be a decent enough platoon.

Devers has long been thought of as a perfect fit for the Yankees. While he's coming off a core injury of his own, he really alleviated a lot of the concerns over his declining performance with a .988 OPS in the second half and 37 homers on the season. The Yankees will likely need to throw in a couple of (moderately significant) prospects to swing this deal, but we're not talking about high-end names. It's a lot of money to take on, but it's the price you must pay to add another top-tier bat to the lineup.

Trade Ryan McMahon for Carlos Correa

Outside of the AL East, the Houston Astros might be the Yankees' biggest rival. However, there might be a way for both sides to help each other out. Houston has a broken pitching staff and plenty of aging players on bloated contracts. The logical thing to do would be to rebuild, but owner Jim Crane has said that the window of contention will be open for as long as he owns the team. At the same time, Crane has exercised strong control over Houston's payroll.

Swapping Carlos Correa for McMahon helps the Astros, but as a standalone move, most of that help doesn't come until 2028. The trade that brought Correa back to Houston was facilitated by the Twins paying down approximately $11 million per year of his salary, bringing it down to $20 million per season through his option years, which begin in 2029.

So, immediately, the Astros would save $4 million in 2027, and then $20 million the following year. That $20 million could go a long way towards helping them re-sign star shortstop Jeremy Peña, who is a free agent at the end of next season. As far as the pitching issue, acquiring McMahon would allow the Astros to flip Isaac Paredes for a controllable starting pitcher. So, while there are some moving pieces, Houston should have motivation to do this deal.

For the Yankees, Correa is an injury risk, and he's no longer the 25-to-30-homer bat that he was in his younger days. What he does do is make a decent amount of contact, hitting .276 in 2025 and .279 in limited action in 2026. He hit .310 over 86 games in 2024. He's struck out between 16.6% and 19.3% of the time over the last three seasons. Given how New York's lineup was exposed against the Rays, those are welcome developments.

As an added bonus, he's still able to play shortstop in spurts if need be. Contractually, his situation is interesting. The Yankees would be taking on an additional $20 million in 2028, and then there are a series of four vesting options that would pay Correa $25 million in 2029. At that point, the salary declines by $5 million annually through 2032. There is a list of conditions that could trigger these options, but the primary one is based on plate appearances, and some creative load management could void them.

It should be noted that Correa has a no-trade clause, so no matter how much sense it could make for both sides to do the swap, he could torpedo the whole thing if he doesn't like the idea of being a Yankee.

Trade Ryan McMahon for Sean Murphy plus low-level prospects

First, the financials. As we know, McMahon has one year and $16 million left on his deal, while Atlanta Braves catcher Sean Murphy is owed $30 million over the next two seasons. That imbalance should net the Yankees a lottery ticket prospect or two.

The Braves have numerous long-term contracts that haven't panned out, and McMahon could serve as a hedge against one of their bigger misses, Austin Riley, who signed a 10-year, $212 million extension ahead of the 2023 season and is coming off a .219/.290/.364 line in 2026.

Atlanta would also love to get off Murphy's contract, given Drake Baldwin's emergence. Murphy played just 33 games in 2026 and hit a career-worst .182/.256/.300. The 32-year-old catcher has been walloped by injuries from 2024 onward, but if he can put that behind him and rebound to his 2023 form, when he hit .251/.365/.478 with 21 homers, the Yankees could acquire a solid counterpart to their incumbent.

It's a gamble, but with New York expected to keep Austin Wells as the starter, Murphy could be the highest-upside right-handed-hitting complement the club can find.

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