Former Yankees fan favorite majorly endorses controversial Ryan McMahon trade

The New York Yankees required competence at third base coming out of the trade deadline, reportedly prioritizing rotation and bullpen upgrades. They got some semblance of an upgrade on Friday, acquiring 2024 All-Star and defensive-metric champion Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies.

McMahon has a lot of swing-and-miss in his game. He also has a lot of Rockies stagnation piled on his back.

How do you quantify getting such a tantalizing player out of such an unappealing organization? How much of McMahon's struggles are inherent, and how many of them are learned?

According to former New York Yankees fan favorite Cameron Maybin, there may be a beast hiding below the surface.

Back in the day, the Yankees used to uncover untapped potential all the time, like when they acquired Paul O'Neill (Reds) and Scott Brosius (Athletics). These days, they've had less success doing so, but one of their strongest under-the-radar acquisitions in recent years did come from similarly dire straits in Colorado with similar splits: DJ LeMahieu.

Maybin's knowledge of McMahon's struggle in Denver led to him fervently endorsing the Rockies third-sacker in a series of tweets on July 20, five days before Brian Cashman took the plunge.

Former Yankees fan favorite Cameron Maybin highly endorses Ryan McMahon trade

Most Yankee fans couldn't muster up much more than, "Well, at least he won't cost Spencer Jones!" or, "Can't be worse than Oswald Peraza!"

Maybin is much more of a believer in McMahon the Man, though, not just McMahon the Alternative to Chaos.

Maybin's awareness of what's going on "behind the scenes" in Colorado makes him reasonably confident that McMahon is about to become a barehand play-making fan favorite who might just find the best version of his lefty swing at Yankee Stadium (yes, even if the metrics say differently).

Maybin does know the power of the pinstripes first-hand. He hit .249 across two stops in 2018, and subtracted 0.2 bWAR in 30 games with Seattle to end the season. The next year in New York, he was a key cog of the deepest bench in baseball, hitting .285 with an .858 OPS.

Hopefully, the Yankees still hold that kind of sway, and McMahon wants to be in the Bronx as badly as Maybin did. Two games into McMahon's career in pinstripes, he's already all but secured one win for the Bombers, ripping a two-run double off Zack Wheeler and making several sterling plays at third on Sunday.

Early advantage? Maybin.