Former Yankees fan favorite majorly endorses controversial Ryan McMahon trade

It's not so bad, guys.

Adam Weinrib

Minnesota Twins v Colorado Rockies / Justin Edmonds/GettyImages

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.

The third baseman they need, plays in Colorado..... I'm telling you! Defensively more then adequate and Taylor made for the ball park offensively.
— Cameron Maybin (@CameronMaybin) July 21, 2025

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).

The thing I know that others don't, is what's going on behind the scenes. He's already an allstar, that plays in the most unmotivated of place and has for the totality produced. One thing fans don't understand is bad baseball is contagious. Put that dude in pinstripes and I can't…
— Cameron Maybin (@CameronMaybin) July 21, 2025

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.

Adam Weinrib

Adam Weinrib is a Content Director on the FanSided network, and has been the co-editor at Yanks Go Yard for 6 years. He also co-hosts The Baseball Insiders Podcast thrice weekly, alongside FanSided MLB insider Robert Murray, as well as the Yanks Go Yard Podcast. Previously, he was a Senior Editor at 12up.com, and has been covering MLB and NFL for 10 years. He was also a headline and features contributor at ClickHole and Onion Sports, as well as the Associate Producer of the ESPN 30 for 30 film "Believeland". An avowed fan of the New York sports teams -- specifically the Yankees -- as well as the North Carolina Tar Heels, you can find Adam complaining mid-game on Twitter, as well as on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn if the game goes really poorly.