Latest Cardinals rumor makes them an ideal fit for Yankees' Ryan McMahon trade

The best time for the New York Yankees and St. Louis Cardinals to talk about a trade involving a third baseman was probably last season when Nolan Arenado was available. The second-best time is right now, when the Cardinals are purportedly looking to fill the Arenado gap wiith a short-term solution.

The Yankees have just the thing.

While Arenado wouldn't have been a perfect ballpark fit in the Bronx last year or the summer prior, he almost certainly would've had a better tenure with the Yankees than McMahon, who was acquired in the summer of 2025 with 2.5 years left on his hefty contract. The goal was for McMahon to play exceptional defense, occasionally hook one into the short porch with his 20+ homer pop, and excel with the glove to make up for his offensive shortcomings (while batting ninth).

He was an adult in the room in '25 and ended the Red Sox in the Wild Card with a spectacular flipping catch, but didn't perform with the bat. The Yankees hoped for a bit more in 2026, and unfortunately received a bit less. He popped 11 homers with a 78 wRC+, well below league-average, while regressing defensively in the form of both decreased metrics and in-your-face blunders (we all watched Game 2). Losing range is one thing. Becoming genuinely unsteady is another. McMahon, though he seems mature and was always capable of putting up competent and productive at-bats under duress, could never be counted on to deliver actual hits instead of productive outs, and his glove hit its nadir this year.

He ... he might work in St. Louis, though, where the Cardinals are open to a short-term option at third to fill their eternal void (Nolan Gorman on line one). If the Yankees pay down his contract, as Joel Sherman has insinuated they'll try to (and they'll have to), this could be a match made in Baseball Heaven.

Yankees must move on from Ryan McMahon, even without a clear third base solution

What can the Yankees obtain for McMahon? Unfortunately, not all that much - the Cardinals have a number of young, hungry, OBP-heavy hitters, but even one of their overflow catchers feels too ambitious here. Maybe righty backup Pedro Pages. Maybe.

The most likely outcome is that the Yankees eat half or more of McMahon's contract in exchange for a bullpen piece, or they eat less than that and receive a lottery ticket prospect before heading back to the drawing board to fill third base externally.

The bottom line is that a defensive specialist whose defense has disappeared isn't a viable reason to sacrifice offense at a cornerstone position. The Yankees need a thumper at third and, failing that, need an exceptional glove. McMahon is an expensive version of neither.

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Follow