Yankees' lineup switch vs. Athletics turns up the temperature on Ryan McMahon

The New York Yankees carry a 7-2 record into their fourth series of the season, a home tilt against the Nomadic Athletics in "football-like" temperatures. But just because the record's pristine doesn't mean everything is peachy. The bullpen has gotten leakier as the days have droned on, and the OG lineup's 6-through-9 has been significantly problematic. Its most silent member has been Ryan McMahon, and on Tuesday, the Yankees took a step towards limiting his impact - and no, they're not facing a left-handed pitcher.

Aaron Boone announced on his Tuesday "Talkin' Yanks" appearance that he intended to give Amed Rosario some burn in the series opener against veteran righty Aaron Civale. Though we didn't know for sure whether it'd be McMahon or Jazz Chisholm Jr. on the bench, we had a pretty good idea - and it became official around 3:15 PM. Rosario batting seventh. Should be an upgrade.

The swing-and-miss tendencies of starter Cam Schlittler likely factored in here, too; there's always the potential of a hotshot grounder, but they're less likely when the man on the mound isn't trying to induce them, a la Max Fried.

Pessimists among us will note that Rosario is 1-for-6 on the year, and has made very little argument to be added to the mix, but ... we have no time for that right now!

Yankees switching Amed Rosario with Ryan McMahon in Tuesday lineup has unintended side effect

In addition to hopefully getting a higher-impact bat in the mix, switching in Rosario for McMahon allows the Yankees to move Jose Caballero down to the No. 9 spot instead of burying their third baseman there. Caballero - who, to be fair, is also not hitting a lick since the opening series - is much more of a traditional "Second Leadoff Hitter" than McMahon is.

His brand of baseball chaos involves wreaking havoc on the base paths, and reaching them by any means necessary. McMahon's game - which is almost 100% defense, but not quite - is predictated on making his offense somewhat tolerable by peppering the short porch with 20-25 home runs per season. He hasn't even come close to that target as a Yankee, hitting four regular season homers (and, yes, a playoff dinger) in 63 career games.

For at least one game, the Yankees will give McMahon a chance to clear his head. He's been known to provide professional at-bats, at the very least, but he's been largely non-competitive this season. Let's see if some time in the ice box helps turn things around before the questions get really loud.