Yankees make surprise trade with Rockies and wave white flag on Eugenio Suarez

Brian Cashman has acted fast, Yankees fans. New York already has a new third baseman courtesy of a surprise trade with the Colorado Rockies. The trade deadline target Yankees fans wanted last year is officially headed to the Bronx.

New York has reportedly acquired Ryan McMahon from the Rockies in exchange for two prospects — pitchers Griffin Herring (No. 8) and Josh Grosz (No. 21). The Yankees will be inheriting the remainder of McMahon's six-year, $70 million contract and will pay him a total of $36 million over the next 2.5 seasons.

This immediately solves the team's third base void, and it officially (we think?) puts them out of the chase for Diamondbacks star slugger Eugenio Suarez, which some fans might not be happy about considering McMahon is having a down year (and leading the NL in strikeouts). Suarez is the prized target this year as one of the league's home run leaders.

Not to mention, McMahon just led all third basemen in errors in 2024 (his lone All-Star season) and sports a .978 fielding percentage this year. At the very least, they acquired a regular everyday defender to handle the hot corner, but the results may be underwhelming. Never heard that from a Cashman deadline move, have we?

Yankees acquire Ryan McMahon in trade with Colorado Rockies before deadline

Fans could've at least expected the return package to be light, given the financial commitment to McMahon, in addition to the fact he's having his worst season since 2019. Then again, despite the surface-level numbers, the lefty slugger hits the ball hard and is among the league leaders in Outs Above Average. Can't argue with that. Herring's a perfectly adequate pitcher who probably isn't excited to head to Colorado.

In the end, fans were looking for a player of this caliber to solve the team's third base issues after DJ LeMahieu was designated for assignment. Jazz Chisholm needed to move back to second base, and Oswald Peraza unfortunately proved himself unwatchable on offense (and hasn't exactly been ironclad with the glove).

If the Yankees are making moves this early before the deadline, it's hard not to view that as a good sign, especially since they are still armed with their best assets to trade. McMahon should only be the start, with some more pitching and depth help on the way.

Now ... who's going to get booted from the roster?