Brewers avoid trade deadline mistake after Yankees' latest move

The Milwaukee Brewers are reportedly in the market for an infield bat at this year’s MLB Trade Deadline., particularly one that can fill in somewhere on the left side. From popular names like Eugenio Suarez of the Arizona Diamondbacks to more under-the-radar players like Xavier Edwards and Otto Lopez of the Miami Marlins, the Brewers are thought to be exploring all of their options ahead of next Thursday's deadline, including standing pat with their current group of position players.

One option that had long been rumored to be a good fit for the Brewers, dating back to the offseason and even last year's trade deadline, is now off the board. According to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, the New York Yankees are acquiring Colorado Rockies' third baseman Ryan McMahon for two of their Top-30 ranked pitching prospects.

McMahon had been linked to the Brewers as recently as Wednesday, when The Athletic released the third version of their "2025 MLB Trade Deadline Big Board." Thankfully, the Yankees swooped in and made an early deadline deal for McMahon, because while the 2024 All-Star may have seemed like a good fit for the Brewers, trading for him at this year's deadline would have been a mistake.

Trading for Ryan McMahon would have been a mistake for the Brewers

Let's first take a look at McMahon's numbers on the field. McMahon is an excellent fielder, that much is true. Throughout his career, he has never posted negative Defensive Runs Saved (DRS) or Outs Above Average (OAA), meaning he's always been better than league average as a defender of the hot corner. This season, he holds the fourth most OAA of any third baseman in the league.

However, McMahon's bat has been streaky throughout his career, and while he is currently on a hot streak, with an .836 OPS over his last 15 games, when all is said and done at the end of the year, McMahon has never finished with an OPS+ above 100. That means that in his nine seasons in MLB, the Rockies' third baseman has never been above a league-average hitter. Sure, there's plenty of pop in his bat — McMahon consistently ranks towards the top of the league in average exit velocity — but there are also some concerning holes in his offensive profile. McMahon strikes out a ton; his 31.7% strikeout rate this season ranks him in the third percentile of all qualified major league hitters. He lacks consistency and has never posted a season-long batting average higher than .254.

Then there's his contract. The Yankees will now pay McMahon roughly $4.5 million for the rest of this season, and he is owed $16 million in each of the next two seasons as well. That's a lot of money for a below-league-average hitter. It's a luxury that the Yankees have, with their bloated payroll not impacted much by McMahon's contract, but something that would have hamstrung the small-market Brewers had they made the trade instead.

With the Yankees eating all of McMahon's remaining salary, you would think that the prospect price that they paid to acquire him was insignificant, but that wasn't the case. The Yankees parted with their No. 8 (Griffin Herring) and No. 21 (Josh Grosz) ranked prospects for McMahon — two promising young arms. For reference, that's like the Brewers trading Bishop Letson and Josh Knoth for a player whose OPS is four points lower than their current third baseman.

Yes, the Yankees needed an upgrade at third base far more desperately than the Brewers do, and they can afford to pay McMahon's salary, but still, this looks to be a huge overpay by the Yankees' front office. Thankfully, it wasn't the Brewers who will be experiencing buyer’s remorse in the near future.