DENVER, Colo. — The Colorado Rockies’ first trade of 2025 was a big one. Third baseman Ryan McMahon, one of the last remaining players from Colorado’s last postseason appearance in 2018, was traded to the New York Yankees on Friday.
According to our news partners at The Gazette, the 30-year-old McMahon is under contract through the 2027 season and joins a Yankees team that entered Friday trailing the Toronto Blue Jays in the American League East by 4.5 games but still holding a wild card spot.
New York will reportedly take on the rest of McMahon’s contract, roughly $4.5 million for the rest of the 2025 season and $16 million in 2026.
“I'm very fond of Ryan and his family,” Colorado senior vice president and general manager Bill Schmidt said on Friday afternoon. “I think it was probably 2010 or 2011 the first time I saw him play, and we signed him in 2013. I’ve had a long history with him, and he’s meant a lot to the organization.
“I wish nothing but the best for him, as well as his wife and his family. Hopefully, good things will happen for him.”
The Yankees are expected to insert McMahon into the order quickly, filling a need at third base in the field and at the plate. New York is tied for 15th in Wins Above Average at third base this season, posting a 0.1 WAA.
Jazz Chisholm Jr. has the most plate appearances of any Yankees player this season at third base, registering 121 heading into Friday’s play. Chisholm, however, was moved to second base in early July, creating an even bigger need for the Yankees to find a permanent answer at the hot corner.
Apparently, the Yankees feel that answer is McMahon, who is slashing .300/.417/.850 in his 20 at-bats since the All-Star break. He also has three home runs during that stretch, an enticing thought for the Yankees and their “short porch” in right field (314 feet from the wall to home plate) that could mean even more power potential for the left-handed-swinging McMahon.
Colorado will receive a pair of pitching prospects for McMahon, left-hander Griffin Herring and right-hander Josh Grosz.
The 22-year-old Herring is ranked by MLB.com as New York’s eighth-rated prospect and becomes Colorado’s fifth-ranked prospect. A sixth-round pick by the Yankees in 2024 out of Louisiana State, Herring was promoted to High-A earlier this season. Since his promotion, he has logged a 2.22 ERA in eight starts and struck out 44 in 44.2 innings.
With the trade, Herring instantly becomes the top-rated southpaw in Colorado’s farm system, according to MLB.com.
Grosz was also at High-A in the Yankees system, posting a 4.14 ERA in 87.0 innings over 15 starts (16 games) this season. Ranked 21st on New York’s prospect list and now 18th among Colorado’s prospects, the 22-year-old was an 11th-round selection out of East Carolina in the 2023 MLB draft.
While a part of the Yankees organization, MLB.com estimated the two pitchers could potentially make their MLB debut in 2027. Both will report to High-A Spokane to begin their journey to Coors Field.
“We like the arms,” Schmidt said before breaking down a little of what he saw from both prospects.
“Herring was a guy that we liked out of LSU who was predominantly a bullpen guy in college,” Schmidt said. “The Yankees have done a good job developing him as a starter. We'll watch his workload here as he’s up in the innings (89.1) already.
“He has a good fastball that has some extension. It plays up because of the extension. He has a good slider and he’s thrown strikes with his command. We’ll develop him as a starter.”
Regarding Grosz, Schmidt said he was a “pitch ability guy who has been at 93 or 95 (mph).
“We were able to add two arms to our system and improve our depth.”
McMahon, a second-round draft pick of the Rockies in 2013, was an All-Star in 2023 and has been a finalist for the Gold Glove at third base for four consecutive seasons. Entering this season, his 50 defensive runs saved over the last four years, ranked fifth in MLB and second among third basemen.
Over those last four seasons, taking over for Nolan Arenado at third base, McMahon appeared in at least 150 games in each of those campaigns, joining Arenado, Dante Bichette, Vinny Castilla and Todd Helton as the only Rockies to accomplish that feat.
The Gazette's Kevin Henry contributed to this web story.
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