Rockies clear winners of 2025 trade with Yankees for $70 million All-Star

Rockies clear winners of 2025 trade with Yankees for $70 million All-Star originally appeared on The Sporting News.
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The Colorado Rockies were trade deadline sellers last season, and are going to be sellers once again this season. It’s not a surprise, as they’re in the middle of a lengthy rebuild.

When it comes to selling players at the deadline each year, the Rockies can become winners if the prospects they acquire turn into future MLB starters. But, they can also win if the player they part with starts to struggle with his new team.

That’s exactly what has happened with their trade with the New York Yankees last season for $70 million All-Star Ryan McMahon. The Rockies are clear winners of this trade, as Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report named McMahon as a DFA candidate this season.

Rockies clear winners of Ryan McMahon trade with Yankees

“Now that Aaron Judge is on the shelf for the foreseeable future, McMahon’s .609 OPS and overall replacement level production feels like an even bigger black hole in this lineup,” Miller writes.

Since the Yankees are down Aaron Judge for a while, they need their offense to step up in his absence. But, McMahon, whom the Yankees traded for last year from the Rockies, isn’t nearly playing well enough to help fill Judge’s void.

Last season, he had a .217 batting average and a .717 OPS with the Rockies. But, after joining the Yankees last year, he posted a .208 average with a .641 OPS.

This season, it’s gotten even worse for the Yankees. He has a .208 average still, but his .609 OPS has dropped significantly, thanks to an on-base percentage over .040 points worse than his 2025 mark with the Yankees.

MORE: Yankees‘ Ryan McMahon problem has a $25 million release solution

McMahon has been a total disaster for the Yankees, and with $32 million left on his contract, the Yankees might be heading towards designating him for assignment, as Miller projected amid the All-Star’s struggles.

The Rockies got Josh Grosz and Griffin Herring back from the Yankees for McMahon, and while neither is exceptionally great, they’re more than worth getting out of McMahon’s contract from the Rockies’ perspective.

Last year’s deadline deal with the Yankees for McMahon has turned into a massive win for the Rockies less than one year later. It’s bad enough that the Yankees might DFA McMahon this summer, further proof that the Rockies won this trade.

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