One potential trade target as the New York Yankees search for a Ryan McMahon replacement could be Texas Rangers‘ infielder Josh Jung.
Recently, FanSided.com’s Stephen Parello urges the Yankees to make “seven moves” this offseason to restore their “mystique and aura”, and one of them is trading for Rangers’ All-Star Josh Jung.
Simply put, regardless of the contract situation, the Yankees need to offload McMahon this offseason, as his 0.0 bWAR in 120+ games just isn’t going to cut it for New York’s future aspirations.
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Why Yankees Trade for Josh Jung Makes Sense
Among the seven moves for the Yankees to make, as proposed by Parello, the MLB writer feels pretty passionately that trading for Josh Jung could really benefit the 2027 Yankees:
“The problem with replacing him is twofold. For one, he costs $16 million, meaning the appetite to add another large salary at the position is small. Secondly, the free-agent market at third base is shallower than a puddle. But the trade market could have a solution. Enter Josh Jung. Texas Rangers president of baseball operations Chris Young has said that his top priorities are getting younger, healthier, and more athletic. Jung has a bit of a checkered injury history, but more importantly, he could be squeezed out by the defensively superior Ezequiel Duran and top prospect Sebastian Walcott.”
Josh Jung batted .299 in 2026 with 12 HR, 42 RBI, and an OPS+ of 139, which is worlds better than McMahon’s production at the plate.
Also, Jung is a right-handed batter, which would give the Yankees a more balanced attack up and down the lineup.
As it stands right now, if the Yankees do move on from McMahon, Jose Caballero would slot in as the everyday third baseman, which… I’m not sure if that’s much of an upgrade either.
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Quickly Looking at Josh Jung’s MLB Career
Josh Jung is an MLB veteran of five seasons.
He was named to the All-Star team in 2023.
Across 429 total games played and 1634 at-bats, Jung holds a career batting average of .266 with 61 home runs, 203 RBI, and an OPS+ of 112.
He’s still in arbitration years, and considered that he earned $2.9 million in 2026; that number is expected to go out based on his performance at the plate.
Josh Jung is the exact type of infielder that the Yankees should go after to try and solve their woes on the left side of the infield.
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