With baseball season in full swing comes a lot of speculation, especially on the trade front. The New York Yankees are off to a solid start to the 2026 season, but it’s becoming apparent that Ryan McMahon might not be cut out for everyday at-bats at third base. Since being traded from the Rockies to the Yankees at the trade deadline last season, McMahon is hitting .186 with four home runs and 20 RBI in 66 games.
That’s not great, and the Yankees can’t continue to afford having a hole in their lineup as things are surely going to even out in the AL East standings.
A wild MLB mock trade idea by SI.com’s Ryan Shea proposes that the Yankees go out and trade for $34 million Japanese slugger Munetaka Murakami. It’s a trade idea that would send top prospects Elmer Rodriguez and Spencer Jones to the Chicago White Sox.
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The Yankees Need an Upgrade at Third Base
Munetaka Murakami recommended a bidet be added to the White Sox clubhouse, and the team made it happen.
The New York Yankees could seriously use an upgrade at third base, and Murakami actually seems like a feasible option if it hadn’t been just 12 games into the season. Murakami has clearly shown his ability to hit home runs, as he has four in the early going of the 2026 campaign, but his hit tool still needs some work.
Munetaka Murakami is hitting just .195 this season with eight total hits (four for home runs), but you can see why the wheels are turning on this hypothetical trade package to replace Ryan McMahon at third base. McMahon has just 4 homers in his entire tenure with New York, and imagine if Murakami benefited from the short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium.
As for Spencer Jones and Elmer Rodriguez, they are both stuck in Triple-A and might not see a runway into MLB for the foreseeable future.
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Should the Yankees Trade Spencer Jones?
Ignore the very far-fetched nature of this hypothetical trade idea for a second. It does bring up a good question to ask if the Yankees should trade Spencer Jones.
Jones has a lot of power upside and has proven that at every level of baseball he’s played.
However, he just happens to swing and miss at just about every pitch he swings at, which is a major concern and likely the reason he’s stuck in the minors.
Pair that with the Yankees already having a crowded outfield, and Jasson Dominguez likely being ahead of him in terms of a potential call-up, it’s fair to wonder what his role with the Yankees’ org truly is.
New York is clearly in win-now mode, so Jones could realistically be a strong trade piece towards the summer months of June and July, and if the third baseman issues persist, Brian Cashman could flip Jones for a valuable infielder.
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Yankees-White Sox Wild Mock Trade Idea Lands $34 Million Japanese Slugger in New York for Spencer Jones