Some have pondered the idea of the New York Yankees moving on from Ryan McMahon after landing him at the trade deadline a year ago in a deal with the Colorado Rockies.
All Yankees fans understand what McMahon brings to the field, as he's one of the better defenders in baseball at third base, but he also struggles a bit offensively.
Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer believes there's an obvious fix to some of the Yankees' problems at the position, naming them a landing spot for Japanese slugger Kazuma Okamoto. Okamoto was recently posted, giving all teams in Major League Baseball the opportunity to sign him.
“Munetaka Murakami and right-hander Tatsuya Imai are arguably better options than Okamoto in this regard, but both also figure to be more expensive. As the Yankees need to save space to re-sign or replace Cody Bellinger and flesh out their pitching depth, going for the more affordable Okamoto may be their best option.
“It wouldn't be hard for him to be an instant upgrade over McMahon at third base. The 30-year-old is a terrific defender, but the Yankees got an up-close look at his offensive volatility down the stretch of 2025. He had only a.641 OPS in 54 games after coming over from the Colorado Rockies,” he wrote.
Okamoto can swing it
All players coming over from Japan are rather tough to evaluate in some sense, unless it's truly the top players.
Okamoto is well known, but isn't as well-known as guys like Munetaka Murakami.
Still, throughout his 11 years in the NPB, he's hit 277 home runs and has driven in 872 RBIs in 5,010 at-bats.
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