New York Yankees Must End Weird Experiment Before it Gets Worse

Throughout Spring Training, the New York Yankees been tinkering with the idea of playing Ryan McMahon at shortstop.

Needless to say, it hasn't gone well.

McMahon has committed two errors throughout the week, most recently on Thursday afternoon when botched a throw to first base, allowing a run to score in what ended up being a 15-0 shellacking at the hands of the Minnesota Twins.

It was enough for manager Aaron Boone to let a slight expletive slip as he was in the middle of a dugout interview, and it should also be enough for the Yankees to put an end to this odd experiment.

McMahon is a phenomenal defender at third base, but just because he is great at the hot corner does not mean he will be any good at shortstop ... especially considering he has played a grand total of three innings there throughout his decade-long major-league career.

I understand the idea behind the trial. Anthony Volpe is still sidelined while recovering from shoulder surgery, and New York would like another option behind Jose Caballero to begin the season.

Amed Rosario is a terrible defender at short, and while Oswaldo Cabrera is a shortstop by trade, there is no guarantee he will even be on the roster to start the campaign.

So in this instance, Boone is probably figuring that McMahon is his best bet in a pinch. But he is playing with fire here.

The last thing you want to do is give McMahon a sudden case of the yips and have that bleed into his defense at third base. The vast majority of McMahon's value is baked into his glove. It's certainly not due to his bat.

Imagine if McMahon loses confidence in the field and starts becoming a near-liability there, too? Heck, even if he drops from elite to good, it would still be problematic.

The Yankees need to halt this entire scheme and just roll with Caballero and possibly Cabrera (assuming he is ready to start the season) until Volpe returns. Watching McMahon fumble around at third base has been painful enough.

Or, perhaps New York can even give Paul DeJong or Max Schuemann a roster spot and let them handle a backup role at shortstop.

All I know is that it's becoming increasingly obvious that it cannot be McMahon.

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