Brewers Could Acquire $70 Million All-Star 3rd Baseman, Per ESPN Insiders

Are the Milwaukee Brewers buyers or sellers? Realistically, they could be a little bit of both.

The Brewers play a cold, calculated game of trade deadline player value. If they think the utility of trading a veteran away is greater than what he'll bring for the rest of the season, they'll cut bait. If they think they can bring in a veteran to help win now, but it won't cost them too much in the long haul, they'll do that, too.

This season, the Brewers have a major hole at third base, so if they're going to bring in any veterans to help win now, that's probably a position they'll prioritize. It's a position that's plagued them for a few years now, so it would be ideal if the player they acquired wasn't a rental.

ESPN's Kiley McDaniel and Jeff Passan pointed out one such option on Tuesday,

In their trade deadline preview, McDaniel and Passan named the Brewers as potential suitors for Colorado Rockies third baseman Ryan McMahon, a 2024 All-Star who is in year four of a six-year, $70 million extension.

"McMahon is on pace to keep his four-year 20-homer streak alive, with above-average power, patience and third-base defense, but a more middling contact rate and baserunning value," the authors wrote. "He has two years and $32 million remaining on his contract after this season."

McDaniel and Passan also assigned McMahon a 60 percent chance of being traded. The New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins, and Seattle Mariners were also listed as "best fits."

The 30-year-old McMahon has 12 home runs, a .737 OPS, and 1.5 bWAR this season. He's got fairly drastic home-road splits in his career, but that's usually the case for batters who play at Coors Field. There's reason to believe his league-adjusted stats, like OPS+ and wRC+, could tick up if he left Colorado.

Taking on the rest of McMahon's contract might be seen as a risk in Milwaukee, but at least it would solve the third base question for the next 2 1/2 years.