With Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s value at an all-time high, it’s no wonder that the Yankees’ second baseman is drawing trade interest.
Following the Winter Meetings, ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Bombers have listened on Chisholm. While that hardly means that the club is shopping the All-Star or that a trade is imminent, Brian Cashman repeatedly talked about “challenge trades” — major league talent for major league talent — while the baseball world set up shop in Orlando. The general manager noted that it’s an issue how left-handed the Yankees’ lineup is as well.
“We are open-minded to challenge trades on a lot of our talented players because, yes, we are left-handed,” Cashman said. “That is a problem.”
But Cashman also praised the lefty-swinging Chisholm, who totaled 31 homers, 80 RBI, 31 stolen bases, an .813 OPS, a 126 wRC+ and a 4.4 fWAR despite missing time with an oblique strain. A nagging groin injury limited his running for another month, yet Chisholm still authored the fourth 30-30 season in franchise history.
The 27-year-old also rated well defensively — when he wasn’t forced to play out of position at third — despite leading all second basemen with 12 errors. Chisholm’s eight Outs Above Average ranked second among all second basemen with at least 850 innings played, and he finished third in Fielding Run Value (5) and fourth in Defensive Runs Saved (2) at the position.
“He is somebody who I think is currently part of the solution, someone who has made us better by getting him two deadlines ago and giving us athleticism,” Cashman said of Chisholm, who sincerely believes a 40-40 campaign is attainable. “He’s above average. He’s an All-Star second baseman. Great defense, steals bags, power, all that stuff. So he’s been a good get.”
As Cashman alluded to, Chisholm has been everything the Yankees could have hoped for when they acquired him from the Marlins ahead of the 2024 trade deadline.
The colorful character has been one of baseball’s top hitters in the 176 games he’s played in since, tallying 42 home runs, 103 RBI, 49 stolen bases, an .816 OPS, a 128 wRC+ and a 6.7 fWAR.
As far as that last stat goes, Chisholm has been a top-20 player since donning pinstripes. Only two other second basemen can say that over that span: the Cubs’ Nico Hoerner and the Diamondbacks’ Ketel Marte, the latter of which has the Yankees on his no-trade list.
It would be difficult for the Yankees to replace Chisholm’s output, as only Hoerner, Marte and Milwaukee’s Brice Turang had a higher fWAR while primarily playing second this past season. With Cashman also indicating that he won’t deal for a lesser player simply because they are right-handed, the championship-aspiring Yankees would have to be blown away for a Chisholm trade to make sense.
A more logical move would be to extend Chisholm. The candid infielder, slated for free agency after the 2026 season, has said he’s interested numerous times.
“I’ve already expressed how much I would want to be a Yankee for the rest of my career. At the end of the day, that’s what I want to do and hope to do,” he reiterated in September. “I want to be a Yankee, so I would definitely rather just re-sign with the Yankees. Obviously, it’s not my decision at that point.”
Earlier this offseason, Cashman said that the Yankees haven’t had any formal talks with Chisholm’s camp about a long-term deal. He did not rule out “a legitimate conversation about value” with “one of the best second basemen in the game,” but the GM didn’t make any commitments, either.
The Yankees have typically avoided extension talks in the past. Offers to or deals with Aaron Judge, Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks are recent exceptions, though the latter two signed extensions that backfired for the organization.
At the Winter Meetings, Cashman said that the Severino and Hicks deals would not make the Yankees more reluctant to offer extensions, but he hinted that the loss of payroll flexibility could work against such a pact coming together in the near future.
“Our history is we’ve let these things play out, for better or for worse,” Cashman said when specifically asked about an extension for Chisholm. “It doesn’t have to be that way, but that’s generally our history.”
