The Miami Marlins are certainly sellers and the Yankees could certainly use a jolt. Could the two teams match up in a trade for Jazz Chisholm Jr.an attractive, speedy player who might just reach his high ceiling in front of a large, boisterous crowd in the Bronx while competing for an AL championship?
It is clear that Miami will be moving some of its players. It moved up the MLB trade deadline by more than two months when it Luis Arraez to San Diego in May, so it’s open for business and that will only increase before the July 30 deadline.
The Marlins are terrible — 30-57 entering Friday’s game, tied for the worst mark in the National League and second-worst overall. They need to regroup and replenish.
While Chisholm isn’t a corner infielder or a high-octane relief pitcher, he could fill a need the Yanks probably didn’t anticipate before the season. More on that in a smidge.
Let’s look at the pros and cons of the Yanks potentially targeting Chisholm:
The pros
Chisholm, who is just 26, has been projecting himself as a future star for a few years now. To be clear, he’s not there yet, though he’s shown flashes, including an All-Star nomination in 2022. When healthy, he’s dynamic — and he’s slashing .259/.326/.416 in 84 games so far this season with 10 homers, 15 steals and 40 RBI.
His ’22 All-Star season is crucial because it showed what kind of player he is when he flies high. The left-handed swinger had 14 homers, 45 RBI, 12 steals, a .535 slugging percentage and an .860 OPS in 60 games. But that season was blighted by injuries. Last year, in 97 games, Chisholm had 19 homers and 22 steals.
One of the many qualities that makes Chisholm so much fun to watch is that he has a big personality and can be flashy. It remains to be seen how that would play out with the clean-cut Yankees, but honestly, their product could use that kind of flair.
The need he would fill in Yankeeland is this: He was an All-Star at second base in 2022. Then the Marlins tried to further utilize his athleticism by moving him to center field, where he has been the past two seasons. So Chisholm could help the Yankees at second base and perhaps in the outfield as well.
In his platform year for the free market, second baseman Gleyber Torres has struggled and was recently given a time-out by the manager Aaron BooneTorres was also the subject of some frustration on the pitcher’s field Marcus Stroman after the Yanks failed to turn a double play in Toronto, but the air appears to have cleared since then.
Still, Torres isn’t having a great season, despite going 7-for-24 (.292) since Boone briefly benched him. Torres is hitting .221 with a .295 on-base percentage and .343 slugging, well below any of his career highs. Perhaps Torres can be flipped to help address another need – the aforementioned corner infield or relief help – and Chisholm could become the Yankees’ second baseman for the next few years.
Chisholm is making $2.6 million this year and is arbitration-eligible in both 2025 and 2026, meaning he’s no mere rental.
The cons
Before this season, Chisholm had played three full years in the majors. But he had played in just 281 of a possible 486 regular-season games during that span. That’s 57.8 percent. His career-high in a season so far is the 124 games he played in 2021.
His play improved in 2022, but back problems kept him out after June 28. Last season, he was slowed by a toe injury that required surgery and an oblique injury. Chisholm has appeared in 84 of 87 games this season, so maybe that’s a sample size the Yanks can cling to.
The other major drawback is the price tag.
With two years of club control after this season, Chisholm will cost something significant. In The Athletic, former MLB GM Jim Bowden recently suggested that the Marlins could look to combine players like righty Will Warrenthe Yanks’ No. 7 prospect according to MLB.com and outfielders Everson Pereira (no. 5) and Jace Avina (no. 28).
You can hear the Prospect Nerds crying already. Maybe the Yankees can add another farmhand and convince the Marlins to take a reliever as well.
The verdict
Yes, the Yankees have enough injuries to their team. But bringing in Chisholm doesn’t make them older or inflate their salaries.
He could help out at two positions, provide some flexibility for other moves at the deadline and increase the team’s athleticism at a time when that quality is super important in the game.
Perhaps the Yanks can get the most out of a player with a lot of talent and exciting potential. Chisholm seems like the type of player who would welcome playing in front of a big crowd at Yankee Stadium.
