If it weren't for Ketel Marte of the Arizona Diamondbacks, the New York Yankees' Jazz Chisholm Jr. Would be the best second baseman in baseball.
Chisholm became the third player in the Yankees franchise history to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in a season last year. But he becomes a free agent at the end of the 2026 season and should hold value around MLB.
If the Yankees were to trade Chisholm, they would need a significant return.
"The one painful trade? Moving Jazz Chisholm Jr. As of right now, there's no credible source backing that possibility — only speculation if the Yankees were to limit spending and re-tool," Thomas Carannante of Yanks Go Yard wrote Sunday. "But even if that was the plan, why would you trade Chisholm now? At least wait for the deadline when other teams are getting more desperate."
The downfalls of trading Chisholm
The most significant issue the Yankees face is that if they were to trade Chisholm, there would be no reliable second base replacement.
Maybe Oswaldo Cabrera, but he's nowhere near the hitter Chisholm is and is most useful as a versatile defender.
"If he goes? The Yankees better have a real plan. Because who plays second base once you create that void?" Wrote Carannante. "Anything short of something like a Ketel Marte trade would be unacceptable."
For a club with championship aspirations, pulling the trigger on a Chisholm trade this early in the offseason would be a gamble.
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