Jazz Chisholm Jr. spent the first stretch of his walk year looking like a player headed for a short, awkward finish in New York. He came into the weekend hitting around .220 with an on-base percentage under .300, and the kind of season he talked about in spring - 50 homers and 50 steals - was nowhere in sight.
Now the conversation has shifted. A late surge at the plate, plus a new market projection from Tim Britton of The Athletic, has given the Yankees a much more complicated decision than they appeared to have a month ago.
Britton projected interest in a multiyear deal for Chisholm, likely in the four-year range at about $20 million to $25 million per season. He also pointed out that even through the slump, Chisholm remains on pace for a three-win season. That matters because if he finishes near 3.0 WAR, he would have about 11.5 WAR over three seasons - a total that tops the number Cody Bellinger brought into the $162 million contract he signed with the Yankees last winter, and sits close to what Corey Seager had before his $325 million deal with the Texas Rangers.
Britton also made the case that the Yankees should extend Chisholm a qualifying offer instead of letting him walk for nothing. That offer would land around $23.1 million, well above his current $10.2 million salary.
If Chisholm takes it, he stays in pinstripes for 2027. If he leaves, the Yankees would at least bring back a compensatory draft pick.
Chisholm, for his part, has not spent much time talking like a player auditioning for a payday. After the Yankees beat the Toronto Blue Jays 8-3 on Sunday to take the series, he brushed off the idea that bad luck or pressure had defined his season.
“Honestly, I don’t know. A lot of balls that I’ve hit, I’ve hit it at the guy that’s been playing in that position for 120 years now,” Chisholm said.
“It’s just baseball. Not lucky this year, I guess.”
He also said his teammates have helped him stay steady through a season that has tested him in public.
“It gets frustrating some times, but I just have such great teammates in the clubhouse that just keep my head on a swivel,” Chisholm said. “Reminding me of the talent I have, the things that I’ve done before, and just keep pushing away.”
When asked what he is chasing with free agency approaching, Chisholm didn’t mention contract numbers.
“To win a World Series, that’s the only goal I’ve got now,” Chisholm said.
There is still plenty in the numbers that explains why the Yankees have wrestled with him all year. His overall production has lagged, with a wRC+ around 90 and a strikeout rate near 31 percent. But he has also shown he can deliver in a specific kind of spot: with a runner on third base and fewer than two outs, Chisholm is hitting .263 with a home run, 13 RBIs and an .806 OPS.
And the speed remains a real weapon. Chisholm has stolen 34 bases, third-most in the American League, while also bringing left-handed pop at second base - a combination the Yankees do not have much of anywhere else on the roster.
The recent run at the plate is part of what makes the picture less clear. Over his previous five games entering the series finale, Chisholm went 6-for-17 with a double, a triple and a home run. Then on Sunday he added a bunt single and a two-run homer in the 8-3 win.
Even some of the people who believe the Yankees should keep him are looking at this as a matter of timing. Yankees legend David Cone said earlier in the month on the YES Network that the team should keep giving Chisholm chances against right-handed pitching.
“Facing righties, you gotta give Jazz a chance to get going here down the stretch,” Cone said. “He’s that kind of player if he gets hot.”
So the Yankees are left with a choice they seemed to have already made: move on, or give Chisholm a qualifying offer and see whether a 28-year-old with rare tools can turn this late push into something bigger. For now, he and the Yankees are 74-56 and still chasing October, with five weeks left to make the winter look a lot more interesting.
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