The Tigers could have a real reason to keep an eye on Jazz Chisholm Jr. this winter.
After the Yankees were knocked out of the postseason on Wednesday night, the left-handed hitter moved closer to a possible free-agency decision. New York has several players set to become free agents shortly after the World Series, and Chisholm is among them. The Yankees can extend the qualifying offer, though he might pass on that if a more lucrative contract is available.
On paper, the fit in Detroit makes sense. Bleacher Report’s Zachary D. Rymer pointed to two clear reasons the Tigers should be interested: speed and energy.
"Chisholm's speed is especially needed in Detroit after the Tigers stole only 58 bases this year. That's just 17 more than Chisholm had on his own, and it amounts to refusing to play a game that a team really should be playing in this day and age," Rymer wrote.
That kind of impact would give Detroit another weapon on the bases, something the lineup lacked this season. Chisholm also offers more than just speed. Rymer noted that putting him next to Kevin McGonigle would give the Tigers one of the more talented middle infield pairings in the Majors.
"The Tigers could use Chisholm's energy, too. Even if they had bigger problems this year, his outgoing personality would bring a different dynamic to the roster," Rymer added. "Signing Chisholm to be part of a double-play combo with Kevin McGonigle would be a step in the right direction."
The appeal is easy to see, even with Chisholm coming off a down year at the plate by his standards. He finished with 19 home runs and a .231/.312/.399 slash line with a 97 OPS+, a step back from his 30-30 season and 122 OPS+ the year before.
There is also the possibility of a reunion with Gleyber Torres in Detroit, though Torres brings a different profile. He’s an above-average on-base player, but not the kind of stolen-base threat Chisholm is.
In Other News...
Yankees Just Got Hit With A Brutal Post-ALDS Question
David Ortiz has weighed in on the Yankees ALDS loss to the Rays, and his point went beyond the box score. He framed New Yorks latest postseason disappointment as a matter of culture, saying the franchise is missing the kind of clubhouse leadership and attention to detail that helped define its most successful eras. For a team that still carries the weight of its history, that kind of critique lands differently because it goes straight to the identity the Yankees have spent years trying to project.
Alex Rodriguez added another layer by pointing out the contrast between the Yankees expensive roster and Tampa Bays ability to win with far less money. It is the sort of postmortem that follows New York whenever October ends too soon, because the questions are rarely just about talent. They are about whether the Yankees still have the standards, structure and edge that once made them hard to knock out when the games mattered most. [Read more 🡒]
Aaron Judge Just Put Yankees Pressure Squarely On Brian Cashman
The Yankees season ended in familiar frustration in the American League Division Series, with the Rays finishing off a sweep by taking the final game 4-3. Aaron Judge watched it all from the sidelines after a strained right calf and a fractured rib kept the captain out of the entire postseason, a tough absence for a lineup that never quite looked like itself without him.
Judge still struck an optimistic tone about the group, even after being limited to 66 regular-season appearances, but he also made clear where the burden now falls. His message put the focus on Brian Cashman and the front office to use the offseason to patch the rosters obvious holes, a familiar mandate in New York after another October exit. [Read more 🡒]
Yankees Offseason Shakeup Could Leave Two Weak Spots Even Thinner
The Yankees are heading into an offseason that already looks like a roster reset in a few familiar places, with several recent additions likely not sticking around after the playoff loss. Paul Blackburn, Ali Snchez, Tim Hill and Jazz Chisholm Jr. are among the names tied to that uncertainty, for reasons ranging from performance to contract decisions to the broader direction the club may want to take. For a team that expected to be built for October, the turnover feels less like fine-tuning and more like another hard look at what actually held up when the games mattered.
What makes the picture trickier is the bullpen, where New York already has to think carefully about how much it can trust from year to year and how it replaces the relievers it leans on most. Losing key arms in that group would leave two weak spots even thinner, and the Yankees do not have much room to be casual about depth after another postseason exit. The offseason decisions now looming around those spots could end up shaping the whole winter, even before the bigger moves come into view. [Read more 🡒]