After the Orioles made two trades on Friday afternoon, the old money machine came to life with 72 hours until the trade deadline. The New York Yankees acquired center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. from the Miami Marlins to get three prospects: Triple-A pitcher Agustin Ramirez is the headline name, but the Marlins also got A-ball pitcher Jared Serna, and Abrahan Ramirez from. the Yankees' Complex League team.
Having a player named Jazz on the Yankees is like Christmas morning to the headliners. The New York Post. If I could have a career in mass media, it would be to write the headlines behind the… maybe not literally Submitbut a tabloid with a slightly erudite tone.
I bring up the tabloids because any discussion of Chisholm seems to end up being a discussion about a discussion of Chisholm, so let's get that out of the way first.
The proposed Chisholm-to-the-Yankees trade has been swirling with rumors for some time, and said rumor has caused quite a stir. Chisholm is not everyone's cup of tea; this spring, the former Marlins outfielder spoke openly about how his first two seasons in the majors were turned into a nightmare by veteran teammates who disliked him. That's Chisholm's side of the story, but her side of the story is like a young athlete being bullied for the way she dresses.
With the Yankees reportedly concerned about Chisholm's fit in the clubhouse, New York Daily News hitting writer Gary Phillips spoke with people inside the Yankees organization who had worked with Chisholm in Miami, including hitting coach James Rowson. To be fair, none of Phillips' interviewees had anything negative to say about Chisholm.
There are examples of Bad Makeup dialogue that is vaguely a precursor to the player actually being a bad team or a bad person. But sometimes — often, I'd argue — it turns out to be gossip about an outspoken young player (especially a young black or Caribbean player, like Chisholm) who is considered out of place.
Absent specific examples of Chisholm doing anything worse than wearing too much jewelry, I'm inclined to believe he'll fit in well with the Yankees. There were similar concerns about Alex Verdugo and Marcus Stroman entering this season, and despite these fears, the Yankees are 60-45 and as far as I know are not on the verge of a season-ending clubhouse collapse. It's also possible that Chisholm will benefit from being the biggest fish in the biggest pond in the country, instead of being the only Marlins player 90% of sports fans have heard of.
It will probably be fine. And just in case, I'd like to take this opportunity to remind New York columnists not to overlook the fact that “Chisholm” rhymes with “separation.” Don't focus on doing jazz songs, or you'll leave the meat on the bone.
With all that said, I actually agree with the one-stone critics who like to fly Chisholm: He's a bit extreme. What I mean by that is that he's being talked about as a star, when in reality he's an above-average starter at an upper-middle position. He never scored 20 runs or stole 30 bases in a season. He's not a very good percentage base stealer and he strikes out a lot. And despite making the All-Star team and ending up on the cover of MLB: The Show, never had a 3-WAR season. Chisholm's best career year by a country mile was 2022, when he hit .535 in a campaign that was cut short to 60 games due to back problems. And that player never made another appearance during Chisholm's time in the majors.
So why do the Yankees want him?
Two reasons. The first is the list of rookie center fielders they've used this season: Aaron Judge, who shouldn't play center, and Trent Grisham, who is hitting .183. Chisholm could be back in critical condition and help the Yankees.
Second, Chisholm has made encouraging strides forward in several areas of weakness: He is currently rocking a career-high walk rate and a career-low strikeout rate. The 24.9% strikeout rate isn't great, but it's bearable, unlike the 30.8% mark Chisholm posted last year. His 22-to-30 stolen base rate isn't anything to write home about, but he's running at a high volume this year and his overall baserunning metrics are among the top 10 in baseball. Chisholm's power is low — he currently has a career-low .407 SLG — but his wRC+ is 104.
Now, 104 is not star quality, even for an average player. But the Yankees' offense is currently being floated by two of the best hitters in baseball – you can argue with either of them without being laughed out of the room – both of whom are in their prime. Besides Judge and Juan Soto, however, the Yankees have one, one-spot, healthy position player with at least 100 plate appearances and a wRC+ of 100 or better: Austin Wells. I think they have two now, since they just got Chisholm. It's a strange thing to say about a Yankees team on pace for a 93-game winning streak, but they need all the decent position players they can get.
And because Chisholm has experience at second base, he can plug a lot of holes. Yankees third basemen are hitting .231 / .292 / .310 this year, leaving the Bronx Bombers 27th in the league in wRC+ at the hot corner. Can the galaxy-brained Aaron Boone put Chisholm at second and slide Gleyber Torres to third? What's the worst that could happen?
So Chisholm is an improvement on an area of weakness. He keeps the lineup small and fast, and while he hasn't shown much this year, he has flashed significant power in the past, which could have an impact on the left-handed hitter moving to Yankee Stadium. Oh, and while the Yankees probably don't care about this more than most clubs, he's making just $2.65 million this year and is under team control for two more seasons than this one. Torres, it is said, belongs to him last time group control year. If and when he leaves as a free agent, Chisholm could fill a hole at second base.
How much does all that cost?
The best article is moving to Florida by Agustin Ramirez. It took the 22-year-old years to break out of rookie ball, but he made a big splash this spring by hitting 16 home runs in 58 games for Double-A Somerset. That earned him a promotion to Triple-A, where he slashed: .224/.328/.364 in 29 games, with iffy defense. Eric Longenhagen says it's unlikely he'll be a full-time catcher – his receiving is improving, but his blocking and throwing are liabilities. (I was saddened to learn that Ramirez's arm was stoned; I was hoping he had an 80-gauge cannon that would allow me to give the tabloid gods the “Guns of Agustin” song.)
But that power is special, especially for a guy who can't even fake it behind the plate. Eric sees him as a first baseman and DH who owns catcher gear and can get behind the plate a few times a week, in the shoes of a young Ryan Jeffers or Mitch Garver. Entering the Top 100 at no. 72 as a prospect of 50 FV.
Serna, a 22-year-old projected 45+ FV from Mexico, is a small guy (5-foot-7) who swings hard and makes good contact with a hitter that way. He is hitting .253/.341/.444 in A-ball with a 10.2% walk rate and a 15.3% strikeout rate. Serna was the no. 14 prospect in the Yankees' system (Ramirez was no. 5), and while his arm isn't up to everyday shortstop, he has the potential to be a solid second baseman. Eric says that if he continues to hit, and improve defensively, Serna has a chance to break into the top 100 this offseason and reach the top in 2025.
Having already acquired Ramirez and a youngster in this trade, the Marlins fulfilled their hopes of returning someone who fits both of those definitions. Abrahan Ramirez is 19 in his first season of baseball in the US – the Venezuelan native spent the past two seasons in the Yankees' center field in the Dominican Republic. He has split time between second and third, and his lefty swing has yielded just two runs in 49 games, with 14 doubles and three triples. The youngster in the complex is very different and away from the majors, don't forget about Abrahan Ramirez until and unless he hits Double-A in a few years.
So for all the hemming and hawing, this is the easiest trade. The Yankees got a promotion in a position of need, a player who is now good and could be even better. Oh, and you're cheap and controlled by the group. Not fixing the center field problem wasn't an option, so the other options were to send the entire farm to Luis Robert Jr. or try to make a deal for someone like Lane Thomas, who isn't as good as Chisholm and doesn't like it. I won't fix the center field problem though.
The Marlins either bought Agustin Ramirez high or they got him right as his career path is on the upswing. Serna is a good secondary piece, and anything they get from Abrahan Ramirez is a bonus. How they feel about facing their best player five years from now will depend entirely on how they develop these three prospects. A+ trade for tabloid editors; for everyone, it does the job.
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