The New York Yankees have made their first trade heading into the deadline.  They acquired OF/2B Jazz Chisholm Jr from the Marlins for 3 minor leaguers, C/1B Agustin Ramirez, INF Jared Serna, INF/OF Abrahan Ramirez.  My initial reaction is that I don’t love this trade, but I don’t hate it either.  Before I get into the reasons why, I want to point out that I can’t say I have seen Chisholm play a lot so I am going by stats mostly and my opinion of him may change once I get to watch him play day in and day out on the Yankees.  With that said, let’s get into it.

First let’s talk about the guys going out.  If you read my Prospect Watch you already know I am a big fan of Agustin Ramirez.  Lately he has begun tearing it up in triple A, currently on an 8-game hitting streak.  Now, I know you have to give to get and that there is really no path to the majors for Ramirez in NY as a catcher/1B, but I don’t know if Agustin could have been used to acquire someone better than Jazz.  Serna was a guy I had followed in the system as well.  The 22-year-old has not had a great season this year in A ball so he had fallen off my radar a bit. 22-year-olds should be lighting up A Ball.  And Abrahan Ramirez is a 19-year-old in rookie ball where he was hitting a robust .348.  The Marlins may want to move him up a level.  I am going to miss Agustin and fully expect to hear from him again.  The other two, who knows what will happen with them.  Trading guys that far down in the minors usually doesn’t carry much risk with it.   So, the only guy I care about losing is Agustin.  It will be interesting to see where the Marlins trade him once he becomes a good Major Leaguer. 

Now let’s look at what the Yankees received for these minor leaguers.  Jazz is an outfielder/middle infielder.  He is currently hitting .249 with a .323 OBP and a .730 OPS.  He has 13 homers, 14 doubles, 4 triples, 50 RBIs, and has stolen 22 bases.  He has a nice combination of power and speed though not great at either.  Now, the thing is, for the whole season, I would say he is probably the Yankees 5^th best hitter.  4th if you catch Volpe in one of his slumps.  Even after being out for all these weeks, Stanton is still third in homers and RBIs on the team.  Jazz didn’t have a high bar to get over.  He should be a solid upgrade in the lead off spot as the Yankees have gotten very little production out of anyone they put there and it’s his most natural spot in the line up.  In this way, he is a good addition to the lineup.  

With all that said, he could be better as a Yankee than a Marlin.  For one, I can’t imagine it’s easy to stay focused and playing hard on a team that is 26 games out of first place and is always 26 games out of first place.  Coming to a perennial contender should help.  Also, and this is more measurable than inspiration, his home/roads splits say he hits better on the road than he does in Miami.  Well, now all his games will be away from Miami.  He is a .277 hitter with a .774 OPS on the road.  Hopefully that will be the Jazz we see on a regular basis now that he is on a real team.  Having Soto and Judge behind him, assuming he hits lead off, has to help as well.  Also, as a left-handed hitter, he should benefit from Yankee Stadium.  His spray chart suggests he will.  I am really talking myself into liking this trade.          

Another good thing about him is that he is not a rental.  Jazz has two more years of arbitration before he can hit free agency.  As much as I hate giving up Agustin, at least it was for someone who will be on the team for at least two more years, assuming the Yankees want him that long.  Whenever someone complains about giving up prosects in trades, I always say it’s only an issue when it’s for a rental.  Especially if you don’t go on to win the World Series that year.  I have said many times that I would be OK with them trading Spencer Jones as long as it’s not for a rental.  So this is something I do like about this trade.  They didn’t just give Agustin away for some over 30 rental.  A 26-year-old with 2 years left is worth it.  As long as he doesn’t suck.    

Something I don’t like about the trade is that Chisholm became a full time Major Leaguer in 2021.  In the 4 seasons since he has only played in 382 out of a possible 648 games.  To put it in perspective, Stanton has played in 420 games in that time.  He made the All-Star team in 2022 but didn’t even play in the game because he was out with a back injury that would cost him the rest of the season.  Last season he had turf toe, which cost him all but 97 games.  Unlike Judge, he had surgery to repair it after the season.  These do not seem to be chronic injuries.  The back issue was a stress fracture which has since healed, obviously.  So hopefully he will be able to stay healthy as he has so far this season.  As I mentioned, I haven’t really watched him play so I do not know if he’s the type of guy to get hurt all the time or if they were just fluke incidents like Judge running through a wall.  It just scares me when I see a guy has missed so much time, especially with a back issue.   

The big question with this trade is, where is he going to play?  Stanton is due back Monday so DH is out.  He is an outfielder and a second baseman.  I know Verdugo has fallen apart at the plate but how will being benched sit with him?  It did not go well in Boston.  It’s pretty much how he ended up on the Yankees. And they are both left-handed so they can’t platoon them.  Plus, what would that mean for the Martian?  He just started playing again in Triple A.  Are they just not going to use him this season?  Second base is tough because Gleyber Torres has started hitting finally.  In July he is at .298.  You can’t take him out of the line up now after suffering through the disaster he was for most of the season.  Third base is where the hole is but can he play third?  He has never done it in a Major league game before.  Gleyber hit like ass when they moved him to short stop.  I can’t imagine him hitting well while playing 3^rd.  Especially in his walk year.  I really have no idea where they plan on playing him.  At least for this year.  He can play second next season.  Or the outfield if they don’t re-sign Soto.  Word is the Yankees are not done trading.  Maybe by Tuesday’s deadline they will make a move that makes it obvious where he will be playing, but for now, I have no idea what the plan is. 

The other problem I have with this trade is that it does not address the Yankees biggest problem, their pitching.  The hitting has actually been pretty good of late and it’s been getting better.  Wells has been very good (.298 with 5 home runs in July).  Volpe is back to being good (.357 since the break), I already mentioned Gleyber’s improvement.  And Monday Stanton comes back.  Hitting wasn’t actually a priority anymore.  Now, if they really like Jazz, a chance to get a guy they like who will be here for at least 2 more seasons is something they should take advantage of when ever the opportunity arises.  It just doesn’t solve the much bigger problem.  The pitching is what is causing the slide down the standings.  They scored 8 runs against the Sox Friday night and lost.  They had to score 11 runs tonight to secure the victory.  Is that their plan, to score 11 runs every game?  It would work, but I don’t think it’s possible.  Now, there are three days until the trade deadline so hopefully they will address the pitching by then.    Overall, I have talked myself into liking this trade.  Chisholm never developed into the star people thought he was when he made the All Star team. However, if Jazz sees the bump in production going from Miami to Yankee Stadium, he will be a good addition to the lineup.  The Yankees don’t need him to be a star, they need him to be better than the guys they have behind Soto and Judge. And if he does fit in nicely, he’s here for a few seasons.  Now we wait and see where he fits in and how he plays in pinstripes.  He will, however, have to find a new number.  2 isn’t available.