To understand why Jazz Chisholm Jr. thrives in New York and struggled through his first three years with the Miami Marlins, tag along. He’s a jack of all trades who knows how to play, paint, rap and design. In fact, when Chisholm broke into the big leagues in 2020, he showed up with 20 pairs of custom cleats he’d designed and paid for himself. Each pair told a story, inspired by his favorite things. From Oreo cookies to the anime Black Clover and even the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. That time, his $11 million veteran teammate didn’t see creativity. All he saw was a flashy rookie who needed to be humbled.

Chisholm’s former teammate Miguel Rojas took one pair of Chisholm’s custom cleats and cut them up with scissors. Another pair? He filled them with milk and ruined them in a way that they could never be worn again. Since then, Chisholm has never really gotten along with veterans.

“I was already a team leader without being called a team leader. But the vets—you can’t be a team leader when you’ve got guys in the clubhouse that have been in there for nine or 10 years, even though they suck. They’ve been there for nine or 10 years. And the team calls them the team captain, but like, they’re not a good captain. They’re not a good person. You’re not even a good athlete at this point.” Chisholm said recently while expressing his frustration with veterans.

“You’re just here and you’re bringing down the young guys that are supposed to be good.” He added.

Chisholm, 27, had earlier said that he never confronted Rojas or any of the veteran teammates involved in the cleats incident. That whole incident eventually sparked enough tension for then-Marlins manager Don Mattingly to hold a 90-minute team meeting just to restore peace.

By that point, Chisholm had decided to keep to himself and fully embrace his individuality. For him, that meant showing up to the ballpark in even bolder, flashier outfits.

Being himself was never an issue for Chisholm, no matter where he was. He grew up in Nassau, raised by his grandparents, including his grandmother, Patricia Coakley, a former shortstop for the Bahamian national softball team who started teaching him to hit when he was just two years old.

As a kid, he spent hours watching highlights of Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Fred McGriff, Gary Sheffield, and Eric Davis. All while imagining how a short, skinny kid from the Bahamas could one day make it to the big leagues. But now, as it seems, he could be headed out of New York.

Jazz Chisholm Jr.’s Silver Slugger win makes trade rumors look even more absurd

Yankees fans are known to call out the team and not without reason, for sticking to budget limits that few other franchises even have to worry about. More often than not, the frustration isn’t about spending money, but how it’s spent. The common refrain?

“We can pay Marcus Stroman $18 million, but then we stop paying people?”

This time, though, the frustration has hit another level. If the Yankees are seriously considering trading Jazz Chisholm Jr. just because he has one year of team control left, that’s not financial prudence; that’s self-sabotage. Whether they choose to extend him or not is one thing.

But trading away the league’s best offensive second baseman by choice would be nothing short of baseball malpractice.

Calling Jazz Chisholm Jr. the “league’s best second baseman” isn’t an exaggeration anymore. It’s a fact. He just took home the AL Silver Slugger Award, beating out Brandon Lowe of the Rays and Jorge Polanco of the Mariners.

So, if the Yankees really want to trade Chisholm, they’ll be a worse team in 2026 because of it, even if they manage to land someone like Lowe. And if they don’t? What’s the plan then, both short-term and long-term? Who’s replacing him?

That’s something the Yankees need to figure out. Because unless it’s another elite, Silver Slugger–level athlete, this move makes no sense.