Opposition research: Jazz Chisholm, Jr.

Maybe the Phillies should have had some interest in him last year

Last season at the trade deadline, the Phillies acquired Austin Hays to bolster their outfield. Hays underperformed, partly because of a severe illness. (As it turns out, he’s having a solid rebound season in 2025, albeit one in which he spent a good chunk of time on the Injured List.) One of the other names that got traded around the same time was Marlins’ infielder/outfielder Jazz Chisholm, Jr, who was sent to the Yankees in exchange for three prospects.

Like every player who ends up on the trade market, there was speculation that the Phillies were a potential destination, but they apparently had no interest.

I’ve long felt that Chisholm was a little overrated due to his nickname (Victor “Macho” Harris syndrome if you will). He’s a good player, but I believe that “Jeff Chisholm” wouldn’t be held in quite such high esteem. But since he joined the Yankees, he’s largely played up to his reputation.

In 46 post-trade games last year, he had an .825 OPS and was worth 1.5 wins above replacement. He’s continued to excel this season, putting up an .844 OPS with 18 home runs, often batting fourth or fifth in the Yankees lineup. His defense hasn’t always graded well, especially in the outfield, but he’s spent most of his time this season at second base, and metrics are favorable to his performance there.

I’m not sure what the Phillies would have had to offer to top the Yankees package last season. It assuredly would have been more than the Seranthony Dominguez and Cristian Pache combination they sent to the Orioles in exchange for Hays, but having Chisholm in the lineup in place of Max Kepler (or let’s face it, Bryson Stott), would have probably been worth it.

It should be noted he had a disappointing playoff, going just 10-55, and that comes after an 0-8 showing against the Phillies in the 2023 Wild Card series. Had he done that in a Phillies uniform, the trade for him would have assuredly been savaged by fans.

X-Men character of the series

Apocalypse

Even if they haven’t won the World Series in 16 years, the Yankees are still regarded as one of – if not the – “big bads” of the baseball world. Therefore, it only makes sense to compare them to Apocalypse, who is often portrayed as the X-Men’s greatest threat. (Yes, Magneto is their classic archenemy, but when they need a looming ultimate enemy, it’s usually Apocalypse.)

En Sabah Nur is sometimes referred to as the world’s oldest mutant, having originated in ancient Egypt. He plans to conquer the world and institute a policy of “survival of the fittest,” purging the weakest members of society. In the famous storyline “Age of Apocalypse,” he mostly succeeded at this after Charles Xavier’s death altered history.

The movie version of Apocalypse was a huge miss. Part of the problem was that he’s basically too powerful, and they have to basically make him conveniently forget he can do just about anything he wants. (This is not an uncommon problem in superhero movies.) The awful costume design didn’t help matters either.

Additional thought about the series

All of a sudden, the Phillies’ rotation has turned into a slight question mark. I’ll qualify that by saying their rotation is still the envy of almost every other team in baseball. But considering their success this season has been built on dominant starting pitching, they need the rotation to be great, and not just good.

As for this weekend’s starters, having Taijuan Walker pitch in Yankee Stadium feels like a bad idea, and we have to hope that Ranger Suarez’s poor outing in his last start was just a blip. The good news is that they’ll have Zack Wheeler going in the finale, and he’s about as far from a question mark as you can get.

On the offensive side of things, this will be Bryce Harper’s first series in Yankee Stadium since 2021. While he’s been oddly ineffective at Citi Field in recent years, Harper has a 1.006 career OPS in the Bronx. It feels like he’s hitting at least one ball into the stands this weekend. Let’s just hope his teammates can keep pace.