The New York Yankees are not planning to extend a qualifying offer to Jazz Chisholm Jr., according to MLB.com insider Mark Feinsand. The deadline is November 2 at 4 PM CT, and the decision has a name attached to it: Trent Grisham.
Last offseason, the Yankees handed Grisham a QO fully expecting him to walk. He didn’t. New York got stuck with a $22 million commitment they never budgeted for. They’re not making that mistake twice.
A Down Year After a Career-Best Season
Chisholm came into 2026 riding the high of a legitimate 30-30 campaign: 31 home runs, 31 stolen bases, and a Silver Slugger in 2025. What followed was a reality check. This season he hit .231/.312/.399 with 19 home runs and 41 stolen bases — still an elite athlete, but not the guy who set the market on fire a year ago.
The advanced numbers tell the harder story. His OPS+ landed at 97, meaning he was 3% below the average MLB hitter. His xwOBA of .294 ranked in just the 16th percentile across the league, per Statcast. For someone entering one of the offseason’s most anticipated free agency cases, that’s a tough number to argue around.
What didn’t slip was his glove and his legs. Chisholm finished with 15 Outs Above Average — 98th percentile in all of MLB — and those 41 steals keep him among the most dangerous baserunners in the game. The problem is that a qualifying offer doesn’t get negotiated in pieces: it’s $23.15 million, all or nothing, and the Yankees don’t want Jazz to say yes.
The Grisham Ghost and the Yankees’ Logic
The Grisham precedent is the whole story here. New York extended him a QO last offseason banking on a rejection and a compensatory draft pick. Grisham accepted. The Yankees absorbed a $22.025 million commitment they hadn’t planned for. That lesson hasn’t faded.
With Chisholm, the math is uncomfortable from both angles. If he accepts the QO, the Yankees are locked into paying $23.15 million for a player who posted a 1.7 WAR in his most recent season. If they skip it, they lose the draft pick but avoid the risk entirely — and they have options. Anthony Volpe is their shortstop, with Luis García Jr. and José Caballero as infield depth. Chisholm isn’t a roster emergency.
Meanwhile, they will extend a QO to closer David Bednar, who posted 35 saves and a 2.47 ERA in 2026. That’s a much safer bet.
What His Market Actually Looks Like
Feinsand called Chisholm’s situation «an interesting decision» — which is a polite way of saying it could go several directions. CBS Sports ranks him as the sixth-best free agent of the 2026-27 class, with the Angels, Padres, and Tigers mentioned most often as potential fits.
Former GM Jim Bowden projected a 6-year, $128 million deal with an opt-out after year two. That number drew skepticism for good reason: a player with a 97 OPS+ and 1.7 WAR asking for $128M requires the market to bet on the 2025 version of him and ignore 2026 entirely. It’s not impossible — the infield market is genuinely thin this winter — but it’s far from a sure thing.
Chisholm himself, quoted by The Athletic, said he hopes to stay: «I do hope to be back.» Skipping the QO doesn’t slam that door shut, but it does change the terms. Jazz hits the open market without a floor, without $23.15 million guaranteed as a baseline, and needing to convince a new team to bet on who he was in 2025 before anyone sees who he’ll be in 2027.
