All That Jazz

BY KEVIN KERNAN

Never forget that baseball is as much a social experiment as it is a game of skill and numbers.

That is what makes the trade deadline happenings so intriguing – and at the top of the list this year is the Yankees’ trade with the Marlins for Jazz Chisholm Jr.

In last week’s column I wrote “the Yankees should go out and trade for Jazz Chisholm Jr. … the Yankees could use a little fire in their clubhouse.’’

And then they did. Nailed it, BallNine.

I also wrote: “At least Chisholm has a passion for the game.’’

You know what else Jazz Chisholm Jr. has a passion for in life?

Jazz Chisholm Jr.

It’s all about Jazz. But that’s okay. The Yankees could use a little Jazz.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. got his first start as a Yankee Sunday night, in centerfield, showing up at Fenway Park an hour and a half before the game against the Red Sox. He started slowly but finished fast, getting his first hit in his fifth at-bat. That infield hit came in the ninth. He then collided with Red Sox second baseman Romy Gonzalez while slipping on second base, hurting his jaw on a Gleyber Torres’ ground out to third.

Chisholm stayed in the game and immediately swiped third base when Red Sox third baseman Rafael Devers was too far back to cover the bag, a heads up play by Jazz, a speed play the Yankees could use more of in their arsenal. That was his 23rd stolen base.

Jazz then scored on DJ LeMahieu’s sacrifice fly to right as the Yankees finished off the 8-2 win over the sloppy, sloppy Red Sox.

The moment Jazz stole third, I got a brief Mick the Quick Rivers vibe watching the play.

We will see where it all goes from here. Too often, the Yankees offense relies on the home run. The Yankees need more speed. They scored eight runs Sunday night without benefit of the home run, but they did get help from the Red Sox who made three ugly errors on routine plays.

Now it is put up or shut up time for All That Jazz. This is not a video game. This is not the cover of MLB The Show ‘23. This is not South Beach.

This is the Big Apple.

This is not the unserious Marlins; this is the most serious New York Yankees, home of 27 World Championships – but none since 2009.

And I betcha here is something Jazz does not know. Since 2003, the Yankees under Brian Cashman have won as many championships as the Marlins – one.

This will be a different world, a much bigger spotlight. Jazz is not hiding behind a Marlins uniform anymore in a big ballpark that has no life unless the WBC or the Winter League championships are being held in loanDepot Park. Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a Yankee and the weight of the baseball world is about to be put on his shoulders.

No excuses anymore, Jazz. In a way he has it easy. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto carry the heavy load. Jazz just needs to be a baseball player.

I certainly am not saying he is going to succeed as a Yankee, but he has the skills to succeed if he puts it together. Then again, he could fall flat on his face, but this trade was going to happen because it made too much sense – and Cashman was too desperate. The squad Cashman put together had two superstars in Aaron Judge and Juan Soto and nothing else but problems. That is how you read the tea leaves to know this trade had to be made. Desperate GMs go out on a limb. They make desperate trades. The Yankees have been playing so poorly that it doesn’t really matter if the chemistry of this team was altered in a bad way. Jazz was worth the shot because where else was this team going to go?

For the first time in his young career, though, Jazz is being told, just go play baseball. You are not The Show. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are The Show.

Let’s be clear here: Jazz Chisholm Jr. is a handful, and that quite simply is coming from people who knew him with the Marlins, a pain in the butt, and scouts say pretty much the same thing. This can go South Beach pretty quickly, but also some people who dealt with Jazz on a daily basis said he was fun to be around.

He has the chance to write a whole new chapter in his career.

This is no video game or commercial. It’s on.

“Jazz thinks the world revolves around him,’’ one top talent evaluator told BallNine. “He’s on all these commercials and I don’t think he has ever hit over .250. He’s arrogant.’’

Chisholm is only 26 but already is in his third organization. When he was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015, I find it delicious that two of the game’s all-time sticklers for doing it old school were in charge. Dave Stewart was the GM; Tony La Russa was the president.

Jazz was gone by the 2019 trade deadline, traded to the Marlins for Zac Gallen. Mike Hazen was then the GM.

Since coming to the majors in 2020, Jazz is hitting .246 with a .309 on base percentage, a .440 slugging percentage and a .749 OPS. This year he is hitting .248, with a .323 on base percentage, a .407 slug and 108 Ks in 391 at-bats.

Considering those lackluster numbers, Jazz Chisholm Jr. has much to prove.

Not exactly star material. Kind of amazing he landed MLB The Show Legend Line commercial and cover with his old Marlins boss and a guy who played a little shortstop with the Yankees, a guy name Derek Jeter – a Hall of Famer, who is a fan of Jazz Chisholm Jr.

Legends usually hit higher than .246.

Yes, sir, Jazz has a lot to prove with the Yankees.

For the first time in his young career, though, Jazz is being told, just go play baseball. You are not The Show. Aaron Judge and Juan Soto are The Show.

Play centerfield and the infield, get on base and score runs. Stay in your lane Jazz. Don’ be a jerk. You don’t have to be the guy that is selling video games. How about just being a baseball player. Can you do that?

That’s the challenge ahead and Sunday night in Fenway Park was Opening Night II for the Yankees with Jazz Chisholm Jr. batting fifth, well below the big guns. Chisholm also has had injury issues in the past and needs to find a way to stay on the field.

After the win, Jazz was all smiles, telling ESPN’s Buster Olney that he grew up in the Bahamas watching the Yankees, saying it was “one of my dream teams to play for.’’

All that Jazz said all the right things when asked what it was like to play on the same team as Aaron Judge and Juan Soto.

“Oh man, it was great to play around these superstars,’’ Chisholm said with a first to third smile. “They even helped me in my last at-bat. I was getting around the ball a lot and they said, ‘just stay through the middle, babe, you can do whatever you want out here. We are always going to have your back out here, just go do you’ … The guys are super hyped up and showed me so much love.’’

Jazz played centerfield and got caught being too close to the Green Monster one time and turning Devers’ double into a triple. The Yankees say Jazz will play third base as well.

When asked about moving there, he said, “I’ve played infield before and like I did in Miami, I will go anywhere to go win. I’ll play any position to go win a championship.’’

I’m told the Marlins did an excellent job scouting the Yankees system and coming up with the three prospects they acquired: catcher Agustin Ramirez, infielder Jared Serna, and utility player Abraham Ramirez.

“Agustin Ramirez has a chance to hit, he can’t catch,’’ one scout said. “He’s got a short quick swing, and he will go gap to gap.’’

Look for him to switch to first base.

Serna is a small scrappy-type player who gets on base and has shown surprising power. He figures to land at second base because he does not have the arm for shortstop. “I really like him,’’ the scout said of Serna. “He doesn’t listen (to the Yankees analytics-based instructors) so that’s why I think he has a chance to be good. He could be an everyday second baseman. He has good bat speed and shows good focus in big at-bats, a quiet leader.’’

Ramirez II is a lefty-hitting teenager who is having a good season in the Florida Complex League.

The Yankees are in a unique position because they not only have Aaron Judge the home run hitting monster, who went into last night’s game hitting .314 on the season with 37 home runs and 95 RBI, but no one in a baseball clubhouse commands a room like Aaron Judge.

That really is a huge advantage. Oh yeah, there is Juan Soto too. Still, the Yankees have managed to screw this all up and can be thankful that the Orioles signed Craig Kimbrel to be their closer to keep the AL East close.

Even more impressive for Judge is that Elias Sports Bureau noted that over Judge’s last 70 games he is batting an absurd .371 with 31 home runs and 77 RBIs. Judge is the first player to bat .370 with 30 home runs and 75 RBIs over a 70-game span of one season since Joltin’ Joe DiMaggio did that for the Yankees in 1937.

Now that is legendary. That is MLB The Show 24. That’s real.

Then there is the clubhouse presence of Judge.

And don’t give me Shohei Ohtani is in the same league as Judge in the clubhouse. If you are to believe Shohei Ohtani, he had no clue that his closest ally in the game, his translator was ripping him off for $17 million. Ohtani has a wonder world of talent, but he can be fooled by people closest to him. No one is fooling Aaron Judge, so Jazz has to be on his best behavior.

Judge is not only the Yankees heart and soul and run producer, but you could also say he kind of manages the team – and certainly manages the clubhouse –and has owner Hal Steinbrenner’s ear. Hal Steinbrenner doesn’t know a lot of people in baseball. He is not exactly outgoing, but at least he knows Aaron Judge and certainly Judge signed off on making this trade.

It’s a fact that the Yankees get more from Judge than any team gets from any star player on so many different levels.

With this trade, with the taking in of Jazz Chisholm Jr., the Yankees are basically telling Judge, “Big guy, he’s all yours. Help us out again. Keep Jazz on the right note.’’

For Jazz to fail personality-wise with the Yankees, Judge has to fail mentoring him and considering Jazz knows that he has, as Aaron Boone would say, “everything right in front of him,’’ the ability to change the score of his losing career over the next few months is right there too.

I do believe Jazz Chisholm will be on his best behavior.

That should be the easy part.

Now all Jazz has to do is hit. He only hit .249 as a Marlin when there was absolutely zero pressure to succeed. From the first day of spring training until the day he was traded on Saturday, Jazz was on baseball vacation. He was basically still playing a video game. Nothing is really real in Miami when it comes to baseball. No expectations. No pressure. No consequences for being a selfish player.

Those days are over.

It is substance over style now and in his last at-bat on a rainy night in Fenway, Jazz Chisholm Jr. gave a glimpse of what All That Jazz could look like for the Yankees.