Jazz Chisholm Jr. does not seem to be long for Miami. The charismatic center fielder is being discussed in the Miami Marlins' trade talks, and the Seattle Mariners appear to be a potential landing spot for Chisholm.
As the Marlins continue to flounder — Miami currently holds the worst record in the National League at 32-63 — any decently valuable Marlins player will likely be a part of trade discussions. Chisholm, who was an All-Star in 2022, is no exception, according to USA Today's Bob Nightengale.
“The Miami Marlins have been hoping they could trade center fielder Jazz Chisholm all season, with the Seattle Mariners emerging as the favorites to land him,” Nightengale wrote. “The Kansas City Royals also have expressed interest in Chisholm, but the Philadelphia Phillies have zero interest in him.”
The Mariners would be an interesting landing spot for Chisholm, as Julio Rodriguez has started for Seattle in center field since being called up in 2022. If Chisholm did end up getting traded to Seattle, that would likely mean he would move back to the infield. Chisholm began his MLB career splitting time between second base and shortstop but has not played either position regularly in a few years.
Marlins trading Jazz Chisholm to the Mariners?
If the Seattle Mariners indeed end up trading for Jazz Chisholm Jr., it would make sense if only as an attempt to patch things up in the middle of the infield, an area of weakness for the top team in the AL West.
Despite a 52-45 record and holding a small lead over their divisional rivals, the team has struggled to find offensive consistency at either the shortstop or second baseman positions. Jorge Polanco has received the lion's share of the starts at second base this season for Seattle, and things have not went very well for Polanco. The 31-year-old is batting a career-low .196 and has an OBP of .285 and SLG of .282 through 60 games.
Dylan Moore and Ryan Bliss have also each played 24 games at second for the Mariners this year. A versatile utilty man, Moore is batting .211 / .313 / .404, an improvement over Bliss, who is batting .224 / .297 / .362 this season. Chisholm would likely be an upgrade over Polanco or either Moore or Bliss; Chisholm is batting .251 / .320 / .410 and has 12 home runs, 42 RBIs, and 18 stolen bases on the season, all of which would rank either first or second on the Mariners.
But as Bob Nightengale laid out, the Mariners do not appear to be the only suitors for Chisholm. Additionally, the haul of prospects from Seattle, the Kansas City Royals, or some other suitor will have to be enticing for Miami, which Nightengale reported is willing to “eat virtually the entirety” of Josh Bell's contract in order to get some “fringe prospects” in return.
That is not too surprising considering how bad the Marlins are currently — the team is 30 games back from the first-place Philadelphia Phillies — and that teams like the Baltimore Orioles have laid out a very attractive rebuilding blueprint that they will likely try to follow. Bell exercised a $16.5 million player option this past offseason and has batted .230/ .292 / .360 as the Marlins' first baseman and designated hitter.
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