Jazz Chisholm Jr. on talent alone would seem to be an easy call to receive a qualifying offer from a monied team like the Yankees, which hands them out liberally.
But you have to wonder now whether Chisholm is a lock to get that bid, which is projected to be about $23M, from the Yankees. He was benched in Game 1 against left-handed starter Payton Tolle for the previously embattled Anthony Volpe.
Chisholm, who was upset last year to be benched against a left-hander in the same wild-card round, wasn’t heard from immediately after lineups were posted Tuesday. Chisholm did say Monday that he expected to start this time.
Chisholm, who famously projected in spring training to NJ Advance Media that he was shooting to become the second 50-50 player and could get $35M a year for seven or eight years as a free agent, had his worst statistical season. He had career lows in batting average (.231), slugging (.399), OPS (.711) and OPS+ (97). While he stole 41 bases, he hit only 19 home runs.
