MLB insider names Reds as Jazz Chisholm Jr. fit, but they should avoid him at all costs

The Cincinnati Reds have three key issues in their starting lineup. Essentially, the club has three extreme glove-first players in Ke'Bryan Hayes, Matt McLain, and Jose Trevino who would be regulars if the 2027season started today. They can afford one, maybe two, of these players playing every day, but all three would be a disaster.

Hayes is the easiest to target because, while McLain and Trevino struggle with the bat, the much-maligned third baseman was historically bad in 2026. Unfortunately, the pool of free-agent third basemen is shallower than a puddle. The catching market isn't great either, and if they aren't able to re-sign Tyler Stephenson, it will be hard to find a backstop who is markedly better than Trevino.

Therefore, the greatest impact Cincinnati might find is at second base. In this case, it might seem as if the stars have aligned and presented the Reds with the ability to sign a high-end talent, Jazz Chisholm Jr., at a bargain price. At least, that's the way MLB insider Mark Feinsand sees things when he named the Reds as one of six ideal landing spots for Chisholm.

On the surface, Chisholm is the exact kind of dynamic player the Reds need. His combination of power and speed next to Elly De La Cruz would seem to be lethal, and while he's coming off a down year, hitting .231/.312/.399 with 19 homers over 137 games, he was still worth 3.5 fWAR. Chisholm, 29, is still firmly in his prime and should be a strong bounce-back candidate.

FanSided's MLB insider Robert Murray believes that Chisholm's down year has him primed to take a one-year prove-it deal, similar to the qualifying offer, though he doesn't believe that the New York Yankees will offer the former Miami Marlin the QO.

New York's lack of interest in bringing Chisholm back one year removed from a 30-30 season is red flag No. 1, but it's only the first of many warning signs that the Reds should heed.

The Reds cannot afford to fall prey to Jazz Chisholm Jr.'s charms

It's very possible that Chisholm rebounds and returns to his 30-30 form in 2027. Even if his down year at the plate was substantially better than McLain's performance, with a .711 OPS for Jazz versus a .608 mark for McLain. That doesn't mean that he's a good fit for the Reds, though.

One thing that Cincinnati is prioritizing is contact, something that Nick Krall admitted he didn't do a great job prioritizing last offseason. Chisholm doesn't fix that issue. In 2026, he posted a 30.9% whiff rate, ranking in the 13th percentile. Despite a much better overall performance in 2025, he whiffed even more frequently, coming in the seventh percentile with a 32.2% mark.

Still, it goes deeper than that. Jazz might not be stylistically the type of hitter the Reds want, but at a certain point, you go for the best talent you can get and adapt your approach to the talent that you've collected. That is, unless there are extenuating circumstances.

Extenuating circumstances are Chisholm's specialty. He put a huge target on his back during spring training by very publicly setting a goal for a 50-50 season (something only Shohei Ohtani has ever done), while also predicting a $300-plus million contract for himself this winter.

The Reds don't need that kind of distraction. Unfortunately, that's just the beginning. Early in the season, he admitted that he didn't know the force rules after he booted a ball and needed to secure a force out before the lead runner crossed home plate. Another time, he drew the ire of his manager, Aaron Boone (and many others), for eating a lollipop in the field.

The likely straw that broke the camel's back was his play in the playoffs and subsequent comments. In Game 2 of the ALDS, he committed a wild and unnecessary throwing error in the first inning that allowed a run to score.

Later in the frame, he was saved from another throwing error thanks to a heads-up play by rookie shortstop George Lombard Jr. Chisholm was asked about his error following the game, and his answer was not great, to say the least.

"Honestly, I'd probably still throw it. The play was trying to be made. I just feel like I could have probably tried to make an even better throw. Where I'd throw it, I'd try and throw it a little more closer to the base. My back was turned," Chisholm said during the postgame scrum.

Chisholm is the type of player who has immense talent, which means his floor will always be high. However, his focus can wane, and his fundamentals are poor, limiting the type of impact he has overall and leading to these sorts of meltdowns on the big stage.

Through the lens of what the Reds need, this is a big red flag. Cincinnati has a budding core of young players like De La Cruz, Sal Stewart, and Héctor Rodriguez, among others. They need veterans around them who teach them how to maximize their talent, instead of coasting on the strength of their skills.

So, yes, Chisholm likely bounces back next year, outperforms McLain, and costs less than one would have originally thought, but signing him would still be a grave mistake for the Reds.

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