Jazz Chisholm Jr. confirms Yankees contract extension reality that must change

New York Yankees second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. is headed to free agency this winter following a campaign that has underwhelmed compared to last year's 31-homer, 31-steal season. Chisholm's power and speed are still hanging around (19 homers and 40 steals this season, and he's 28 years old), but a .713 OPS compared to last year's .813 figure says a lot.

Remember when Chisholm was talking about a 50/50 season and advertising his expectations for a massive contract? Yankees general manager Brian Cashman surely caught wind of the comments, but it didn't make a difference. That's because Cashman has an unwritten policy about extensions — he doesn't do them. Chisholm confirmed the existence of this policy in an interaction with Cashman earlier this year.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. just verified publicly that the Yankees don't offer extensions

According to a piece from NJ.com's Randy Miller, Chisholm had a hallway interaction with Cashman at some point in which Cashman casually said (?) or indicated, "We don't do extensions" before walking off. Alrighty then.

Chisholm's reveal wasn't a shocker to Yankees fans aware of Cashman's dealings and history of preferring to let players reach free agency, but it was still jarring to hear that Cashman allegedly said those words to Chisholm so plainly.

And by the way, Cashman was 100% wise not to give Chisholm an extension, even if that decision had been made at the outset of what's become a poor season for the second baseman. This doesn't mean, however, that the "no extensions" policy, overall, is a good one.

Yankees' extension policy makes no sense when applied to Ben Rice and Cam Schlittler

So you're telling me that Cashman's policy should remain immovable once Rice, Schlittler, and George Lombard Jr. are in line for extensions? How is that defensible?

Schlittler is on the verge of a Cy Young at 25 years old. Rice is the heir apparent to Aaron Judge as the franchise's next great slugger. Lombard was reportedly untouchable at the trade deadline, even in discussions involving Tarik Skubal. Those are all situations screaming for an extension whenever possible.

While Cashman's consistent blueprint has been to forego extensions and wait for his guys to hit the open market (with the exception of Luis Severino and Aaron Hicks, for whatever reason), it's time to throw that plan in the trash. One of the above three young studs (if not all three) is bound to demand a gargantuan sum in free agency once they get there, which would leave the Yankees looking foolish for not locking in an extension earlier on and saving tens of millions of dollars.

Maybe Cashman's been able to get away with his policy in recent years because the Yankees have been built on a considerable amount of mid-career imports. You don't have to prioritize extensions when you don't have a ton of homegrown, superstar talent.

Of course, that's now changing for Cashman and the Yankees. Chisholm, though not homegrown, is still young enough that another franchise might've pulled the trigger on an extension. Cashman made the right call not to, but he'd be totally in the wrong not to budge on his business principles in the coming years (if he's even still employed by the Yankees at that point).

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