Yankees trading for Marlins' Xavier Edwards would be a severe overpay and grave mistake

It's abundantly clear that Jazz Chisholm Jr. won't be back in 2027 as the New York Yankees' second baseman. That begs the question, then: where can New York turn to find a replacement? On the free-agent market, Brandon Lowe will be extremely expensive coming off a 35-homer season, and his defensive turnaround might be too miraculous to be believed.

Luis Arraez would make a lot of fans happy, but he's a one-trick pony who will no longer be signing relatively cheap one-year deals. That leaves a reunion with Gleyber Torres as the best free-agent option... and that just doesn't seem very likely.

So the Yankees will have to move on to the trade market to fill their second base vacancy, and according to Joel Sherman, the club has "greatly liked" Miami Marlins second baseman Xavier Edwards for a long time.

On the surface, a 27-year-old switch-hitting second baseman with speed and under team control through the 2029 season seems like an ideal addition. However, there might be more than meets the eye with Edwards.

Xavier Edwards would be expensive in a trade and isn't a needle-mover for the Yankees

Given how things played out in the ALDS, it's no surprise that Yankees fans are pining for contact hitters to be added to the lineup. With a .280/.360/.371 line, Edwards would seem to fit that bill.

However, that doesn't tell the whole story. From Opening Day through May 31, Edwards hit .314/.398/.480 with six homers over 255 plate appearances. Then, from June 1 through the end of the season, the 27-year-old slashed just .254/.331/.288 and went homerless over 340 plate appearances.

That's quite the discrepancy. To Edwards' credit, he rarely chases, rarely whiffs, and draws a lot of walks. Unfortunately, hard contact from him is incredibly infrequent. In 2026, he posted an eighth-percentile hard-hit rate and a 13th-percentile exit velocity of 86.8 miles per hour. That yielded a .258 expected batting average and a .356 expected slugging percentage. Even with an 11.4% walk rate, that's not enough hits or enough pop to be a consistent producer.

There are a few other issues with Edwards, too. First, over his career, he's been the type of player to fade down the stretch. He has a career .653 OPS in August and a career .671 OPS in September. That's not ideal for a team that is typically jockeying for playoff position down the stretch.

Next is Edwards' Jasson Dominguez-like abilities as a switch-hitter. Against righties, Edwards has posted a career .762 OPS. Against lefties, that drops over 100 points to .650.

Finally, Edwards' defense has been up-and-down over his career. He started out as a shortstop, but flipped positions with Otto Lopez because of his defensive issues. In 2025, he was superb in the field, posting 12 defensive runs saved and nine outs above average. In 2026, he posted a mark of -2 in both DRS and OAA.

At the end of the day, Miami doesn't need to trade him now. 2027 will be his first year of arbitration, so he'll still be cheap. He doesn't hit free agency until 2030. They're going to want a haul for him, and it's hard to see how that will be worth it for a player who is a switch-hitter in name only, who isn't going to do much more than slap singles, who fades down the stretch, and who has some questions about his glove.

The Yankees need more contact in the lineup; this much is true. But the farm system isn't flush right now, and most of the top talents are in the lower levels, where they hold less value on the trade market. So while trading for a second baseman might be a good option, it needs to be for someone who is either cheaper or more impactful than Xavier Edwards.

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