Yankees star preemptively rejects a Dodgers offer he was never going to get anyway

The 2026-27 free agent class, with the exception of Tarik Skubal, already looks like an incredibly weak one. Things could get a little more interesting if the Braves were to, for whatever reason, decline their club option on Ronald Acuña Jr. — but that's simply never going to happen.

Right now, Jazz Chisholm Jr. looks like the best bat guaranteed to hit the market, and that should be enough to explain just how dire things are looking.

Chisholm was asked about his impending free agency at Yankees spring training, and specifically if he would be open to joining the Dodgers. He said, "I'd go to the Angels before I'd go to the Dodgers. I'd want to go and win by myself. I'd rather build my roof than go to the Dodgers."

We'll give everyone a second to come down from our laughing fits.

Hating the Dodgers is not novel, and Chisholm does have more reason to do so than most. It's hard to believe that any prominent member of the 2024 Yankees would be itching to join the team that absolutely embarrassed them in the World Series, and Chisholm was clearly the victim of some inexcusable hazing at the hands of former Marlins teammate, now-Dodgers roster fixture Miguel Rojas, who plans to stay close to the team after retiring from playing at the end of the 2026 season.

But to reject a contract offer that the Dodgers had yet to — and were never going to — offer him? That's incredibly funny.

Jazz Chisholm Jr. flatly rejected the idea of joining the Dodgers in free agency

Let's make something clear: Chisholm is not a bad player. He had a 30/30 season last year (granted, it was partially thanks to Yankee Stadium's short porch) and was the Yankees' third-most valuable position player by bWAR. He's not the fastest guy, but he's a smart baserunner.

But he's also been talking about going for a 50/50 season. He wants $35 million a year for 8-10 seasons. That's $280-350 million. The higher end of the spectrum would make him a higher-paid player than Francisco Lindor. It would put him just $10 million away from Aaron Judge (all things considered, of course, an incredibly underpaid player) and just $15 million away from Mookie Betts.

That's an incredible amount of hubris for a guy who has fallen victim to the Yankees' infamous ignorance of fundamentals and has ended up publicly chewed out by his manager and a well-worn meme on baseball Twitter.

Chisholm being the best bat on the the 2026-27 market might make some poor team desperate enough to sign him, but everyone knows that it won't be the Dodgers. We wouldn't be surprised if giving him a call has never once crossed Andrew Friedman's mind.