The New York Yankees are heading toward an offseason where Jazz Chisholm Jr. will be a free agent and potentially be seeking a pretty big contract.
The Yanks will want to make an October playoff run first, but eventually, they’re going to have to figure out what to do with Jazz.
If they decide that bringing him back is not the answer, that’ll leave a pretty big opening at second base.
But if that is indeed what happens, there’s one obvious replacement that the Yankees could pursue: Brandon Lowe.
Brandon Lowe to Yankees?
Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley wrote in a new article on Wednesday that he thinks Lowe will end up with the Yankees whenever this potentially contentious offseason concludes.
Buckley adds that it could be a three-year contract worth about $25 million per year.
“When the Pirates tried making a push for the playoffs last offseason, they made the acquisition of Lowe a big part of that plan,” Buckley writes. “While other elements of the strategy failed to come together, that one absolutely hit. The 2026 season may go down as the best of the 32-year-old’s career. His 5.2 WAR is the highest he has ever posted, per Baseball-Reference, while his 33 homers, 93 RBI and 92 runs are all the second-best of his career. That WAR is a testament to his dramatically improved defense, too.”
Lowe hasn’t always stayed healthy, but he was mostly on the field for the Pirates in 2026, too. That of course doesn’t guarantee anything about the future, but it’s something that teams considering second basemen in free agency might want to see.
“While it can be hard for a true second baseman to get paid, Lowe’s prolific power could make him an exception to the rule,” Buckley writes. “That probably isn’t great news for the typically budget-conscious Pirates, but it should mean great things for Lowe, who might fetch an average annual salary at (or even north of) $25 million.”
Brandon Lowe Career Stats
Through action on Sept. 22, Lowe has hit 190 home runs in his MLB career, mostly with the Tampa Bay Rays.
He was a third-round pick in the 2015 MLB Draft out of the University of Maryland.
Lowe then played his first eight seasons in the big leagues with Tampa Bay. He hit 39 homers in 2021, then another 31 in 2025.
Lowe has made the All-Star Game twice, and he’s a career .250 hitter with a career .809 OPS.
This season with the Pirates, he’s hit 33 homers and has an .819 OPS.
Lowe doesn’t have much speed, only with 35 career stolen bases across his nine seasons, so that dimension that Chisholm has brought to the Yankees wouldn’t come with Lowe.
But that short porch in right field at Yankee Stadium? Yeah, that could work out quite nicely for Lowe if he ends up putting on the pinstripes.
Yankees Predicted to Sign 190-HR Replacement for Jazz Chisholm