PHILADELPHIA — Brian Cashman would not tip his hand whether or not he talked to Derek Jeter as part of his due diligence on Jazz Chisholm Jr.
But the Yankees general manager said Wednesday his club did a deep dive on Chisholm before acquiring him from the Marlins — where Jeter previously served as CEO and minority owner for most of Chisholm’s time there — and felt comfortable with what they found.
The 26-year-old infielder/outfielder arrived with the reputation of having a strong personality and for rubbing some teammates and staffers the wrong way in Miami, including a public spat with veteran Miguel Rojas.
“We did a lot of research on him and we’re excited to have him,” Cashman said Wednesday on a conference call. “He’s obviously very athletic and he plays the game with joy. Ultimately after our deep dive, we felt like he’d fit in really well and would be a really perfect piece to allow our manager Aaron Boone to deploy him.”
The early returns on Chisholm have been strong, as he has brought an energy that his teammates have enjoyed, not to mention belting four home runs in his first three games.
Chisholm has also taken over a big need at third base, where he had not played professionally before Monday, despite Cashman saying the Yankees acquired him without knowing how he would receive it.
“It’s nice to know that when he got here, it was, ‘Whatever it takes, I’ll try it, whatever you guys need, I just want to win,’ ” Cashman said. “And wow, he looks really good there. That speaks to his athleticism. In terms of the attitude of willingness to do whatever it takes and be fearless — in a pennant-race environment of trying to do anything and everything, even if it puts you in an uncomfortable spot — it speaks a lot to who he is and how he goes about his business on a daily basis.”
After playing his first game with the Yankees on Sunday night in Boston, Chisholm said it was only right that he landed with Jeter’s former team, though Cashman would not say whether the former captain helped in their evaluation of the player.
“Anybody that our organization could align ourselves with to find as much intel as we could on any of these players — that’s what you do,” Cashman said. “You wind up doing deep dives that your scouts, your front office, coaches, the people in [other] organizations that they’re friendly with or managers making phone calls to people, whether their counterparts — it was going both ways.
“You utilize your connections to the fullest degree possible so you try to put yourself in the best position to understand not just the talent evaluation but the people as well.”