"I grew up as a Yankee fan, being from the Bahamas, watching Derek Jeter and those guys every day. It was a great time being a Yankee. I loved my time as a Yankee."

So bursts another childhood fantasy.

I'm not referring to Jazz Chisholm, author of the above sad revelation, whose contractual qualifying offer yesterday was stuffed in a bottle and set out with the Japanese tide.

What died - and keeps succumbing, year upon year - is our collectively naive belief that to simply don the Pinstripes will transform a stat-sheet star into a great and hustling teammate. 

Jazz is gone. As is another Yankee pipe dream. 

Top Ten thoughts...

1. Over two straight winters, we've now cut ties to star second basemen with iconic first names - Gleyber and Jazz.

2. Upon their arrivals, both anticipated long and rewarding Yankee careers. 

3. At the end, both were bluntly shown the door.

4. Gleyber went to Detroit in 2025 and became an all-star (16 HR, 74 RBIs, .256). Clearly, he had something to prove.

5. Wherever Jazz goes, he'll be bent upon showing up the Yankees. They have given him the wake-up wedgie that he needed. 

6. Right now, the Yankee 2B position looks like Anthony Volpe or Jose Caballero. 

7. One top free agent, 2B Brandon Lowe (35 HR, 96 RBI, .260) might be their guy. (He'll be 32.) 

8.  Increasingly, there is talk about 3B Teruaki Sato, the 2026 Triple Crown winner in Japan. 

9. To get Sato, the Yankees must do what they haven't done in recent years: Outbid the Dodgers, Mets and/or Phillies.

10. This looks to be the last balls-to-the-wall free agency period before the Dec. 1 lockout. The Yankees - fortified by all that Apollo Investment cash - need to make a huge splash.

But but BUT... Hal is still Hal. And whomever we sign, get ready to watch Jazz outperform them in another city. When dreams die, they piss people off.