With several weeks to go before the offseason frenzy catches a real spark, former MLB GM Jim Bowden threw a small grenade into Yankees Universe on Thursday morning with a rumor that would’ve made a lot more sense earlier in the summer.

A rumored Rays sell-off is an offseason tradition unlike any other, and with plenty of ballpark questions and coming off a middling year, their Arb-3 itch could definitely trickle down to some of the Arb-2s, if you catch my drift. There were a few brief moments ahead of the July 31 trade deadline when Yandy Diaz seemed ticketed for the Red Sox, Pete Fairbanks was Googling colder climates, and Brandon Lowe was fated to add lefty slug to an unnamed contender.

These same names circulated at the 2024 deadline, too, but ultimately remained unmoved; the Yankees swapped a handful of prospects with the Marlins for Jazz Chisholm Jr., prizing his versatility and athleticism over Lowe (and, again, the Rays drove a hard bargain and kept him).

According to Bowden, though, Lowe and his 2026 team option remain on the table, as the second baseman ranked as his eighth-most-likely-to-move trade candidate ahead of 2026. He pegged the Yankees and Astros as teams with interest, and while New York shuffled Chisholm Jr. to third base to accommodate both Gleyber Torres in ’24 and DJ LeMahieu for portions of ’25, it was objectively awkward (and far worse the second time around). One year of Lowe. One year of Chisholm. Why, on earth, would the Yankees make a play for the ex-Ray and hang their incumbent out to dry by adding more uncertainty to his plate?

Unless, of course, they still have designs on trading Chisholm rather than extending him.

Yankees, Astros could reportedly be interested in Rays trade candidate Brandon Lowe. But why now?

If so, it would make very little sense to trade Chisholm, a 40-40 presence in his first 162 games in pinstripes, and replace him with another name who provides precious little security, or much of anything at all beyond his 31 home runs.

Those 31 homers were tied for the most by a second baseman last year, by the way — that’s good! He was tied with … Chisholm. Oh.

We hate to say this out loud, but (sigh) let the Astros take him, or let the Rays hold onto him yet again for the third consecutive season. Otherwise, this gets unnecessarily messy.