When the Yankees made the Juan Soto deal a couple of offseasons ago, Trent Grisham was seen as a throw-in.
His first season in pinstripes saw Grisham appear in just 76 games and was used primarily as a late-game defensive replacement. Fast forward to 2025 and Grisham became a revelation for the Yankees.
The 28-year-old had a career season and helped stabilize the Yankees outfield, playing center alongside Cody Bellinger and Aaron Judge. But with the unceremonious end to the Yankees' season, Grisham will be testing the market as a free agent.
With Bellinger testing free agency, and Judge being the only constant, the Yankees' outfield could be in flux, but should they take a chance and bring back Grisham?
Why Yankees should re-sign Trent Grisham
As presently constituted, the Yankees will have Judge play right field and potentially a bunch of kids manning the outfield. Jasson Dominguez will likely get another crack at becoming an everyday player, but what about the third outfield spot? The Yankees need stability as a win-now team, and they can't possibly trot out two kids every game, and New York could do worse than bringing back Grisham.
Again, Grisham had his best offensive season in 2025. His 34 homers are twice as many as his previous career high (2022 with the Padres) and his 74 RBI are 12 more than his previous high in 2021. It wasn't just his homers and RBI. Grisham set career marks in slugging (.464), hits (116), walks (82) and OPS (.811).
Grisham was also extremely clutch for the Yankees. According to FanGraphs, he hit .308 with seven home runs and 1.259 OPS in high-leverage situations, including five blasts with two outs and runners in scoring position.
And the former two-time Gold Glover is still very good in CF, despite his seemingly lackadaisical approach.
Grisham will also be a more affordable option than Bellinger or other free agent outfielders like Kyle Tucker, so there is a spot for Grisham if the Yankees are in need of a veteran outfielder.
Why Yankees should not re-sign Trent Grisham
Let's face it. Do you expect Grisham to come close to his offensive production moving forward?
It's very likely that 2025 Grisham is an outlier. His offensive numbers, especially his power, were way higher than in previous seasons. Here's a breakdown of his numbers in his last five seasons:
- 2021: .242/.327/.413, .740 OPS, 15 HR (132 games)
- 2022: .184/.284/.341, .626 OPS, 17 HR (152 games)
- 2023: .198/.315/.352, .666 OPS, 13 HR (153 games)
- 2024: .190/.290/.385, .675 OPS, 9 HR (76 games)
- 2025: .235/.348/.464, .811 OPS, 34 HR (143 games)
Ok, if you want to roll the dice on Grisham, he picked a great time to have a career year. There could be a team out there that will believe the 2025 production and pay Grisham close to what he wants. What that number looks like is not clear, but at just 28 years old, Grisham could be looking for a long deal, or at least one with multiple options in it.
The Yankees can extend the qualifying offer to Grisham, which would cost the team $22.02 million in 2026 and could make other teams balk at offering him a nice contract if they don't want to give up a draft pick to sign him. Could Grisham get a deal worth more than that qualifying offer? Perhaps, but the real question is, should the Yankees even extend that offer?
The Yankees could use that money toward bringing back Bellinger or even swinging for Tucker.
Verdict
The one reason the Yankees should re-sign Grisham is if they believe the offensive production he delivered in 2025 is legit. But I have a hard time believing it is, and I don't think they do either.
Now, should they extend the qualifying offer? Probably not. If Grisham can get a lucrative deal elsewhere, God bless him, but if the Yankees want to try and bring him back, make him a solid offer, but not one that would exceed what his QO would have been, and only after other options are off the table.
