Trent Grisham accepts Yankees' qualifying offer
Trent Grisham was 1 of 4 in MLB to accept a qualifying offer. Credit: Newsday/William Perlman
Trent Grisham remains a Yankee.
For now.
Grisham, who enjoyed a career year in 2025 in The Bronx, chose to stay there rather than venturing into free agency, informing the club Tuesday afternoon he had accepted this year’s qualifying offer, worth $22.025 million to those players in the sport receiving it.
Grisham was one of four players in the sport to accept the offer — 13 players overall received it — the others taking it: Gleyber Torres of the Tigers, Shota Imanaga of the Cubs and Brandon Woodruff of the Brewers.
The qualifying offer is a one-year contract extension valued at the average of MLB's 125 highest salaries.
Had the 29-year-old Grisham, who hit a career-high 34 homers last season, rejected the offer, the Yankees would have received a compensatory draft pick from whichever team signed him.
Grisham accepting the offer from the Yankees does not guarantee he’s in uniform with them next season. The sport is littered with teams, both big market and small, looking for outfielders this winter. For the Yankees, with additional needs, flipping the outfielder to address one of those needs is not out of the realm of possibility.
“If he turns it (the qualifying offer) down, that means the market is flush with teams that have a need in the outfield, especially centerfield,” general manager Brian Cashman said last week in a Zoom call with reporters during the annual GM meetings in Las Vegas (a personal matter kept Cashman from attending the meetings in person).
Additionally, there is the matter of managing general partner Hal Steinbrenner’s desire to bring payroll under $300 million if possible (Steinbrenner has had a payroll in excess of $300 million each of the last two seasons and has said multiple times in the last two years that number is “not sustainable”). Grisham’s salary going from the $5 million he made last season to just over $22 million is not an insignificant obstacle to that end.
Regardless, Cashman said last week “we’d be happy” if Grisham accepted the offer and that it would not impact the Yankees’ top offseason priority: bringing back outfielder Cody Bellinger.
Though Bellinger had a standout year in his one season with the Yankees and by all accounts enjoyed the experience — his agent, Scott Boras, last week said “the whole dynamic" of Bellinger in pinstripes "suited him and suited them” — there will be ample competition for his services. Especially with typically big-spending teams like the Mets, Dodgers and Phillies in the market for outfielders.
If Bellinger does re-sign and Grisham is not dealt, the Yankees will have decisions to make with two of their young outfielders. There is Jasson Dominguez, who came up through the system playing mostly centerfield but who struggled adjusting to leftfield last season. Dominguez, still just 22, is currently playing winter ball in the Dominican Republic, where he is seeing plenty of time in left. There is also top position prospect Spencer Jones, primarily a centerfielder, who finished last season with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Both Dominguez and Jones, like Grisham, are potential trade chips.
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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