On Tuesday, Trent Grisham decided to accept the qualifying offer worth $22.025 million tendered to him by the New York Yankees as a reward for his career-year in 2025. Grisham became the Yankees' everyday centerfielder and he made that position his, smashing a career-best 34 home runs and driving in 74 runs on an OPS of .812. As per FanGraphs, his contributions last year were worth 3.2 WAR — a performance that the Yankees then deemed worthy of trying to keep.
Perhaps the Yankees felt as though there would be a bigger market for Grisham in free agency, which is why they tendered the qualifying offer. Alas, Grisham doesn't exactly have the kind of track record that would make any other team commit that much money to him annually on a long-term deal.
Thus, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post, there appears to be some surprise among the Yankees brass that Grisham decided to return to the team on the QO.
“I think there were some Yankees people that were somewhat surprised by this decision,” Heyman said.
Heyman then wondered how Grisham's $22.025 million contract for 2025 would affect the Yankees' other pursuits in free agency, namely re-signing Cody Bellinger, as well as reinforcing their shaky bullpen.
“Does this affect their ability to sign Cody Bellinger?” Heyman asked. “How much money does that leave for the bullpen, for maybe an extra starter, fill maybe a little bit on first base?”
Some Yankees people were "somewhat surprised" by Trent Grisham's decision to accept the qualifying offer. @JonHeyman pic.twitter.com/IsSXjigiTW
— New York Post Sports (@nypostsports) November 19, 2025
Nonetheless, as the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers have proven, spending is key to winning it all. Will the Yankees follow suit, even after signing Grisham to a more expensive deal than some may have expected?
Will Yankees' Trent Grisham come back to earth in 2026?
From 2022 to 2024, Grisham failed to hit over the Mendoza line. He hadn't even hit over 20 home runs in a single year prior to his explosion in 2025. There is a huge chance that the 29-year-old falls off in 2026, although he will be in a contract year again, so he'll at least be motivated to replicate his 2025 season for the Yankees.
Considering how much money they have already tied up to Grisham, the Yankees are hoping he does.
