On Tuesday, the New York Yankees announced that outfielder Trent Grisham has accepted the qualifying offer the organization extended to him. Though Grisham had a career year in 2025, this decision comes as a bit of a surprise, as well as disappointing; the Yankees probably figured that Grisham would decline the offer, given that he just had a tailor-made contract year that would have likely scored him a multi-year deal with another club.
Trent Grisham Accepts Qualifying Offer for 2026 with Yankees
Plan B
Now that Grisham will be making $22 million next year, the Yankees suddenly have much less financial freedom than they would have liked to have. It not only makes going after Kyle Tucker or Cody Bellinger that much more difficult, but also eliminates their chances of getting both, no matter how unlikely that already was. It’s especially frustrating to consider that the odds of Grisham having another year of hitting 34 home runs with an OPS of .812 are very low, and that New York probably won’t be getting $22 million worth of production from him, no matter how good his defense is.
So now, the Yankees must pivot to another plan. They are not new to this, and could actually still have a productive offseason regardless. Just look at last season, when plan A, signing Juan Soto, failed and forced them to turn to plan B, which ended up being the additions Max Fried, Cody Bellinger, Paul Goldschmidt, and Devin Williams, all of whom combined for a 10.4 brWAR compared to Soto’s individual mark of 6.2.
Running it Back
With Grisham returning to the Bronx in 2026, the Yankees’ offseason will probably look much different than it would have had he declined the qualifying offer. But this does not mean that New York can’t field a team that is just as good, if not better, than last year’s. Perhaps Grisham actually will continue to be a force at the plate, too. But for now, it looks like the Yankees will have to figure out what their next course of action will be.
Main Photo Credit: Dennis Lee-Imagn Images
