Insider reveals why Yankees' Trent Grisham made $22 million contract decision

The New York Yankees decided to give Trent Grisham a qualifying offer, but it sounds like some fans are upset with him taking the deal. 

From Grisham’s perspective, taking the qualifying offer wasn't the worst idea. 

The harsh reality around Major League Baseball is that teams are typically looking for guys to have more than just one year of success. 

Throughout a lot of Grisham’s career, he's been an average to below-average player. 

For the Yankees in 2025, he was one of the better hitters in baseball in the outfield. 

Why did Grisham take it?

There were also other factors in Grisham taking that deal, and according to Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, while he could’ve gotten more than $20.025 million in guaranteed money on a free agent deal, he would’ve had a tough time landing a multi-year contract close to that AAV.

“Grisham had a career year with the Yankees, posting career highs in home runs (34), RBIs (74) and OPS (.812), but his lack of track record could have caused teams some pause when it comes to surrendering Draft picks to sign him...

“The feeling throughout the industry was that while Grisham could have secured more than $20.025 million in guaranteed money on a free-agent deal, he would have had a difficult time landing a multi-year deal with an average annual value anywhere close to that, especially with Draft-pick compensation attached to him,” he wrote.

Grisham gets to return to a storied organization and look to win a World Series. 

Along the way, he'll also get paid rather handsomely for the year.