The Houston Astros could reportedly be in on Trent Grisham in free agency. The New York Yankees just tendered Grisham a $22.025 million qualifying offer on Thursday, a potential $17 million raise. Grisham has 15 days to accept the deal or hit free agency. The Yankees would get compensatory draft capital if Grisham left.
OnSI’s Matthew Postins fears Grisham’s power numbers, which accompany inefficient, oftentimes sub-Mendoza line percentages, could make him a candidate to be the next Jose Abreu. The 29-year-old Fort Worth native batted just.235 in 2025, good for his third-best season since debuting in 2019.
“His offensive spike was unexpected and helped propel the Yankees to the American League Silver Slugger award as a team,” Postins prefaced before asking, “So, was 2025 a breakthrough season or an outlier? In other words, if the Astros make that kind of financial commitment, will be they be setting themselves up for another Jose Abreu kind of contract?”
YES Network play-by-play commentator Michael Kay, who’s around the team more than most, claimed on talk sports radio in New York that Grisham signing the one-year qualifying offer might even backfire on the Yankees.
“Yes, there is. If you’re grossly overpaying for a player, that means that’s money you can’t spend somewhere else. It’s not an unlimited budget. So there is such a thing as a bad one-year contract if it inhibits you from doing other things (for) that said year,” Kay said on Friday.
“I know you’re out from under it in one year, but why would you grossly overpay somebody for one year at the risk of what, to get a fourth round draft pick? I don’t know. And then if you get (Cody) Bellinger or (Kyle) Tucker, then (Jasson) Dominguez is a non-player, and Spencer Jones is a non-player. Maybe you’re going to use them in trades... For Sandy Alcantara? Maybe you make a run at Tarik Skubal? Don’t know what their plan is.”
Once upon a time, a 34-home run masher would be in higher demand. And it’s not as though he isn’t going to get paid wherever he goes. Teams are just weary of Adam Dunn types.
The long ball is still revered in the MLB. High strikeout totals just make front offices skeptical. While Grisham improved his strikeout percentage in 2025, he’s still not an efficient hitter by any stretch of the imagination.
We’ll see if that’s a dealbreaker for Dana Brown and Co.