Grisham explains $22M Yankees deal choice

The New York Yankees extended a qualifying offer to Trent Grisham, and it appears some supporters are displeased with him accepting it. 

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

In Major League Baseball, the tough truth is that clubs generally seek players with more than a single season of strong performance. 

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?

Besides other considerations, Grisham's decision to accept that offer was influenced by several factors. As reported by Mark Feinsand of MLB.com, although he might have secured over $20.025 million in guaranteed funds as a free agent, securing a multi-year agreement with a comparable annual average value would have presented a significant challenge.

“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.