New York Yankees Botched Their Offseason With One Crippling Decision

The New York Yankees have been playing the role of Punxsutawney Phil this winter, as they have been mostly dormant while many teams around them have improved.

Fan frustration has been growing throughout the offseason, especially given Hal Steinbrenner's comments about the payroll and all of the speculation surrounding the Yankees having a "number."

But really, the Yankees bungled their offseason before it even started.

How? By presenting a qualifying offer to outfielder Trent Grisham, who readily accepted what is essentially a one-year, $22 million deal.

Had another team signed Grisham after New York pitched the qualifying offer, the Yanks stood to reap a fourth-round draft pick.

So apparently, the Yankees valued that fourth-round pick so highly that they were willing to take the risk of Grisham re-signing.

And look what happened.

Now, New York is stuck with Grisham in center field on a bloated salary for 2026, and it is undoubtedly affecting its other decisions this winter.

The Yankees would love to bring back Cody Bellinger and are apparently offering him a rather healthy contract worth over $30 million annually, but had New York simply allowed Grisham to walk, it could have re-signed Bellinger and also pursued another outfielder via trade.

Perhaps the Yankees really wanted Grisham back, but my thought is that they assumed he would decline the QO because he would receiver better offers in free agency. I'll be honest: I thought he would have a pretty robust market too after he smashed 34 home runs last season.

But apparently, there wasn't a whole lot of interest in Grisham, and based on how slowly the market has moved for even outfielders like Bellinger and Kyle Tucker, that shouldn't come as too much of a surprise. Not at this point, anyway.

Yes, having Grisham back is nice if he can replicate his 2025 production, but is anyone expecting the 29-year-old — who never hit 20 homers in a single season prior — to do that?

Grisham batted under .200 three years in a row between 2022 and 2024, and he owns a lifetime .218/.321/.400 slash line. Maybe he's a late bloomer. We've seen it before. But it's also possible he was a one-hit wonder, and it should also be mentioned that his defense is declining.

If the Yankees would have parted ways with Grisham, they would have had $22 million extra to spend elsewhere.

They probably should have thought this through.