Trent Grisham became one of four players to accept the $22.05M qualifying offer this MLB offseason, in a group including Gleyber Torres, Brandon Woodruff, and Shota Imanaga. Grisham is trying to show that his current 2025 outlier offensive season wasn’t a fluke. In 143 games, he hit 34 home runs, had a .811 On Base Plus Slugging Percentage, a 129 Weighted Runs Created+, and had a 3.2 Fangraphs Wins Above Replacement.
This decision by Grisham caused an uproar in the New York Yankees fanbase because they were under the assumption that he would’ve declined the QO, and they could’ve used that money elsewhere. There were rumors that Grisham might sign a two- to three-year contract elsewhere, but apparently that didn’t materialize.
Now the Yankees are in a predicament where they don’t have a penciled-in left fielder on their roster, given that Jasson Dominguez will either be the fourth outfielder or traded to another team. According to General Manager Brian Cashman, he has spoken to Scott Boras and Casey Close, the agents of outfielders Cody Bellinger and Kyle Tucker, so those are two options.
Following the tender deadline day on Friday, New York is sitting at 35 players on their 40-man roster. They have a decent amount of moves yet to be made, including Injured List candidates for their 25-man roster.
The first of those is that the Yankees need to decide on who will be manning left field for them this upcoming season. They can go internal with Dominguez or Spencer Jones, or they can go big for either one of Bellinger or Tucker.
They can also go outside of the box a little bit and swing a deal for Brendan Donovan of the St. Louis Cardinals, who can play a bevy of different positions, including left field.
According to Spotrac, New York has an estimated $255.8 million payroll currently, and they have the dreaded $304 million Cohen tax on their minds. It is a luxury tax penalty that kicks in when a team’s payroll exceeds $304 million. This was implemented mainly for New York Mets owner Steve Cohen, who is one of the wealthiest people on the planet, and he goes above and beyond to spend each offseason. The repercussions of going over this tax include being taxed a 110% surcharge on every amount once you go over that. Teams also have their highest or second-highest draft pick being pushed back by ten slots.
In this scenario, the Yankees would have $48.2 million to spend before they would reach the Cohen tax. Cashman has also mentioned that there really isn’t a limit on payroll this season, so you can’t rule out them going over that as well. Previously, though, in past offseasons, owner Hal Steinbrenner said that he wanted to stay under that amount. He mentioned even cutting payroll after getting embarrassed by the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 2024 World Series.
On Friday, New York non-tendered a couple of relievers, some of them that they had high hopes for, but they just didn’t work out in the long run. That list includes Jake Cousins, Mark Leiter Jr, Scott Effross, Ian Hamilton, and Michael Arias. The most intriguing guy here is Cousins, who throws a wicked slider, but he’s going to be out for the majority of next season with Tommy John surgery recovery, unfortunately. Now, the Yankees have to replenish some of their bullpen depth and also potentially go out in the market and look for a starting pitcher.
New York’s bullpen, as currently constructed, would be David Bednar, Camilo Doval, Tim Hill, Fernando Cruz, Brent Headrick, Ryan Yarbrough, and Jake Bird, with the rest to be determined. Teams usually have seven to eight relievers on their roster, so there’s some wiggle room there, as well as Yarbrough at points starting games, and both Headrick and Bird have minor league options as well. Ideally, a semi-proven left-handed reliever who can generate strikeouts would make sense. This is also where the idea of a reunion with another righty who’s also able to strike people out like Devin Williams would be a huge help, too.
In terms of the starting rotation, the Yankees don’t really have to go all out since their rotation, fully healthy, is quite good, and they have decent depth as well. The rumors of them being interested in Tatsuya Imai are understood. New York could finally tap back into the Japanese market for the first time since Masahiro Tanaka, and there wouldn’t be too much pressure on him. Imai would be slated as the Yankees fourth starter and would have games where they can afford to pitch him on an extra day’s rest, so he can take his time adjusting to the majors.
Cashman mentioned that when he offered Grisham the QO, it had a 50-50 chance of being accepted, and that he was pleased upon his return. Now, can he ace the offseason by making the necessary moves to bring the Yankees back to the hierarchy of the American League? Can they at least make the American League Championship Series, like they did in 2024?
The Dodgers have passed New York up in the hierarchy of Major League Baseball; they are no longer the number one priority anymore. The Yankees went from being that one popular person who had endless options and being able to attain everyone. Now they are being passed up on and having people leave them, which is uncharted territory for them. Can New York regain its form in the near future, starting with this offseason, and reclaim what it used to be in years past?
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