The Yankee Move No One Saw Coming!

In the first surprise of the season, Trent Grisham is back. It’s definitely not the move I was expecting. Clearly, the Yankees like Grisham more than I thought and Grisham liked being a Yankee more than I expected also.

While we are all of Juan Soto watch, the Yankees made another move for the outfield. Grisham is a Yankees again, read more HERE (at least for now) and the Yankees got him cheaper than what he probably would’ve earned in arbitration. He was predicted to earn a raise to $5.7 million, but he’s back for $5 million instead. So, I guess the Yankees scored some savings and Grisham liked the Bronx enough to leave money on the table.

We knew the Yankees were going to add an outfielder to their bench, I just assumed Grisham wouldn’t be the choice. Leave it to Brian Cashman and his interesting decisions again. The Yankees value his defense, even though he had some missteps that really stood out at times. The biggest one that comes to mind was against the Cincinnati Reds where he badly mis-read a late game single and the baseball rolled up his arm and allowed a soft blooper into a double.

I have several friends who call Grisham a “clutch” hitter, and while I admit he had some nice moments they were very few and far between. Also, I just can’t call a guy with a .190 BA “clutch.” If he was clutch, he would’ve seen some October action, but he didn’t have any postseason action.

It’s certainly an interesting move. It’s one I do struggle with a bit. I know Alex Verdugo didn’t have a consistent season, but he started the season off hot and ended up having a fairly clutch October while Grisham faded into the background. I loved his intensity in the outfield and thought he was just a good fit for the team. If the Yankees were looking to bring back only one outfielder back, I would’ve banked on Verdugo over Grisham. It just doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Maybe it doesn’t have to right now. Just because the Yankees have him on the roster now, doesn’t mean they will come Spring Training. Other teams will likely have interest in Grisham at $5 million later. There’s some trade strategy here, so it could be worse.

I just really thought this would be an easy call to not keep him going into next season. Boy was I wrong.