Jon Heyman describes the “surprise” from New York after Trent Grisham’s decision

on Tuesday, Trent Grisham chose to accept a qualifying offer worth $22.025 million he offered him New York Yankees as a reward for his career in 2025. Grisham became the Yankees’ everyday center fielder and made the position his own, smashing a career-best 34 home runs and driving in 74 runs with an .812 OPS. According to FanGraphs, his output last year was worth 3.2 ERA — a performance the Yankees then deemed worth trying to maintain.

Perhaps the Yankees felt there would be a bigger market for Grisham in free agency, which is why they made a qualifying offer. Unfortunately, Grisham doesn’t quite have the kind of experience that would make any other team commit that much money per year to a long-term contract.

So, according to John Heyman of the New York Post, it appears there is some surprise among the Yankees that Grisham decided to return to the team on KO.

“I think there were some Yankees people who were somewhat surprised by this decision,” Heyman said.

Heyman then wondered how Grisham’s $22.025 million 2025 contract would affect the Yankees’ other pursuits in free agency, namely the re-signing of Cody Bellingeras well as strengthening their shaky pillar.

“Does this affect their ability to sign Cody Bellinger?” Heyman asked. “How much money does that leave for the fence, for maybe an extra starter, to fill out maybe a little bit at first base?”

Some Yankees people were “somewhat surprised” by Trent Grisham’s decision to accept a qualifying offer. @JonHeiman pic.twitter.com/IsSKSjigiTV

— New York Post Sports (@nipostsports) November 19, 2025

Still, as the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers have proven, spending is key to winning it all. Will the Yankees follow suit, even after signing Grisham to a more expensive contract than some expected?

Will the Yankees’ Trent Grisham return to earth in 2026?

From 2022 to 2024, Grisham failed to hit over the Mendoza line. He didn’t even hit more than 20 home runs in one year before his explosion in 2025. There’s a good chance he The 29-year-old falls in 2026though he’ll be in a contract year again, so at least he’ll be motivated to repeat his 2025 season for the Yankees.

Considering how much money they’ve already committed to Grisham, the Yankees hope he does.