Popular Yankees Outfielder Accepts Qualifying Offer, To Return in 2026
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The Yankees re-signed popular outfielder Trent Grisham.
The New York Yankees‘ centerfielder hole has been filled and by a familiarly mustachioed face.
Trent Grisham accepted his qualifying offer from the Yankees and will play in the Bronx in 2026 on a one-year, $22 million contract.
Grisham has spent the past two years in pinstripes after the Yankees acquired him from the San Diego Padres along with Juan Soto for Michael King, Randy Vasquez, Kyle Higashikoa and Drew Thorpe.
Grisham hit .234 with 34 home runs and an .811 OPS while playing 143 games in centerfielder in 2024. He has a .775 OPS and 43 homers and 105 RBIs in 216 games for the Yankees.
Trent Grisham Could Have Been A Free Agent
Grisham was a fourth outfielder in his first season in the Bronx, though he has exclusively played centerfield since joining the Yankees. He played on a $5 million contract in 2024 and far exceeded his value for the Yankees, mainly for rightly slotting AL MVP Aaron Judge in his natural right-field position.
So even though Grisham could have cashed in off one of the best walk years in modern history by locking down a long-term deal, he’ll still get a huge raise and have the opportunity to show it wasn’t an anomaly with the one-year contract.
Aside from his career high in home runs, Grisham played a Gold Glove-caliber center field. He finished tied for second in fielding percentage among American CFs with Byron Buxton of the Minnesota Twins and committed three fewer errors than the Gold Glove winner Cedanne Rafaela of the Boston Red Sox.
So even though Grisham is getting a 400x raise, and had just a .426 OPS in the postseason in a team-high 32 plate appearances, the Yankees know what they’re getting their center field position in 2026.
He’s always been a power threat, and should continue to be at Yankee Stadium, is solid running the bases and knows the strike zone — the latter of which will be especially important in the automatic ball-strike challenge system era, which will tip off in 2026.
Signing Trent Grisham Was The Yankees’ First Big Move
Sure, the Yankees re-signed Ryan Yarbrough and Tim Hill. But the major offseason moves had been on hold while they waited for Grisham’s decision on his qualifying offer, especially since Cody Bellinger turned down his potential one-year offer.
But the Yankees finished tied with the Toronto Blue Jays for the most wins in the American League. Their 94 wins in 2025 were the same number as they won in 2024 when they finished with best record in the AL and went to the World Series — despite a full season without ace and reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Gerrit Cole.
So the Yankees running back their end-of-year roster, while adding Cole and budding No. 4 starter Clarke Schmidt from Tommy John surgery in the second half of the 2025 season, would give them a great chance to represent the AL in the World Series again in 2026.
But at least the Yankees now know they’re not in the centerfield market and can focus their attention on either re-signing Bellinger, or bringing in free agent Kyle Tucker, to fill their other potentially vacant corner-outfield spot.
Red Sox Pursuing Reunion With $79 Million Slugger
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Ex-Red Sox slugger Kyle Schwarber
Boston Red Sox fans fell in love with Kyle Schwarber during his brief stint with the Sox back in the 2021 season when he helped them advance to the ALCS. Now, four years later, a potential reunion is possible between Schwarber and Boston.
MLB insider Jon Morosi joined MLB Network’s “Hot Stove” program, where he confirmed that the Red Sox have indeed checked in on Schwarber and are pursuing a reunion with the slugger.
“Pursuit is the word that I will use right now, as opposed to hot pursuit… I can confirm that yes, the Red Sox have checked in on Kyle Schwarber,” Morosi said.
How serious are the Red Sox pursuing a reunion with Kyle Schwarber?
“Pursuit is the word that I will use right now, as opposed to hot pursuit… I can confirm that yes, the Red Sox have checked in on Kyle Schwarber.” – @jonmorosi
Although he will be entering his 33-year-old season, Schwarber hasn’t shown signs of slowing down; in fact, like a good bottle of whiskey, the Ohio native seems to be getting better with age. Schwarber set career highs in his age 32 season in Philadelphia in 2025, hitting a whopping 56 home runs and driving in 132 runs. In the three seasons since he turned 30, he has hit 141 home runs and isn’t showing signs of slowing down.
The Red Sox acquired Schwarber in the 2021 season from Washington. In 41 regular season games with Boston, he hit seven home runs with 18 RBI while sporting a .291 batting average. He hit three home runs in the Sox magical ALCS run that season.
Schwarber vs. Alonso: Who Is More Likely To Sign With Boston?
It’s been heavily reported that the Red Sox will be major players for another slugger by the name of Pete Alonso this winter. In all likelihood, Boston won’t sign both Alonso and Schwarber, in order to conserve money to upgrade their pitching rotation.
The Red Sox absolutely need a power bat in the middle of the lineup after power proved to be a area of weakness down the stretch, so the likelihood of them signing one of these two is incredibly high.
So who is a better fit for Boston? Alonso and Schwarber are almost identical, in that they fit the exact same archetype of being power hitting first basemen who hit a ton of home runs but also strikeout a lot. You can live with the strikeouts with either of these guys if they make up for it with their power.
Both will likely command anywhere between $25-30 million annually and will both be looking for long term deals. Alonso has an advantage as he is only 30 to Schwarber’s 32, but his power numbers have regressed in recent years, where Schwarber’s have improved.
Alonso would be a better fit in the field as he is an everyday first baseman while Schwarber is more of an everyday DH at this point in his career.
If you asked Red Sox fans who they would rather have, I’d wager that more would say Schwarber because of his history in Boston and the fact that he was open about loving his time here. If you ask Sox GM Craig Breslow who they’re more likely to get, it’s probably Alonso.
Either would be a slam dunk for the organization.
