If the New York Yankees add an outfielder this offseason—preferably a center fielder—it will need to come via trade. The free agent outfielders aren't great. Spotrac's top five are George Springer, Trent Grisham, Ian Happ, Joc Pederson, and Seiya Suzuki. Suzuki may be the prize of the group, which isn't saying much about this crop. It's not a knock on Suzuki, but he would be categorized as good, not great.
With a bare free-agent market making Suzuki look more valuable than he really is, the Yankees are in a peculiar spot. If they can't make something work in center field, they might as well go with the guy they're comfortable with. In this case, it's Grisham.
They did this frequently in the late 2010's with CC Sabathia and Brett Gardner. Both were brought back on one-year deals a few times, and the Yankees might do the same with Grisham. It's the kind of deal that buys them time early on in the season before they can eventually find a better piece at the trade deadline.
The Grisham regression
If that happens, retaining Grisham would certainly be a maddening move. Grisham regressed both offensively and defensively. He went from hitting over 30 homers with a 128 wRC+ in 2025 to falling to slightly below league average with a 98 wRC+.
Grisham, the perennial gold glover, also had a -6 Outs Above Average and -8 Defensive Runs Saved this season. The guy who could track down most fly balls hit his way looked like he had cement boots as the season wore on.
The only way it makes sense to bring back Grisham is if he's a corner outfielder. Preferably in right field, because Cody Bellinger has been awesome in left field.
Grisham in right field is probably something the Yankees should have worked on this year, with Spencer Jones going to center. Granted, Jones had his own issues out there. His issues were more mechanical, though, and he could at least track down the balls that Grisham simply couldn't anymore.
Michael Kay might be right that Hal Steinbrenner is angry about how the Yankees looked feeble after the ALDS, but even if he's mad, it's hard to imagine he'd foot the bill for a player like Suzuki. Not to mention, the organization has struck out on every international free agent from Japan, so even someone like Teruaki Sato probably isn't in the plans.
History has shown us that this era of the Yankees would rather go internal or with someone they're used to than with mid-tier free agents. More so than Jazz Chisholm Jr., who falls in that mid-tier free agent range.
Nonetheless, it feels like if the Yankees do bring somebody back, it will be Grisham. If that happens, hopefully it's not as a center fielder. He simply doesn't have the legs for that anymore.
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