Dramatic end to Trent Grisham’s year after such a pedestrian regular season, eh? He was elevated to the leadoff spot in Game 3 of the AL Division Series against the Rays as Aaron Boone tried to jolt a snoring October offense. It did not work, making Grisham a flashpoint in the post-sweep disappointment.

Grisham, who has numbers against Rays starter Nick Martinez and owns a discerning eye for the strike zone, was supposed to get on base in front of Ben Rice, who was most of the pinstriped thunder in the playoffs. Big damage would follow.

But Grisham went 0-for-5 with three strikeouts, including a whiff for the final out of the final Yankee game of 2026. Rice was on deck, helpless as a one-run loss – and a season – ended.

Now Grisham heads into free agency coming off very different circumstances than last year, when the Yanks extended him the $22.05 million qualifying offer and he took it. What’s his fate now?

Should Grisham, who played 259 games in center field over the past two regular seasons for the Yanks, plus 12 more in the playoffs, stay or go?

WHY IT WOULD MAKE SENSE TO KEEP GRISHAM

It was easy to dream on Grisham after 2025, when he had 34 home runs, 74 RBI and an .811 OPS, all career bests. On the Yankees, only Aaron Judge hit more homers and walked more that year. Grisham’s short lefty stroke and ability to hit the ball hard seemed a snug fit for Yankee Stadium’s right-field porch.

Grisham has never been a high batting average guy, but his strike-zone control jacked up his on-base percentage that season to .348, a career-best for a full season that the Yanks could at least hope represented a late-20s breakout. He was a center fielder who had won Gold Gloves in 2020 and 2022 with San Diego.

But Grisham, who turns 30 on Nov. 1, could not repeat that success in 2026. In 121 games, he had 18 home runs and 59 RBI. His slash line sagged to .211/.308/.395. His OPS tumbled 108 points to .703, below the MLB average of .719.

Still, the Yankees could reason that it was just a down year and that there’s more in his tank. Grisham’s expected batting average was down only three points from 2025 and his expected slugging indicated he could’ve expected bigger results, based on the quality of contact he made.

Grisham was hampered by two stints on the injured list with hamstring issues. Could the Yanks re-sign Grisham theorizing that they can expect a reasonable amount of production from him while they see how much they’ll get from youngsters such as Spencer Jones and Jasson Domínguez? Can Jones or Cody Bellinger be the regular center fielder?

In the losing clubhouse after Game 3, Grisham said, "I love the people here. I love playing here." At the very least, Yankee fans seem to appreciate a certain level of want-to when it comes to playing in the Bronx. Is that meaningful here?

WHY IT WOULD MAKE SENSE TO LET GRISHAM GO

Here are the Yankee outfielders for 2027, at least so far: Judge (duh), Bellinger, Heliot Ramos, Jones and Domínguez. Grisham just crowds it.

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