The Yankees and middle fielder Trent Grisham prevented arbitration forward of Friday’s non-tender deadline.
The 2 sides agreed on a one-year, $5 million deal, in accordance with ESPN’s Jorge Castillo. Grisham could make one other $250,000 in bonuses tied to plate appearances. The Yankees, in the meantime, received’t pay Grisham greater than the $5.7 million he was projected to make in arbitration, per MLB Commerce Rumors.
Grisham was thought of a powerful candidate to be non-tendered or traded – he can nonetheless be dealt – because the veteran middle fielder didn’t make a lot of an affect in 2024 after being acquired from San Diego within the Juan Soto commerce. Grisham performed in simply 76 video games, none of which got here within the postseason, whereas hitting .190/.290/.385. He solely had 34 hits, although 9 of them have been house runs.
Whereas Grisham didn’t make his presence felt a lot final season, the Yankees at the moment have holes of their outfield because of Alex Verdugo and Soto’s free companies. Grisham is an elite defender, and ex-Yankees middle fielder Harrison Bader, an analogous participant, signed a one-year, $10.5 million cope with the Mets final offseason.
The Yankees additionally introduced that they agreed to one-year deal and prevented arbitration with JT Brubaker. Whereas phrases weren’t disclosed, the right-hander was projected to make $2.275 million in arbitration.
Brubaker was acquired from the Pirates whereas recovering from Tommy John surgical procedure final season. He by no means pitched for the Yankees, as he went on to undergo an indirect damage throughout a rehab task.
A starter all through his profession, Brubaker has not pitched in a significant league sport since 2022.
Whereas the Yankees got here to phrases with Grisham and Brubaker, they non-tendered Tim Mayza and Jon Berti. They’re now free brokers, giving the Yankees some wage reduction after coming into the day with a projected payroll of $238.8 million for 2025, per Cot’s Contracts.
Mayza, projected to make $4 million in arbitration, was picked up off the scrap heap following a disastrous begin to his season in Toronto. He recorded a 4.00 ERA over 15 common season video games for the Yankees earlier than logging 2.1 scoreless innings within the playoffs.
With Tim Hill already a free agent, the Yankees don’t have any left-handed relievers on their 40-man roster after non-tendering Mayza.
Whereas Mayza was an apparent non-tender candidate, Berti was much less of a certain factor.
The Yankees appreciated the veteran’s versatility and pace after buying him from the Marlins in late March. Nonetheless, Berti was projected to make $3.8 million, and he solely performed in 25 video games in 2024 as a consequence of a number of accidents.
In the end, the Yankees determined he was too costly for a bench position with the versatile Oswaldo Cabrera and Caleb Durbin additionally beneath employment.
Whereas two Yankees have been non-tendered, Nestor Cortes ($7.7 million projected wage), Jazz Chisholm Jr. ($6.9 million), Clarke Schmidt ($3.5 million), Jose Trevino ($3.4 million), Mark Leiter Jr. ($2.1 million) and Scott Effross ($900,00) have been all tendered contracts and are arbitration-eligible.
That doesn’t assure these gamers can be Yankees in 2025, as they will nonetheless be traded. Cortes’ title has popped up in rumors earlier than, and Trevino may very well be deemed expendable given his wage and the Yankees’ surplus of catching depth.
If you happen to embody Ben Rice and Jesús Rodríguez, the Yankees have six backstops on their 40-man roster (Austin Wells, J.C. Escarra and Carlos Narvaez are the others). The group discovered itself in an analogous state of affairs final 12 months and finally traded 4 catchers: Kyle Higashioka, Ben Rortvedt, Luis Torrens and Agustín Ramírez.
Higashioka was the primary to go regardless of being tendered, as he was included within the Soto commerce. Trevino’s state of affairs is akin to the one Higashioka was in, as he’s an more and more costly, glove-first veteran who’s a 12 months away from free company.
