Alex Verdugo resurfacing with Braves gives Yankees painful '24 Trent Grisham reminder

The 2024 New York Yankees made the World Series and employed all of the following:

• A starting first baseman still without a job (Anthony Rizzo)
• A bad closer who was converted to a successful starter in 2025 (Clay Holmes)
• A starting outfielder who received a minor league contract for 2025 and only just started getting playing time due to injuries and suspensions (Alex Verdugo)

Though Rizzo probably remains the most unforgivable after seeing what Paul Goldschmidt has done so far this season, sticking with Verdugo as long as they did when they had two other options at their disposal is also baffling.

As for his first 10 games with the Atlanta Braves, Dugie is hitting .341 with an .850 OPS after getting the call due to Jurickson Profar's suspension, the demotions of Bryan De La Cruz and Jared Kelenic, and the injury to Ronald Acuña.

One could argue Jasson Dominguez wouldn't have been the answer last year, and that probably holds weight after what we saw. But had the Yankees introduced the top prospect in August rather than mid-September, it all could've been different.

The most egregious offense, however, was simply not playing Trent Grisham, who is about to match his 2024 home run total (9) across 76 games after just 24 in 2025. Grisham is hitting .294 with eight home runs, 15 RBI and a 1.030 OPS.

Trent Grisham is making it clearer every day he should've played over Alex Verdugo with 2024 Yankees

That obviously won't hold, but it at least shows what he might've been able to provide had he gotten consistent playing time. This is a guy who registered 10.1 WAR from 2020-2023 with the Padres. Much of that was attributed to his defense and power, as he saw his average plummet and his strikeouts pile up. For comparison, though Verdugo's profile was encouraging because of his penchant for making contact and avoiding strikeouts, he compiled 8.0 WAR over the same span, for anybody who cares about that.

Nonetheless, regardless of those numbers, the Yankees should've acted much sooner than they did. Verdugo's defense was very good all year, but his offense completely cratered after April. He never hit better than .245 or OPS'ed higher than .687 in a single month through the end of the year. And it's not like he had bouts of showing he still had that April production within him — he quite literally never got going again outside of a mini power surge to begin May.

Meanwhile, Grisham was wasting away on the bench earning $5.5 million. It's not like he made waves in his limited playing time, but the Yankees never really gave him a chance after allowing Verdugo five extra months of runway that just continued to worsen.