Trent Grisham blocked Yankees from going beyond obvious 40-man roster protections

When the sun rose on Tuesday morning, Nov. 18, the widely held assumption was that New York Yankees outfielder Trent Grisham would decline the $22 million qualifying offer, and that the club would have four 40-man roster spots to work with ahead of the pre-Rule 5 deadline to protect eligible prospects.

If they so chose, they could DFA a few more hangers on. Maybe they preferred reliever Eric Reyzelman to Yerry de los Santos. Maybe they wanted top prospect Henry Lalane insulated from some other team who wanted to pull a fast one. The world was, theoretically, their oyster.

Of course, Grisham didn't decline the qualifying offer. The Yankees claim they still plan to pursue Cody Bellinger in addition to their returning center fielder. We'll see.

After Grisham nabbed the fourth available slot in an about-face, the Yankees didn't get creative or break the mold with a bold roster call. Instead, they used their three vacancies to protect the slugging Spencer Jones, borderline top 100 prospect Elmer Rodríguez-Cruz, and Chase Hampton, an ex-top name on the mend from Tommy John surgery. Hampton's rehab will continue for the majority of 2026, but the Yankees clearly thought losing him for nothing was too risky a proposition.

Yankees protect Chase Hampton, Spencer Jones, and Elmer Rodríguez-Cruz ahead of Rule 5 Draft

Now, potential prospects who could be swiped from the Yankees at the Winter Meetings include relievers Reyzelman, Hueston Morrill and Harrison Cohen, top 10 prospects Lalane and Brock Selvidge, and slugging first baseman TJ Rumfield/outfielder Jace Avina. The Yankees will be plundered, as is annual tradition at this point. All they can hope is that as few of these choices as possible come back to bite them.

The Yankees will undoubtedly non-tender a few familiar faces ahead of Friday's second deadline, too; relievers Ian Hamilton and Mark Leiter Jr. seem like prime cases. Unfortunately, it'll be too little, too late for their potentially talented internal relief corps.

If the Yankees go above and beyond and spend to bring in talented bullpen insurance in addition to Grisham's returning salary, then no harm, no foul. For now? It seems like the Yankees made a miscalculation and cost themselves some flexibility in multiple avenues. Maybe Friday's deadline will go a little smoother?