Yankees' Trent Grisham QO stunt looks worse as Dodgers burn draft picks

We may never know for sure if the New York Yankees knew Trent Grisham would likely accept the qualifying offer when they tagged him with it at the outside of the offseason. It certainly seems like they were trying to pull a fast one, though.

The Yankees essentially bet $22 million with the idea they'd receive a paltry fourth-round pick in return, and maybe they were okay with the idea that losing that bet meant keeping Grisham around. Maybe not.

There are reasons to believe that the outfielder's breakout was for real and will carry on, and if that happens, we'll all be happy to have Grisham in the lineup in 2026. But this isn't about that.

This is about how the Yankees were playing small, trying to weasel their way into a middling draft pick, while the Los Angeles Dodgers are going big with yet another World Series on their minds. In signing Edwin Diaz and Kyle Tucker, two free agents who declined the qualifying offer, the Dodgers have burned their second, third, fifth, and sixth highest draft picks in 2026.

If it ends in a three-peat no one in LA will be complaining. Meanwhile, the Yankees are falling even further behind in the MLB arms race.

Yankees' Trent Grisham gambit looks even sillier in light of the Dodgers' Kyle Tucker signing

To make matters worse, the Yankees haven't signed any free agents with a profile anywhere high enough to cost them a draft pick via the qualifying offer. You can't even say they've tinkered at the margins when most of the players they've signed have been their own bottom-of-the-roster fodder.

This should open a broader discussion about the differences between how the clubs handle their minor league systems. The Dodgers have a top-ranked farm system year in and year out, yet trade away far more prospects than they actually keep. Now, they're also giving away draft picks to score big in free agency.

New York, on the other hand, has hugged prospects for far too long and watched many turn their value to dust. The difference comes down to money. Los Angeles spends big in the international market and on player development. The Yankees are trying to destroy their international pipeline and have watched many top prospects (both draft picks and international finds) stall out.

Everything the Dodgers do is in service of winning it all, while the Yankees have been busy hedging their bets and making small plays that will only yield minimal results. After all, what's the likelihood that the extra fourth-round pick they ended up not getting would have turned into anything of value? Very slim. What is the likelihood that any of the draft picks Los Angeles lost in signing Diaz and Tucker will pan out? Minuscule.

This is where we are. It should serve as a wake-up call to Brian Cashman, Hal Steinbrenner, and the rest of the brass, but it almost certainly won't.