Baseball

Yankees: Brian Cashman says he has financial flexibility
Charles-Alexis Brisebois
Yankees: Brian Cashman says he has financial flexibility
Credit: X

Brian Cashman won't say it publicly, but he must have been caught a little off guard when Trent Grisham accepted the qualifying offer of over $22 million.

Officially, the GM says he potentially expected him to take it. But in reality… I have my doubts.

I doubt it because Cashman has to deal with an owner who wants a smaller payroll than in 2025. The club would like to go under the $300M mark, according to what's circulating… which makes sense, when you know that Hal Steinbrenner has already said it's unsustainable to stay above it.

So I doubt Cashman really expected Grisham to get his lot up to $281M before all the other personnel moves of the current off-season. Otherwise, he wouldn't have tabled the offer.

At this point, when the club needs help on the mound and absolutely must find a way to bring Cody Bellinger back to town, Cashman will have no choice but to find a way to raise the payroll beyond his boss's desire.

I'm not surprised to hear Cashman say he believes he has financial flexibility, then. Same thing when he says Grisham won't stand in the way of going fishing for Bellinger.

Under the circumstances, the Yankees will have no choice but to adapt to the reality that Grisham is one of the organization's highest earners in 2026. That raises the bar.

Cashman has talked to every star on the autonomy market, and he's going to store among the cream of the crop. So yes, he has flexibility… but no, he didn't see Grisham's contract coming.

And yes, he's going to anger his boss, in my opinion, by spending more than expected.

Speaking of Cashman, kudos to him for sleeping out again yesterday to raise money for homelessness. He's been doing it once a year for years.

This content was created with the help of AI.

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