The New York Yankees started one of the most important road trips with a convincing 7-1 victory against the Astros on Tuesday (August 2, 2025). Pitcher Max Fried’s one run over seven innings, and Jazz Chisholm Jr, with his two powerful home runs, was good, but the biggest moment of the game came from another center fielder’s 30th homer and his 3rd grand slam this season off Houston ace Framber Valdez.

With this second grand slam in just five days, and his eleventh since August, Trent Grisham is playing the best baseball of his life. But his breakthrough performance has created a very difficult fan-versus-front-office situation for the Yankees’ autumn roster calculus.

Former Yankee, Cameron Maybin, believes Grisham’s amazing season won’t be enough to keep him in pinstripes. “Trent Grisham is having a career year, but let me guess the Yankees will let him walk after the season,” Maybin wrote on X. “Just bring him back on another one year deal, why not? Not to mention he’s elite in center. Screw your defensive metrics, I watch ball.”

New York Post reporter Greg Joyce recently explored this exact problem. And he explained that the Yankees’ outfield is getting very crowded. “Aaron Judge will presumably — barring his elbow injury turning into something that needs surgery — be back in right field next season,” Joyce wrote. He also noted Jasson Domínguez is expected to be back in left field next year.

The situation gets even more complicated with other players because the Yankees might prioritize re-signing Cody Bellinger, another key outfielder. “Cody Bellinger is playing well enough that he is expected to exercise his opt-out and join Grisham on the free-agent market, though it would not be surprising to see the Yankees try to make a bid to retain him,” Joyce added.

And then there is the wild card of Spencer Jones, whom the team refused to trade.

At the end, all things come down to money. A one-year qualifying offer from the New York Yankees would cost them over $20 million, which experts and analysts believes is too much for a player who might be a fourth outfielder and just making $5 million in his final year of arbitration this season.

But Are Grisham’s Numbers That Fragile and Likely to Fade Next Season?

No, not obviously. Here’s the ultimate irony because Grisham has shattered his previous career-high of 17 home runs and is now sitting at 29. His .839 OPS is also a personal best by a wide margin, and he smashed 10 home runs with a .923 OPS only in the month of August. Also, his 134 wRC+ means he has been 34% more productive than the average.

Grisham has also become one of the best fastball hitters in the game with his +16 Statcast Run Value against four-seam fastballs, sitting in third place with teammate Aaron Judge. And he didn’t just crush heaters, but he rarely missed them with a .628 slugging percentage and just a 16.1 percent whiff rate through late August.

In this season, with the help of all, Grisham’s strikeout rate is nearly six percentage down from his last year’s mark. Plus, his 13.5 percent walk rate is also his career high with tying with the 2023 mark. And you know, during June, his only below-average month this season, when his K rate took an upward climb and he had a .690 OPS, his OBP was a healthy .340.

So, what happens next? No one knows for sure if this will be Grisham’s final month in pinstripes and what the Yankees will do this winter. For now, the Yankees have won eight of their last nine games and are in the middle of a crucial 12-game stretch against other playoff contenders for the season— the Astros, Blue Jays, Tigers, and Red Sox and are trailing just 2 ¹/₂ games back of the Blue Jays for the division lead.