Why Trent Grisham disagrees with 'running it back' takes about 2026 Yankees

New York Yankees senior vice president and general manager Brian Cashman has come under fire due to the perception that he is largely "running it back" with the same roster that failed to advance to the American League Championship Series last fall. 

Yankees announcer Michael Kay is among those who have said that the club extending the qualifying offer worth $22.025M to outfielder Trent Grisham was a mistake, as Grisham happily accepted a pay raise to stay with the Bronx Bombers. During a chat with Randy Miller of NJ.com for a piece published on Wednesday, Grisham offered a defense of Cashman's offseason moves. 

Yankees are excited to "run it back" in 2026?

"It’s rare in this business to be able to almost have almost the same team," Grisham explained. "I think the value in that is underlooked. We look at it as building. We built so much camaraderie last year as a team. I think that goes a long way in winning championships. And I think that we’re very talented. That’s how I look at it. I’m very excited to quote, unquote, run it back. These guys are awesome. Coming here this spring, I feel like that camaraderie picked up where we left of."

No member of the baseball community could consider the 2025 Yankees a "bad" team, as they won 94 regular-season games and only failed to claim the division title due to a tiebreaker advantage. While the Yankees defeated the rival Boston Red Sox in the wild-card round of the playoffs, the Toronto Blue Jays bounced the Bombers from the tournament by winning three of four AL Division Series games. 

Why Trent Grisham is hyped to be back with Yankees

Most understandably assume Grisham is hyped to be back with the Yankees largely because the 29-year-old received a significant bump in pay after he was on a $5M salary last season. During his chat with Miller, Grisham insisted that money isn't the main reason he elected to "run it back" with his current employer. 

"I want to win," Grisham added. "That’s really what the driving factor was. I’m a firm believer of, if you keep playing this game long enough, the money takes care of itself. That’s never the biggest factor for me."

As of Wednesday afternoon, DraftKings Sportsbook had the Yankees second among the betting favorites at +1000 odds to win the 2026 World Series. One wonders how Yankees fans will feel about Grisham's return once the next Fall Classic wraps up.