Randal Grichuk has elected free agency after clearing waivers and turning down an outright assignment from the Yankees, the club announced Friday. The move comes after New York designated the outfielder for assignment earlier this week.
Grichuk, 34, signed a minor league deal with the Yankees in the offseason that carried a $2.5 million salary if he made the roster, and he cracked the Opening Day squad. The Yankees will remain on the hook for the rest of that money.
For Grichuk, the decision opens the door to a search for a new team. Another club could sign him and would be responsible only for the prorated share of the $780,000 league minimum for any time he spends on its active roster. Players with at least five years of big league service time can reject outright assignments while keeping their salary commitments intact, which gave Grichuk the option to walk away.
The Yankees brought him in as a right-handed bat to balance a lefty-heavy lineup, but the fit never really took. He hit.194/.212/.323 overall in 2025, and his work against left-handed pitching was particularly thin at.227/.261/.364, good for a 71 wRC+. That came after a strong 2024 with the Diamondbacks, when he hit.291/.348/.528 with a 139 wRC+.
The contrast helps explain why Grichuk had to settle for a minor league deal for 2026 after a 2023 season in which he hit.228/.273/.401 with an 82 wRC+ for five years of service time. The Yankees got the veteran presence they wanted for a few months, but not the production that would have kept him in the lineup.
Now Grichuk is free to look elsewhere, and the market will have to decide whether the 2024 version or the 2025 version is the one worth betting on.