Juan Soto trade add-on might wind up being Yankees secret sauce for 2024

The biggest trade of the offseason occurred at the Winter Meetings in December, sending Juan Soto and Trent Grisham to the New York Yankees from the San Diego Padres in exchange for five players. Soto was the player New York targeted, as he's a game-changer offensively but the second player the Yankees acquired, Grisham might be more valuable than most think.

Grisham is not a player the Yankees were eager to acquire but the Padres were eager to dump more money, so the Yankees took Grisham and the $5.5 million he's owed for the 2024 season as a second piece in the deal. He won't play as much with the Bronx Bombers as he has in the previous four seasons with San Diego, but Grisham did show right away in his Yankees debut that he should not be ignored.

Trent Grisham might prove to be more valuable than most think for the Yankees

The outfielder wound up making his Yankees debut in their Spring Training opener on Saturday and he hit the hardest home run of his MLB career clocking in at 111.5 mph off the bat. As encouraging as that was, Grisham's bat is not why he might prove to be a valuable piece for the Yankees.

The 27-year-old can do some things offensively but is a below-average hitter. This past season he slashed .198/.315/.352 with 13 home runs and 50 RBI. He has some pop, hitting as many as 17 home runs in a season before. He might even hit some home runs playing half the time at Yankee Stadium as a left-handed hitter, but where Grisham will really come in handy is with his glove.

He is underratedly one of the best defensive center fielders in all of baseball. He's won two Gold Gloves in his five-year career, and despite not winning one last season, he ranked in the 93rd percentile in outs above average according to Baseball Savant.

He might not start every day, but Grisham can be used regularly as a late-game substitution in the field. Aaron Judge is a capable center fielder, but with his injury concerns, he's better off at a corner spot even though he'll be starting a majority of the time in center field when Alex Verdugo and Juan Soto are healthy. In the event that Judge (or even the oft-injured Giancarlo Stanton) miss time on the IL, Grisham can step in and play regularly in center field and provide them with Gold Glove-caliber defense.

Soto gets all of the attention as he should. He's the MVP-caliber player and is the reason why Brian Cashman traded a haul to the Padres to begin with. However, Grisham can be more than just a forgotten throw-in. His glove is always outstanding. If he can give anything with the bat, the Yankees might've done even better in this deal than they expected.