The New York Yankees have finally made their offseason splash. On Friday the team signed left-hander Andrew Miller to a four-year deal and acquired shortstop Didi Gregorius from the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Miller was one of the best relievers in all of baseball this past season during stints with the Boston Red Sox and Baltimore Orioles. In 73 games (62 1/3 innings pitched), the left-hander amassed a 5-5 record with a 2.02 ERA, a 0.80 WHIP and 103 strikeouts. New York announced the contract signing on Friday, which is worth $36 million.
The Boston Red Sox, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers were also in the running for Miller, but the fact that New York needed an upgrade in their bullpen and (for the time being) have a vacancy at the closer position, likely resulted in the significant offer. Although it's unknown at this point, the Yankees will probably put Miller at the closer role if they are unable to re-sign David Robertson.
New York also filled a huge void at the shortstop position. Earlier today the Yanks executed a three-team trade that sent Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Didi Gregorius to the Bronx. The Yankees surrendered starting pitcher Shane Greene to the Detroit Tigers and the Tigers sent starter Robbie Ray and prospect infielder Domingo Leyba to Arizona.
The trade was finalized late Friday afternoon.
Although the 24-year-old Gregorius was initially regarded as Jeter's successor, general manager Brian Cashman has no such view of that being the case and said he might begin platooning at the position with Brendan Ryan.
"He was one in a billion, in terms of Derek Jeter," Cashman said via this ESPN article. "He is not replacing Derek. He is just now going to come in here and compete to hold down that position at shortstop."
If reports from earlier this week are true, it looks like the Yankees' starting infield will be Mark Teixeira at first, prospect Rob Refsnyder at second, Gregorius at short and Martin Prado at third. But New York still has some patchwork to do, so we'll see if anything occurs during the MLB Winter Meetings.
