Get to know the new Yankees who are going to be a big part of their 2015 plans.
I know, because you're all so wonderfully knowledgeable, that you are all well aware of who these two individuals are on the surface, but let's delve a little further. It's going to be a long 2015 season if they aren't any good.
Didi Gregorius
Gregorius (birth name Mariekson Julius Gregorius) is a 24-year-old native of the Netherlands, having been signed by the Cincinnati Reds as an amateur free agent in 2007. He spent five years in the Cincinnati organization, debuting in the majors on September 5th, 2012 and becoming one of their top prospects. At that point the Reds shipped Gregorius out to Arizona as part of a three-team trade that was headlined by Shin-Soo Choo heading to Cincinnati and Trevor Bauer to Cleveland. There, he got his first chance to replace a legendary former Yankees shortstop in Stephen Drew, but a 1.4 fWAR campaign wasn't enough to secure him a starting spot over hard-charging prospect Chris Owings. As a result, Gregorius languished, splitting his time between the majors and Triple-A in 2014.
Since a team doesn't need two starting shortstops, Gregorius has been traded here. His profile as a light-hitting, defense-first shortstop seems quite similar to incumbent Brendan Ryan, but since Ryan seemingly can't even hit like the younger version of himself, there's certainly the chance of Gregorius being a big upgrade. He's also played all infield positions besides first base, so he does possess some versatility. The Yankees will have him under team control until 2020. Welcome aboard Didi! Follow him @didiG18
Andrew Miller
While Gregorius is a familiar name because the Yankees were desperately seeking out any shortstop with a pulse, Miller will be familiar because he's been in the American League East for the last four seasons. Miller is a 29-year-old native of Gainesville, Florida and attended some school called North Carolina before being drafted by the Detroit Tigers with the sixth overall pick in the 2006 amateur draft. He flew through the Tigers system and made his debut on August 30th of that same year. While that sounds impressive, there was the slight problem of Miller having awful control. In his 15 starts in 2007, he walked over five batters per nine innings. Still, he was promising enough to be included as a prominent piece in the Miguel Cabrera heist. He fared little better for the Marlins, and was traded to Boston for something called a Dustin Richardson in 2010.
Miller continued to be a crummy starter in Boston, but a transition to the bullpen in the latter part of 2011 was clearly his panacea. He had good 2012 and 2013 campaigns as more of a lefty specialist, but exploded as maybe the best reliever this side of Dellin Betances and Wade Davis in 2014. A 14/2 K/BB ratio speaks for itself. Thanks to Boston trading Miller to the rival Orioles at the deadline last year, the Yankees get to have his services free of draft pick compensation. A natural hard-thrower with a wipeout slider, Miller has the sort of stuff to rival any reliever in the league. Whether his control issues resurface remains to be seen, but if they're waving at it they can't walk. Welcome aboard Andrew!
Now that these two are in pinstripes, I look forward to the various memes and nicknames we attach to them here at PSA. And obviously the World Series victory they help provide.