The New York Yankees did not make any high-profile free agent additions this year, and Sunday’s signing certainly doesn’t qualify as one.
The Yankees announced this afternoon that they had signed right-handed pitcher Shelby Miller to a minor league contract with an invite to big league spring training. Once upon a time, this might have been seen as a big deal.
Miller made his MLB debut in 2012 and was regarded at the time as one of the best prospects in the sport. In 2013-14, he went 25-18 with a 3.41 ERA with the St. Louis Cardinals, and he made the All-Star Game with the Arizona Diamondbacks in 2015 despite going 6-17, thanks in large part to a 3.02 ERA.
Since then, it has all been downhill for Miller. Injuries have wrecked his career, and he’s just 6-22 in the last six seasons. Miller missed all of 2020 due to a COVID opt-out, and he went 0-1 with a 9.24 ERA in 13 relief appearances last season.
The Yankees are taking a chance of catching lightning in a bottle with this signing, but they probably aren’t expecting much, and neither are their fans.
Shelby Miller was 25-13 with a 3.41 ERA in 2013-14, his first 2 full seasons. Since, he’s 12-39 with a 4.98 ERA + TJ surgery, back issues and he opted out of 2020 due to Covid. But he’s only 31, so #Yankees signing him to minor-league contract could be low-risk, high-reward. https://t.co/by2CybiUlJ
— Randy Miller (@RandyJMiller) March 27, 2022
Braves fans, remember when the Braves turned Shelby Miller into:
Dansby Swanson
Ended Inciarte
Aaron BlairThat was a good trade. https://t.co/pxzfXNfo8H
— Scott Carasik 🇺🇦 (@CarasikS) March 27, 2022
WORLD. SERIES. BOUND. https://t.co/kIg8OQy0T3
— Empire State of Baseball 🗽 (@ESBPodcast) March 27, 2022
Shelby Miller had a fantastic start to his career with Atlanta and St. Louis with a 3.22 ERA in 96 starts from 2012-15, and then it all fell apart.
With Arizona, Texas, Pittsburgh, the Cubs since 2016, he has a 7.04 ERA in about 200 innings. He hasn’t been a starter since 2018. https://t.co/6GAoVHMeRj
— Yankees Top Prospect Watch (@NYY_Prospects) March 27, 2022
Definitely forgot he was a person https://t.co/RvbMWuhFNM
— Eric Hubbs (@BarstoolHubbs) March 27, 2022
— Adam Weinrib (@AdamWeinrib) March 27, 2022
Like the Shelby Miller that was traded for dansby Swanson? #yankees https://t.co/37lGgSlJ42
— Kyle Palmieri’s Beard (@CluttersStache) March 27, 2022
The best-case scenario for Miller is probably that he finds something in Triple-A and eventually makes his way into the Yankees’ bullpen at some point during the year.
The worst-case outcome is he’s released before the end of spring training or early in the season.
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