Didi Gregorius teases Yankees fans with throwback IG post

The New York Yankees need a shortstop, and Didi Gregorius desperately needs out of Philadelphia (and the organization will help him pack his bags).

Is there a fit for a stopgap trade?! According to the numbers … no. Gregorius was quite terrible in 2021, hitting .209 with a .640 OPS, 71 OPS+ and -0.8 WAR, thanks in significant part to his poor defense, too.

We understand the sentimentality behind wanting Gregorius back, though. He should’ve won a pair of rings as the Yankees’ starting shortstop in both 2017 and 2019, and he was at the center of many of that “era’s” (teeny, tiny era) greatest individual moments.

The three-run shot against Minnesota in the Wild Card Game. The grand slam against … Minnesota in the DS. The walk-off against Toronto before the team packed up and headed to London. The rocket slam against the Rays after Aaron Judge’s home run stayed fair. And the ALDS against the Red Sox that he finished with a torn UCL.

Two things can be true: Didi was very good while he was here, and Didi has regressed on an expensive contract ($14 million next year) and probably shouldn’t come back in exchange for assets.

Of course, once you get over an ex … they start trying to reinsert themselves back in your life.

Gregorius stoked the flames with a throwback Yankees video on Thursday, which he claims the “fans were requesting” — and they probably were! He delivered, and his ex-teammates (and current teammates) showed up in the comments to make us all feel weird.

Former Yankees SS Didi Gregorius and his ex-teammates reminisced on Instagram.

Well, we can certainly put the “Didi’s Yankees teammates hated him by the end of his tenure” argument to rest.

Gleyber. Cameron Maybin. Luis Severino (twice!). And a special shoutout to Ronald Torreyes, who Joe Girardi plucked and brought to Philly, too.

The best recent stretch of Yankees baseball we can remember included every name mentioned above, and things haven’t quite been the same since the “Next Man Up” depth thinned out.

Sometimes it’s better if memories stay memories, though. Gregorius deserves more flowers than he was handed for replacing Derek Jeter and doing it very well. The defensive metrics show what they show, but Gregorius felt incredibly sure-handed at the shortstop position during his time in the Bronx — Jeter-esque, actually, in that he made every play but perhaps didn’t have the necessary range. He always brought his potent bat, especially in clutch situations — though the numbers were never as good as, say, Xander Bogaerts, leading to unnecessary mockery from opposing fans over New Yorkers’ devotion to him.

All that said: it was time to move on after 2019, and it’s still time now.

But … gah, the chemistry just hasn’t been the same since he left! You know? You know?! Gosh, what a toxic time to post a simple Instagram memory.

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