Dean Anna got the call to Joe Girardi’s office during the last week of spring training in 2014. The shortstop, after toiling in the minors, independent leagues, and internationally for a half-dozen years, learned he would be donning the Yankee pinstripes on opening day.
Anna called it “a big monkey off his back.” Three weeks into the season, the monkey returned.
“When I got sent down from the big leagues to triple A, all the life gets sucked out of you,” Anna said. “And that’s one of the biggest things when you come down, trying to not let that happen.