Andrew Miller, the top left-handed relief pitcher on the free agent market, signed a four-year contract with the Yankees today worth a reported $36 million.

Miller has been linked to the Dodgers a couple times — once at the last trade deadline, before he was ultimately traded to Baltimore, and again during the free agency period.

However, Miller reportedly never wanted to sign with a West Coast team, apparently leaving more money on the table to stay on the East Coast. According to Ken Rosenthal of FoxSports.com, Miller signed with the Yankees for reasons beyond the money:

In the total package, there were things that the Yankees could offer me that no one else could. I live in Tampa (where the Yankees train). That’s two months at home that I don’t have otherwise.

In hindsight, the Dodgers’ best chance to land Miller would have been via trade. Even then, he might have been impossible to re-sign and the Dodgers might have sacrificed a top prospect for a rental pitcher in the playoffs.

Given how the Dodgers’ bullpen struggled in the NLDS against St. Louis, would that have been a bad thing?