CLEVELAND — For sure, Andrew Miller follows his previous team.

“The guys that I’m close with from when I played over there, I keep up with,” the Indians’ All-Star reliever said before the Yankees’ 5-1 loss at Progressive Field. “I know that [Brett] Gardner’s having a great year. Every time Dellin [Betances] pitches, I see what happens. I know that [Masahiro] Tanaka’s pitching better. Stuff like that.”

Stuff like whether the Yankees are gaining ground on Cleveland in the fallout from last year’s trade that sent Miller here? Not as much.

“Not really,” Miller said, when asked if he pays special attention to Clint Frazier. “You hear his name. He’s done well in New York. You can’t miss those guys. But for me, there’s only so much I can keep track with. The guys that I consider myself friends with, the guys I personally played with, they’re probably more interested in seeing how they’re doing.”

Even in the first half of 2016, as the Yankees’ universe seem to revolve around geezers like Carlos Beltran, Alex Rodriguez and Mark Teixeira, Miller noticed the pinstriped youth movement a-coming. He possessed enough self-awareness to know the Yankees would get some good talent from the Indians in return for him last July 31. So a year and three days after he became the rarest of baseball commodities — an elite veteran traded midseason by the Yankees — Miller professed a lack of disbelief that the Yankees are right back in the pennant race, in town for a big regular-season set with the Tribe.

“I’m not surprised by what they’ve done, especially considering the production they’ve got out of some of the younger guys that were question marks,” Miller said before the series opener. “The way [Aaron] Judge has handled the spotlight. The way that [Gary] Sanchez has played. The way that [Luis] Severino has kind of clicked as a starter. It’s not surprising. I think everybody saw that talent. It’s just whether or not it’s going to show up right away. That’s a difficult thing to do in the big leagues. It’s a credit to the staff and the organization.

“Absolutely, the talent was there. It’s the Yankees. You see what they’re willing to pay guys and what they can go out and get on the open market. And if they develop guys, they’re going to be the cream of the crop.”

Echoed Indians manager Terry Francona: “I think Brian Cashman doesn’t get the credit he deserves. … Cash has been doing it for years and under different parameters. Now he’s making moves that they’ve gotten younger. But they’re not going to be good just for this year. They’re going to be good for a while because they have the resources but they also have the young talent.

“I’m kind of glad they’re in the other division.”

Miller went on the 10-day disabled list Wednesday with patellar tendinitis in his right knee; the Indians hope he’ll be back soon. If he never pitched another game for the Indians, the team still probably wouldn’t regret trading for him.

“I don’t think you can trade for Andrew Miller and not think you’re going to sneak three guys over there that can’t play. It was a big gulp,” Francona said. “But we got to the seventh game of the [2016] World Series. We didn’t win, but we don’t do any of that without Andrew.

“And I think [Indians president of baseball operations] Chris [Antonetti] was really honest about it. He said, ‘You’re going to look up five or six years from now, and you’re gonna see a guy that’s gonna be hard to take.’ That’s the give and take. I actually think it’s good when both teams win in a trade.”

Frazier hasn’t given the Yankees a victory quite yet, though his early contributions offer considerable optimism. If there’s any surprise for Miller, it’s not that the Yankees are already back to serious contention. It’s probably that they fell out of it long enough to trade Miller in the first place.