by Ed Botti
July 29, 2021
***
Last night during the Yankees 3-1 win over the Tampa Bay Rays, the texts started coming in. The news wires started lighting up. Friends called for my opinion. My dog who sits next to me each night when I watch the Yankees started barking at me. The Yes Network’s talking heads suddenly began waxing poetically.
Joey Gallo was coming to the New York Yankees. Stop the presses!!
All of their problems are suddenly solved. Look out Red Sox, Rays, A’s and Astros. We got you now!!
I hate to burst your bubble, but this is just more of the same garbage baseball thrust upon us by Brian Cashman and his team of analytical nincompoops.
Joey Gallo does not possess anything that this team currently needs to elevate them to the level we all so desperately want them to achieve.
Don’t be fooled. This is not Roberto Kelly for Paul O’Neill. This is not Charlie Spikes for Graig Nettles.
Photo AP
In my heart of hearts, I believe Crazy Joe Gallo (above) will end up with more significant NY hits than Joey Gallo.
What is it about high strike out home run hitters that has Brain Cashman at the highest levels of lust that I have ever seen?
This season alone, on a team that desperately needs runs in Texas, Gallo is registering in with an average of 33% of his plate appearances ending in a head down walk back to the dugout. That earns him the dubious distinction as the 2nd most strikeouts in the league. Just what the doctor ordered!
Is that what the 2021 Yankees need?
“Oh Ed, you’re crazy his WAR is 2.8!!” That and a token my friend’s will get you on a subway.
He has struck 125 times in 388 plate appearances.
This team desperately needs ball players. Players that know how to hit. Know how to hit with runners in scoring position Players that make contact and make the other team make plays to register an out.
You know, the kind of players they had when they won 4 out of 5 World Series.
We already have enough non-contact at bats to fill the Albert Hall.
More you say?
This season Gallo has a career high level of stranding runners on third base with less than 2 outs. That my friends comes in at a robust 41% of his opportunities.
Put this in perspective, the 2021 Yankee team that has such a huge problem stranding runners on third base with less than 2 outs does so at a 44% clip, which by the way is second worse in the entire league.
So let me get this right. You take the team with the second lowest success rate of scoring with runners in scoring position and you add a guy that lowers the success rate. What am I missing?
This trade is similar to the person we see in a snow storm that’s car is stuck in the snow. You know, the one with the driver that thinks if you keep stepping on the gas you will get out of the hole, while all they are actually doing is digging a deeper hole.
That is Brian Cashman’s 2021 trade deadline deal. Well, someone better call a tow truck, because this team just got stuck in the snow, and the forecast isn’t getting any better.
A deeper hole.
Is that what this team needs more of?
Oh yeah, he’ll fit in with this group.
In a lineup that will feature Stanton, Sanchez and Voit. Take your pick of any of those three with Gallo, pair them up and we will have 0-8 nights with 7 strike outs.
Is that what this team needs more of?
Yes, the T-Shirts will sell fine. The click per views will go through the roof when big Joey connects on a long ball, which he has done 25 times already this season.
Get prepared folks. It’s coming.
If this team somehow manages to get to the expanded playoffs it just might get real ugly.
Playoff baseball is the time of the year when game planning becomes more like NFL game planning. Great baseball minds review even more film, and identify even more holes in swings. The best rotations in the league then execute pitches based on game planning meetings and strategies.
That is not a good recipe for Gallo.
That is when teams need good hitters, not just intimidating hitters. There is a big difference between the two. Yes, hang a curveball and bang zoom. But folks, how many curveballs do the Jacob deGroms, Walker Buehlers, and Tyler Glasnows of the world hang?
Not many.
I am one of the few, it seems these days that still believes batting average tells a lot about a player. Here is Gallo’s batting averages since he came into the league.
2015- .204
2016- .040
2017- .209
2018- .206
2019- .253
2020- .181
2021- .223
Look out Don Mattingly, he’s coming for you!
In a stadium built for lefties, the two “best” Yankee lefty hitters started spring training in Surprise, Arizona with the Texas Rangers; Odor and now Gallo.
Yeah, that’s what this team needs, Texas Ranger castoffs.
The Rangers were so motivated to do this deal that they will even pay for the remainder of Gallo’s 2021 salary, approximately $2.3 million. This will help the Yankees stay under $210 million luxury tax threshold. Something I am sure Hal is very happy about.
Defensively Gallo will now be positioned in left field, which square foot wise, is center field in most American League ballparks. Yes, I know, Gallo has won a gold glove. But guess what, he did it in right field.
Another Yankee player asked to play out of position. Another square peg in a round hole.
I will say this, he moves pretty well for a big man. He will be an improvement over Stanton in left field. Oh yeah, I forgot, Stanton doesn’t play in the field anymore. My bad!
So. I hate to be Mr. Doom and Gloom all over again, but this deal does nothing. This deal solves nothing. This deal does not improve this team.
I will be rooting for Gallo, I hope he hits 20 home runs and leads this team to the playoffs. But the reality is this deal is just another example of Brian Cashman’s failure to recognize how winning baseball is played.
No, I won’t get fooled again!
