He twisted off his batting helmet and lowered his head. His hands pulled at his hair. His eyes bulged. His mouth formed a gargoyle's grimace, and he raked his face - up, down and sideways. Nobody consoled him. He just sat there, brain on fire, rubbing his head, a soul adrift on a path to hell.
Lord knows, we've been tough on Gallo. But last night, watching the poor guy - I dunno, anymore. To say Gallo is "lost" suggests he has a destination in mind. A month ago, in Tampa, he was mocking himself in jokes and occasionally batting third, between Judge and Giancarlo. Now, he bats seventh and swings like a pitcher. He ranks third in all of baseball with 18 strikeouts - (one more than Josh Donaldson, by the way.)
Both Aaron Boone and the YES announcers have sought to protect Gallo - assuring us that he'll soon break out, that he's just been unlucky, that his eventual HRs will justify all the strikeouts and missed opportunities... but I dunno, anymore.
Some guys just aren't right for New York. Watching Gallo self-immolate last night, the camera tight on him - as nutty as it is to say this in April, the Yankees might be reaching a point of no return on the guy. Gallo needs a few days off, a reset button - or would that only stress him out more than ever?
Of course, to bench Gallo, the Yankees need a replacement - preferably one who hits left-handed. I never thought that - this early in the season - we'd be wondering about Brett Gardner. Tim Locastro (RH) looks more like a fourth OF. Miguel Andujar (RH) has disappeared into the coal mines below Scranton. Estevan Florial (LH) is 8 for 31 (.258) in Triple A, but with - gulp - 10 strikeouts. He's now 24.
Last August, despite their claims to the contrary, the Yankees paid a huge price for Gallo: Four decent prospects. Like the stooges who update Putin on his war, they've been publicly slathering lipstick on the pig ever since.
Right now, Gallo needs a break. He could end up leaving Detroit with a batting average below .100. From where he sits, the Mendoza Line looks like Rod Carew. Can somebody help this guy? I'm starting to worry.
Note: Had a wonderful night drinking with the great Doug K, who assures me that his threats to become a Met fan are simply negative juju. It worked!
The Yankees have truly refined the concept of three true outcomes and distilled it to its truest form: Strike out, fly out and ground out.
ReplyDeleteThis is Brian Cashman's gift to baseball.
ReplyDeleteGallo is providing a great service to the Yankees. His stench is distracting (almost) everyone from focusing on how bad the rest of the lineup is performing.
What's the old saying: you can't win a pennant in April, but you sure as hell can lose it.
The AL East is not the most difficult division in baseball. It is a den of mediocrity, and the Yankees are right in the middle of it, just like their owner, GM, and manager.
Gallo is only .100 pts below is lifetime BA. What do expect from this guy, he sucks. And I read this morning the Martian had 3ks in 5AB last night, so I think he's ready to join this team now.
ReplyDeleteWe have to somehow get him some ABs vs. Cole.
ReplyDeleteOr, trade him to Oakland for practically anything and agree to pay half his salary. He would have absolutely no pressure there.
Does Oakland have like a LH OF sitting in AA or something ?
What to do about Joey? Sounds like an after-school special on ABC.
ReplyDeleteThey shoot horses, don't they?
ReplyDeleteDuque, how many drinks, err, innings did you and Doug watch. The readers would like a little bit more info.
About as many drinks as innings. That's all I'm saying.
ReplyDeleteJoey Gallo with Texas
ReplyDelete.211/.336/.497 (.833 OPS), 36.7 K% in 2173 PA
Joey Gallo with New York
.154/.296/.362 (.658 OPS), 38.6 K% in 267 PA
Everyone focuses on the batting average and strikeouts, but the larger problem in my opinion is the lack of power. Gallo has always been a low-BA, high-K guy, though maybe not to this extent. But a .135 SLG drop is the truly shocking thing here.
Not that I expect much out of him at this point in his career, but Brett Gardner to end 2021 (with the same sample size as Gallo):
.240/.343/.404 (.748 OPS), 19.9 K% in 266 PA
That uhh looks much better for a no. 7 hitter.
I didn't think I'd be saying this, but they should bring back Brett. And maybe trade the overhyped kids for a lefty who can play left.
ReplyDeleteOf course, they could just let Stanton play the outfield. Which he can do. Which results in him batting better. But that's just so...obvious. No chance for Cashman's genius to shine doing that.
Carl,
ReplyDeleteI'll say this...
It was a shame that we weren't doing the first,"ElDucast".
The other patrons of the bar seemed entertained by our observations and,in contrast to the apologists at YES, we were calling strikeouts and screw ups several pitches in advance.
In other words, we brought the collective energy, wisdom and insight of all of us to our running commentary. Plus no small amount of laughs.
It was a hoot.
Question: how good would Seiya Suzuki look in Yankee uniform now? Or next year after Judge leaves?
ReplyDeleteThe case for firing Cashman makes it self.
Michael Conforto is still out there in free agency too. He's played all three outfield positions: RF (334 G), CF (146 G), and LF (259 G). And he's a left-handed bat.
ReplyDeleteConforto hit .265/.369/.495 (.864 OPS) from 2017-2020 and looked to be in line for a big payday before his poor 2021 season (.232/.344/.384) and shoulder injury.
No idea what his medicals look like or what he's demanding at this point, but I'd take him over Gallo if his shoulder is still attached.
But that would require Cashman admitting he was wrong about Gallo (and that we lost four prospects for nothing) which he won't do.
Doug K. IS fun to drink with! I can't think of a better companion for a game that bad—even as a win.
ReplyDeleteAnd lay off Joey Gallo! Hey, the guy had to go to New Jersey to look for an apartment last year! Oh, the humanity!
Gallo is gone after this year no matter what, unless the JuJu Gods give him a 15 HR month in September and he signs a four-year 60Mil extension, with Cashman saying that he finally got used to NYC.
ReplyDeleteOf course by that time, the Yanks having won the last playoff spot as a visiting team, will already be out of the playoffs.
Cole got the playoff L, dontcha know.
@Zach...interesting point...The Yanks are already above the $230M payroll. Gallo's contract is 1 year $10M...they could sign Conforto and just release Joey Whiffs. Next year, the contracts of Gallo, Britton and Rolaids go away so they could get back to the threshold again if they wanted to...remember this is Brian Brain speak here...he wants to win a championship being under the threshold just to prove a point...
ReplyDeleteAnother brilliant job by the putz who brought in Kei Igawa and Carl Pavano. Who you ask? Why, no other than The Genius. Brian "Nebish-analytics" Cashman. The Homerun will solve all of your problems. A Cashman quote: "Give Me The three run homer anytime." This is why Gleyber stinks, he swings up and for the homer every time, as did STD Sanchez. As soon as the Yankees acquired Joey K, and you will have to trust me on this. Being a believer on batting average, I uttered, "exactly what the Yankees do not need." After watching Joey K, I said "NY will eat him alive." When I heard Joey K. complain about the traffic in NY, I thought "he's done." Only a clueless administration, Genius, Cheapskate and Randy, would listen to the analytics nonsense about a player who does not make contact regularly. In addition, we have the Wilpons in the Bronx, when they er, they stay with the mistakes and do not fix it. They bring in the lesser alternatives, i.e, Josh Donaldson. Gio is batting .296 in Minny. It is going to be a long long long season, Yankees fans.
ReplyDeleteSadly, I fear that they are keeping Joey Whiffs in anticipation of the shift being banned next year—another travesty.
ReplyDeleteBut I imagine that Joey will suck anyway. You can't keep a bad man down!
Follow up to Zach’s comment
ReplyDeleteSource : The Score
“The baseball world continues to wait for free-agent outfielder Michael Conforto to sign with an MLB club, but another league is reportedly showing interest in the 29-year-old.
The Long Island Ducks of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball - an independent partner league of MLB - have checked in on Conforto, a source told Robert Murray of "The Baseball Insiders" podcast.
The Ducks are one of the premier teams in the Atlantic League, winning four league titles and making it to the championship series in each of the last five seasons.
Conforto became a free agent after rejecting a one-year, $18.4-million qualifying offer from the New York Mets in November.
Conforto's agent Scott Boras said in March that the slugger suffered a shoulder injury while training in January and wanted to make a full recovery before deciding on his playing future.
The seven-year veteran struggled in 2021, registering a .729 OPS with 14 home runs and 55 RBIs in 125 games.
Conforto is a career .255/.356/.468 hitter with 132 homers and 396 RBIs across 757 contests with the Mets.”
So he “struggled” last year with a .729 OPS. What does that say about two-thirds of our lineup?
Damn those Ducks!
ReplyDeleteBut no, I don't want (another) injured mediocrity.
Just release the fuck and be done with it. Fuck it all.
ReplyDeleteborntorun,
ReplyDeleteSeiya Suzuki is becoming my Susquehanna Hats!
I would have said Niagara Falls but I believe El Duque reserved that for Yoan Moncada.