The New York Yankees are finalizing an deal to acquire outfielder Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers, sources revealed to ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Wednesday night.
The arrangement is forthcoming a medical review and is required to be made official Thursday.
The Rangers will get right-hander Glenn Otto, second baseman Ezequiel Duran, shortstop Josh Smith and second baseman/outfielder Trevor Hauver from New York, sources told Passan. Texas will send an extra player, pitcher Joely Rodríguez, to New York to finish the blockbuster.
Gallo was a late scratch from the Rangers’ lineup in front of Wednesday night’s game against the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, with speculation that an trade was in progress.
That end up being the situation, with the Yankees swooping in and securing apparently the fiercest left-handed bat on the trade market to go with individual New York sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.
New York’s left-given hitters have battled this season, ranking last in the majors in average (.197), 28th in home runs (22) and OPS (.633) and 29th in hard-hit rate (33%).
Gallo should help.
He has burned through every one of the seven of his major league seasons with Texas, yet the Rangers – an American League West-most exceedingly terrible 36-65 entering Wednesday – have been in unloading mode, with Gallo their prized player.
A two-time All-Star, the 27-year-old slugger positions 6th in the AL this season with 25 grand slams, to go with 55 RBIs and a .223 normal. He had battled powerfully at the plate since the All-Star break, with zero home runs and a .067 normal in the 10 games following, prior to breaking out Tuesday with a three-run shot against the Diamondbacks.
Gallo is among only eight rostered significant leaguers with different career 40-homer seasons (2017, 2018).
He additionally has dominated in the outfield, winning a Gold Glove in 2020. He drives the majors with 14 guarded runs saved this season and joins the Toronto Blue Jays’ Marcus Semien as the solitary players with 20 grand slams and 10 defensive runs saved.
Gallo is owed $2.2 million from his $6.2 million compensation. He is qualified for mediation the following winter and can turn into a free specialist after the 2022 season.
Gallo gave what turned into a prophetic farewell to Rangers fans when he began expressing gratitude toward them in a postgame interview with Tuesday night in the group’s transmission. He told journalists after that he would not like to pass up on a chance to thank everybody.
“We don’t know the future, and I don’t want to like miss an opportunity to tell everybody I appreciate it,” Gallo said. “I’ve been 10 years here. I remember last year when I almost got traded, there was like a lot that I was thinking, ‘Man, I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have said something.’
“I want the fans to know that I appreciate everything they’ve done for me and supporting me and buying my jerseys and whatnot. You know, I really appreciate it.”
The Rangers received a strong package as a trade-off for Gallo.
Otto, a fifth-round pick of the Yanks in 2017, has parted time between Double-An and Triple-A this season, going 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA in 12 beginnings. He has posted sub-4.00 ERA in every one of the four of his league seasons.
Duran, a 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic, had been looking hot so far in Class A this season, with 12 grand slams, 48 RBIs and a .290 normal in 67 games for Hudson Valley.
Smith, likewise with Hudson Valley, was the Yankees’ second-round pick in 2019. He has 17 takes and 44 runs in 39 games this season, while hitting .324.
What’s more, Hauver, a fifth-round pick last year, was hitting .288 with nine homers and 49 RBIs this season, his first in quite a while.
The Yankees started Wednesday nine games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. They trail the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners in the special case race for two spots.
The last-place Rangers are on pace for their initial 100-loss season since 1973, the franchise’s second season in Texas. Their last winning season was 2016, when they won the AL West, prior to getting cleared by Toronto in a best-of-five division series.
