I think it is only fair, after taking a step back, and letting things sink in a bit and let calmer heads prevail to review the Gallo singing after a 2 day "calming down" period.

Thoughts on the signing after more deliberate thought process...  Same as the original. Bad signing!!  But may be not AS bad, and maybe not for all of the same reasons.

First we have to ask ourselves... If Gallo singed for a 1 year $3M deal, would this signing look any different? I think a lot of people may even be applauding the signing. I hate to say it, but I may even give it some level of kudos at that price. If we are all honest, why should the money matter?  we are not paying it. As long as that remaining $8M gap does not prevent the Twins from signing a player they otherwise would have been able to sign. what do we care?  So given that context, I have to walk my original "HORRID" analysis, to.. "OK... Not bad".

That evaluation though is based purely on a gamble on a potential decent player that you can either flip or try and resign at a reasonable price if it succeeds. (please no comments on he will leave just like Correa for bigger money elsewhere if he has a huge season. completely different scenarios, and he might, but who cares). When taking in a bigger picture, a roster/team building perspective, combine with historical decision making, I must once again downgrade to "Bad Signing" more so because it just doesn't make sense.

I am not in the inner circle, so  I do not know what the Grand Plan is. but it is just hard to see one.

The only other decent FA out there that could command decent money is Eovaldi  in my opinion. the $10M should not preclude the Twins from going after him with REALISTIC offers, not "Twin's Realistic".  Wil we look into Eovaldi? not sure, Should we? Probably.  But again Gallo's deal should not prevent this, and Gallo is not a pitcher, so lets look at how his signign fits the offense/defense.

Yes he is/was a Gold Glover. mainly due to his big arm. and any big league player should be able to play either corner OF spot. My initial reaction tagged him as a RF, but yes he did play some left, and even if he didn't, he should be able to. SO assuming we keep everyone (not a given) he can play LF with Kepler in RF with Buck in CF. Gordon then I presume would be the primary 4th OF? If you were of the ilk that had the OF looking like   Gordon, Buxton, Kepler.  then this is an upgrade, as Gallo could be an upgrade over Gordon (assuming you are good with record setting K's).  If you were of the ilk that would be either Larnach or Wallner in the third OF spot, then the move is still a potential upgrade, but a bit less so. (And again leave out the "but they are on rookie scale contracts!!" as we have already determined the money shouldn't prohibit Twins from signing any remaining FA).

SO where is my "Bad" coming from? 

My overall sense of incompetence from the FO. Now remember you cannot directly control player performance. GAllo could be an MVP candidate, and some will say "SEE!!!", but just like in poker just because you win, doesn't mean you had the winning hand or made the right decisions. You call an All-in to put your stack at risk with a 1 outer and hit it on the river. You win, but that does not make it the right call.

What do we lose by signing Gallo? We lose AB's from one or more of the following, Kirilloff, LArnach, Wallner. Each of which are aging prospects. Each of them may onyl be quality AAAA players, along the lnes of a Brent Rooker, but we owe it to our future to see if they can do anything when healthy. is Kirilloff's wrist ok? Or is he an injury wash? Can Larnach contribute over a full healthy season? Is he the hitter he was in May? or the hitter he was in June?  Can Wallner replicate his minor league success at the big league level? Where he was a nearly .900 OPS hitter? We most likely cannot get these answers for all of them with Gallo on teh roster taking AB's. and where this comes into play from a team building perspective is we need these answers for future roster development. if 1 or 2 of these guys can be consistent quality MLB contributors, then that means we know we have them as part of our core for the next 4-5 years at cost controlled prices. This means we know #1 we do not have to fill that position in next years FA group, and #2 we now have that much more $ to spend in a fresh new FA class next year. And the cost per contribution gap, assuming one or more of these guys can contribute, would have us keep one of the 3 over paying Gallo.

If Gallo has a career year, he may resign here as our "prized FA next year" but he may sign elsewhere. and GAllo could have had his career year with another team, still allowing us AB's for our prospects and we could sign him as FA next year. 

with a dearth of LH hitting OF, this move SCREAMS of additional moves to come. IS it trading Kepler? is it trading some of the prospects listed above? any follow up moves would be the key to this signing.

And finally the "feel" of Gallo on this club,  TWins fans have been utterly exasperated over the performance of Miguel Sano over the last few years. He coudl be on fire and carry a club single handedly for weeks, and then without notice suddenly hit .025 and strike out 65% of the time.  DFA'ing Sano seemed like a change of philosophy, and then we go and sing Gallo who has significant Sano-like tendencies. Yes big power, and I am told when he is on he is ON!!  but also K's at historic levels.

All in all, Gallo will not be BAD, he will play a good OF, most likely hit a lot of HR, and K a lot. Also the $11M while an overpay is inconsequential as it does not preclude any other signings. the final judge if this signing will not in my opinion be the results Gallo puts up, but rather what other follow up moves are done by this FO. SO after being an initial "HORRID" to a "Still bad!", through the therapeutic process of writing this, I am going to go with a... "meh". If this was a move that leads to other moves that result in truly impactful move(s), then will change to a positive outlook, if we stand pat then this goes back to "bad", if the follow up moves involve trading for pitchers with KNOWN injuries such as Paddack, then goes back to "HORRID".

Ultimately I am realizing, that based on past performance (of the FO not of the players)and decision making, that I just do not trust the FO to make any sort of competent moves.

But maybe to test my own theory, in a future post I will look back at all of the signings/trades to grade the decisions.   Are they incompetent as they seem? or are they just unlucky?