Grade the Joey Gallo signing

[SwainZag]

Grading a signing the day after is dumb.  Though I have a feeling that even if he hits 35 HR and reverts to a 5 WAR player a lot of you will still be grading this as an F.

[gunnarthor]

Honestly, Gallo and Sano are pretty obvious comparables. I'd rather take a chance on Sano - whose teammates seemed to like quite a bit - then Gallo who, as noted, is left handed.

[SwainZag]

7 minutes ago, gunnarthor said:

Honestly, Gallo and Sano are pretty obvious comparables. I'd rather take a chance on Sano - whose teammates seemed to like quite a bit - then Gallo who, as noted, is left handed.

Except Gallo actually plays a position of value.  The Twins ran out almost a full 162 game OF position of Contreras, Celestino, Hamilton, Cave and Beckham last season.  I'd take Gallo AB's over all of them.  They can still bring in a RH bat before the season starts.

[FlyingFinn]

13 hours ago, cHawk said:

He provides little to no defensive value,

Not sure where you get this from. He is great defensively and playing CF is a big plus. From that side of things and with some speed on the bases, that is a plus. Overall, I think the Twins are looking for more D and speed. The problem is that we can't seem to combine either of those with hitting as our great young hitters, Arraez and Miranda aren't great on the D or speed side.

I gave the signing a C, partly because I don't think the Twins are done making moves. I assume Kepler will be traded as well. The Twins are banking on a comeback year from Gallo. If he does have a good first half of the year and the Twins are bad, he will be traded. Sure need a lot of players to both stay healthy and have career years for the Twins to be good this year.

[NotAboutWinning]

16 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

Except Gallo actually plays a position of value.  The Twins ran out almost a full 162 game OF position of Contreras, Celestino, Hamilton, Cave and Beckham last season.  I'd take Gallo AB's over all of them.  They can still bring in a RH bat before the season starts.

Pains me to do so, but I must agree ? Good point!

[Boom Boom]

I have to give the Gallo signing an F.  He just isn't an upgrade.  Maybe they keep Kepler and Gallo because they don't expect much from Buxton.  Or maybe this was a move to change the subject after missing out on Correa.

Either way it seems like spending money just to spend money, even at 10M/1 year.

 

[SanoMustGo]

I'm sure the FO is eying Joc Pederson and Robbie Grossman as their next FA signings.

[SanoMustGo]

50 minutes ago, SwainZag said:

Grading a signing the day after is dumb.  Though I have a feeling that even if he hits 35 HR and reverts to a 5 WAR player a lot of you will still be grading this as an F.

Yes I can.  I need to see evidence that this FO can build a roster first, then I will have confidence.  Other than 2019, The Twins have looked like a small market team since 2010.

[Doctor Gast]

A FO nonsensical type of deal much like Happ, Shoemaker and Colume'. Can't wait for the positive hype spin they'll try to put on it. How are the going to pull the rabbit out of the hat. That trick didn't work before, I don't see it working this time. 

Only way I see any relevance is having wonderful trades for 3 corner OF LH bats to alleviate the added glut, lined up. No way should we consider trading Gordon, we'll never get what he's worth to us. Wallner is the closest to his trade value worth, Kepler, Larnach & Kiriloff trade value is below their worth. they have had a lot of interest, will teams pay for their worth? I can possible see Kepler & Larnach but they have to be very good trades filling our need for SS, frontline SP and a high catching prospect near MLB ready. Some good BP arms & impact RH bat could still be had in FA.

[Craig Arko]

I wonder if this move says something about Kiriloff’s recovery time/prognosis.

[ashbury]

Gallo's positional flexibility in CF is so valuable that the Rangers used him there for exactly 1 inning in 2020, neither the Yankees nor the Rangers used him there in 2021, and the Yankees used him there for 6 innings in 2022.  This is break-glass-in-emergency use only at this point.

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, SwainZag said:

Grading a signing the day after is dumb.  Though I have a feeling that even if he hits 35 HR and reverts to a 5 WAR player a lot of you will still be grading this as an F.

Please explain why you think that. 

[Mike Sixel]

1 hour ago, SwainZag said:

Except Gallo actually plays a position of value.  The Twins ran out almost a full 162 game OF position of Contreras, Celestino, Hamilton, Cave and Beckham last season.  I'd take Gallo AB's over all of them.  They can still bring in a RH bat before the season starts.

If they don't deal Kepler, every young OF will now not get regular at bats. I'm not sure how you build a sustainable winner that way. 

[ashbury]

1 hour ago, SwainZag said:

Except Gallo actually plays a position of value.  The Twins ran out almost a full 162 game OF position of Contreras, Celestino, Hamilton, Cave and Beckham last season.  I'd take Gallo AB's over all of them.  They can still bring in a RH bat before the season starts.

Celestino I think is a separate case - he was on the opening day roster and clearly was Buxton's backup, only his bat didn't come around like the FO must have expected and by season's end he was a basket case at the plate.  But summing up the other four, amounts to more than a third of a season worth of emergency outfield play by non-prospects and non-major league talent, as opposed to the other innings of bringing up genuine prospects and maybe letting them take their lumps in the name of further development, and that is pretty dire.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

12 hours ago, Greglw3 said:

"The only difference between Sano and Gallo is that Gallo is more expensive, and is an OF."

Gallo has little to no defensive value? Gallo has won two gold gloves, Sano never won one.

Sano never walked 111 times in a season as Gallo did in 2021 (Sano’s highest was 59).

Gallo had a .351 OBP in 2021 and 38 HR and an .808 OPS. Sano never hit 40 HR, which Gallo has done twice.

Gallo currently has a 20 consecutive steal streak going, Sano 5/8 for his career. Gallo had a 138 OPS+ for Texas in 2021 and a total of 121 OPS.

Don’t know what happened to him last year but he has a track record that says maybe last year was a fluke.

All that said, I was perplexed by the signing too, until I did a little more of a deep dive and found all of the above. Maybe he’ll be the next IKF? 

The best signing of the day was by the White Sox getting Binentendi. And he wasn’t that expensive. Why the Twins didn’t sign him I’m befuddled by.

I’m still guardedly optimistic about what they’ll do in trades.

Gallo has 20 consecutive steals. Now I understand this signing by the Twins. Gallo will bat lead-off and the 2 at bats  out of 10 when he gets on 1B, he will steal 2B. The Piranhas are back.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

2 hours ago, SwainZag said:

Except Gallo actually plays a position of value.  The Twins ran out almost a full 162 game OF position of Contreras, Celestino, Hamilton, Cave and Beckham last season.  I'd take Gallo AB's over all of them.  They can still bring in a RH bat before the season starts.

Signing Gallo is like signing the below average starting pitcher, because he can eat a lot of innings. Just great.

[tarheeltwinsfan]

1 hour ago, ashbury said:

Gallo's positional flexibility in CF is so valuable that the Rangers used him there for exactly 1 inning in 2020, neither the Yankees nor the Rangers used him there in 2021, and the Yankees used him there for 6 innings in 2022.  This is break-glass-in-emergency use only at this point.

The Yankees ...what do they know about winning? 

[ashbury]

8 minutes ago, tarheeltwinsfan said:

The Yankees ...what do they know about winning? 

I failed to mention the Dodgers.  Because they forgot to use him in CF also, the losers.

[Brock Beauchamp]

3 hours ago, USAFChief said:

F. Only because that's the lowest option. 

Why? How does this help IN ANY WAY??

The only thing this accomplished was moving Falvey farther along in his annual wasting of  whatever salary is available for FAs.

I gave it a D because it likely has the side effect of inducing a Max Kepler trade, who I absolutely loathe watching play baseball.

Mind you, I also loathe watching Joey Gallo play baseball, but at least the reason for my loathing will change and variety is the spice of life.

[USAFChief]

Just now, Brock Beauchamp said:

I gave it a D because it likely has the side effect of inducing a Max Kepler trade, who I absolutely loathe watching play baseball.

Mind you, I also loathe watching Joey Gallo play baseball, but at least the reason for my loathing will change and variety is the spice of life.

I'm going to miss being informed 100 times per year that Kepler's parents were ballet dancers.

And I prefer a 3 hopper to 2nd on a 3-2 count vs a called strike 3 on a 3-2 count, thankyouverymuch.

[Brock Beauchamp]

Just now, USAFChief said:

I'm going to miss being informed 100 times per year that Kepler's parents were ballet dancers.

And I prefer a 3 hopper to 2nd on a 3-2 count vs a called strike 3 on a 3-2 count, thankyouverymuch.

Kepler's knack for the IFFB is what drives me absolutely batty over the course of 162.

[Mike Sixel]

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

I'm going to miss being informed 100 times per year that Kepler's parents were ballet dancers.

And I prefer a 3 hopper to 2nd on a 3-2 count vs a called strike 3 on a 3-2 count, thankyouverymuch.

They were dancers? First I've heard.....

[USAFChief]

1 minute ago, Mike Sixel said:

They were dancers? First I've heard.....

Not just dancers Mike. Ballet dancers.

 

 

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

They were dancers? First I've heard.....

 

1 minute ago, USAFChief said:

Not just dancers Mike. Ballet dancers.

 

 

Classically trained, to boot.

Also, didja know he played baseball, in Germany of all places? Whodathunkit?

[USAFChief]

2 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Kepler's knack for the IFFB is what drives me absolutely batty over the course of 162.

I'll miss the "home run in a silo" jokes. Never gets old.

[Mike Sixel]

4 minutes ago, ashbury said:

 

Classically trained, to boot.

Also, didja know he played baseball, in Germany of all places? Whodathunkit?

Inconceivable!

[bap3141]

2 hours ago, SanoMustGo said:

I'm sure the FO is eying Joc Pederson and Robbie Grossman as their next FA signings.

Joc Pederson accepted the Giants qualifying offer a month ago.

[ashbury]

3 minutes ago, Mike Sixel said:

Inconceivable!

Princess Bride?  Now we got ourselves a Game Thread!

[Brock Beauchamp]

36 minutes ago, ashbury said:

Princess Bride?  Now we got ourselves a Game Thread!

Are we talking about a stew?

[ashbury]

4 minutes ago, Brock Beauchamp said:

Are we talking about a stew?

You've got to use a Wired vs TIred meme in order for us older folks to get it.