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  • Minnesota Twins Sign Joey Gallo


    Theodore Tollefson

    Jeff Passan is reporting that the Twins have signed slugger Joey Gallo to a one-year deal for $11M.

    Image courtesy of © Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

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    MINNEAPOLIS – The Twins have signed outfielder Joey Gallo to a one-year, $11 million contract for the 2023 season, as Jeff Passan of ESPN reported.

    Gallo, 29, is a two-time American League all-star and Gold Glove winner. 2022 was Gallo’s worst to date as he posted a .160/.280/.357 triple slash and .638 OPS along with 19 home runs and 47 RBI in 126 games between the Yankees and Dodgers. 

    Gallo played 82 of his 126 games with the Yankees in 2022 before being traded on July 29, 2022, to the Dodgers, along with Joely Rodriguez for Trevor Hauver, Ezequiel Duran, Glenn Otto, and Josh Smith.

    Gallo is known for being one of the most frequent hitters, if not the most, to strike out at the plate. He is the definition of the three true outcome hitter which entails he will either strikeout, walk, or hit a home run anytime he is at the plate. Gallo had a strikeout percentage of 39.8% for 2022, his highest ever in a full season. 

    However, he also has 177 home runs in 2811 plate appearances, or better than one home run every 16 plate appearances. His career-high single-season home run total came in 2017 when he hit 41 with the Texas Rangers.  Also, despite his below-the-Mendoza line batting average, (career .199 hitter) he gets on-base; he’s posted a .325 OBP over his career.

    Now a member of the Twins, Gallo will likely be playing in the corner outfield positions, possibly sometime in center field with 56 career games at the position, and spend time as the designated hitter as well. He has also played at first base during his 8-year career. The addition of Gallo, another left-handed hitting outfielder, also places further emphasis on the future of Max Kepler as a Twin, as Gallo now becomes the seventh left-handed hitting outfielder on the Twins' 40-man roster. 

    Gallo has played 15 games at Target Field in his career and has posted a .263/.323/.632 triple slash with six home runs and 13 runs batted in 62 plate appearances. His .632 SLG percentage at Target Field is his highest in any Major League ballpark with a minimum of 40 plate appearances. 

    The deal comes four days after the Twins signed catcher Christian Vazquez to a three-year, $30 million contract, which was made official today.

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    1 minute ago, sweetmusicviola16 said:

    Yeah it's a joke. And so is signing Joey Gallo.  A 5 WAR player, who hits .199. And strikes out over 200 times a season. This is not going to turn this thing around. Makes it go deeper in a bad direction.

    I'm not saying he's a franchise changing signing. All I'm saying is he's our 2nd best OF right now and our team is better today than it was yesterday. 

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    11 minutes ago, JakeBru3 said:

    This is a joke right??

    Gallo is a gold glove winning OF that can play all 3 OF positions. He is a year removed from being a 5 WAR player...

    He was bloody terrible in 2022. I'd love to have egg on my face and the Twins see nearly 5.0 WAR 2021 Joey Gallo in 2023. I'm not holding my breath. This is a head scratcher to me. Maybe if we needed to fill in Gallo to an otherwise complete roster and hope that lightning in a bottle and a short right field porch lead to 40 Gallo HRs in 2023. Not with the current roster as constructed, I'd pass on Gallo. I'm hoping the front office flips Gallo, IKF style. 

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    Wow did the Twins way over pay for Gallo.  A career .199 hitter gets 11 million for one season?  His strikeout rate is slightly higher than Sano.  You think people were being Sano?  Wait until they see Gallo.  Last year's strike out rate over 39% yes a little higher than our friend Sano.  I sure hope I'm proven wrong but it sure looks like one of the dumbest signings this FO has ever done. Way overpay. just fits in with the low level signings the Twins are noted for.

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    You can't call the FO what they are, here. This is unbelieveable. What a waste of $11 million. $1 million would have been too much for Gallo at this point. They have lost it. This doesn't even make sense on the stat sheets that our Front Office loves so much. Do they even watch the players actually play? Is this a "Trouble With The Curve" sequel?

    They are paying Gallo more than anyone on the roster except Buxton and Sonny Gray. Unbelieveable. Don't pay enough for the great players, and pay way way way too much for the washed up ones that should either be playing across the pond or retiring now.

    https://www.spotrac.com/mlb/minnesota-twins/payroll

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    Wow, I hate it. They've basically just re-signed Sano for too much money, except this version of him can handle himself in the outfield. The Twins have already proven that they couldn't coach strikeouts out of Sano, how are they going to do it with Gallo?

    If Vazquez and Gallo are the two main additions to the lineup, this is going to be a bottom 10 lineup. We lost Correa and Urshela, guys you could stick in at the #2 and #5 spots respectively, and now have a catcher to stash at #9 and a hot-and-cold bat who is going to hit #4/5 too often when he'll be better off hitting #7/8.

    I'd much rather be saddled with a great player on a bad contract than scrounge for scraps, and at a bad price. Feels like Logan Morrison all over again! Maybe CJ Cron if we're lucky. Hopefully a terrible move like this and the Pagan one ensures that this front office gets sacked by the end of the year.

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    1 minute ago, Azviking101 said:

    Yes and I do not believe Kepler will have a ton more production, but I do think those ground balls into the shift will start bleeding through, If he can get his OPS back up to .750 he will be a 5 WAR player. That could bring back a huge trade haul. Sadly, I don't believe the Falvine duo thought about this

    5 WAR from Kepler?! His career best year was 4. He topped 3 one other time. He's a 2 WAR player, but you think a handful of ground balls sneaking through the right side is going to make him a 5 WAR player?! That's quite the stretch.

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    1 minute ago, Azviking101 said:

    Yes and I do not believe Kepler will have a ton more production, but I do think those ground balls into the shift will start bleeding through, If he can get his OPS back up to .750 he will be a 5 WAR player. That could bring back a huge trade haul. Sadly, I don't believe the Falvine duo thought about this

    We can all be angry about some of their moves but if you don't think they've thought about how a shift could possible effect one of their MLB level OF's I think your probably being a little dramatic.

    The value he carries is going to be from his defense and a very small amount of upside at the plate from a few extra ground balls "bleeding through"

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    3 minutes ago, theBOMisthebomb said:

    He was bloody terrible in 2022. I'd love to have egg on my face and the Twins see nearly 5.0 WAR 2021 Joey Gallo in 2023. I'm not holding my breath. This is a head scratcher to me. Maybe if we needed to fill in Gallo to an otherwise complete roster and hope that lightning in a bottle and a short right field porch lead to 40 Gallo HRs in 2023. Not with the current roster as constructed, I'd pass on Gallo. I'm hoping the front office flips Gallo, IKF style. 

    He signs today and he's our 2nd best OF on the 40 man up to the minute. 

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    19 minutes ago, JakeBru3 said:

    Was a gold glove winning OF in '20 and '21! Can play all 3 OF spots so when Buck needs a day off can slide to CF. 

    A very good defender with a big bat on a one year deal for a team in need of veterans that have been there before...makes sense in my eyes. 

    Sure - but that .199 BA - thats hard to get over.  Especially at that salary.  What was his WAR in '20 and '21?  That will show his true value.

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    10 minutes ago, Charleo said:

    This is the most useless signing I can remember from this FO....and there have been plenty.  We have 4-5 left-handed corner outfielders making pennies by comparison who would provide more value.  We should have just signed Sano for half that and told him to hit left-handed.  It would have made just as much sense and been a lot cheaper.  Guess I'll be saving money on MLBTV this summer.  Yuck.  

    Signing a gold glove corner OF with a big power bat is a useless signing? 

    Is it a franchise changing signing? No....is it useless? No

    He is the 2nd best OF on our 40man right now. If the young guys can somehow stay healthy and live up to expectations than Gallo becomes expendable at the deadline or let him walk next year. But the young guys have not shown they can do that...if anything they've proven they can't. So go get a good defensive OF with upside to be a big bat too.

    1 year removed from being a 5 WAR player. 

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    11 minutes ago, JakeBru3 said:

    Was a gold glove winning OF in '20 and '21! Can play all 3 OF spots so when Buck needs a day off can slide to CF. 

    A very good defender with a big bat on a one year deal for a team in need of veterans that have been there before...makes sense in my eyes. 

    Makes sense for what purpose?  Is Gallo going to lead us to the playoffs, let  alone a playoff win?  Are fans going to show up to see Gallo k twice a game? Or buy his jersey?  Is this the move a club makes to position itself for a true run?

    Listen, who knows in the mediocre AL Central.  But this is not a move by any stretch of anyone’s imagination that moves the dial for this club in ‘23 and most certainly not in ‘24.  The only redeeming possibility is that he plays well enough that we move him by the deadline for a decent prospect.

    Vasquez was a good signing. Farmer made more sense than Urshela in our lineup. We shall see how Gallo for Kepler plus whatever Kepler brings in a trade looks soon I’m sure. But regardless, this is a FO nipping at the edges to try to fill the big gaping hole left by Correa.  

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    1 minute ago, farmerguychris said:

    Sure - but that .199 BA - thats hard to get over.  Especially at that salary.  What was his WAR in '20 and '21?  That will show his true value.

    bWAR 2020- 1.6, 2021- 4.7
    fWAR 2020- 1, 2021- 4.2

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    10 minutes ago, JakeBru3 said:

    I'm not saying he's a franchise changing signing. All I'm saying is he's our 2nd best OF right now and our team is better today than it was yesterday. 

    Second best, behind Gordon?

    At the moment Gordon is our overall most reliable OF.  Sorry to have to say that, but BB on the bench is not our best OF.

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    25 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

    Wait, wait, wait...is Terry Ryan back for a THIRD go-around???

    Terry would have signed Joey Callow for a fraction of the cost. Though in this case, I'm not sure you could tell the difference.

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    5 minutes ago, Fatbat said:

    .263 career batter at target field. I’ll bet he hits above that average this year and has 40+ dingers.  A year from now everyone of you will want to sign him to a 3-4 year deal….

    Uhh, how many at bats for that .263 avg?  And remember, that was against the Twins pitching staff.

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    This is not exciting, although I wouldn't call it disheartening. I'm assuming it is a step necessary because of another step coming - a trade of Kepler, Laranch, Wallner or some combination thereof, hopefully as part of the rumored package for  a Lopez type starter. That might make this move make some sense. Otherwise, all we've done is make a crowded OF more crowded with yet another LH hitting OF who strikes out a lot. That would be a little disheartening. 

    In other news, Andrew Benintendi just signed with the White Sox - 5 years, $75 million. 

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    Dear Twins FO,

    Sorry about the Giants playing bully and snatching Correa away. That contract was NUTS! While it's disappointing, you are forgiven.

    Thanks for a quality catcher in Valdez. He should be a big help! You have begun to redeem yourselves. 

    Yeah...about that Gallo signing...are your resumes up to date?

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    6 minutes ago, Nashvilletwin said:

    Makes sense for what purpose?  Is Gallo going to lead us to the playoffs, let  alone a playoff win?  Are fans going to show up to see Gallo k twice a game? Or buy his jersey?  Is this the move a club makes to position itself for a true run?

    Listen, who knows in the mediocre AL Central.  But this is not a move by any stretch of anyone’s imagination that moves the dial for this club in ‘23 and most certainly not in ‘24.  The only redeeming possibility is that he plays well enough that we move him by the deadline for a decent prospect.

    Vasquez was a good signing. Farmer made more sense than Urshela in our lineup. We shall see how Gallo for Kepler plus whatever Kepler brings in a trade looks soon I’m sure. But regardless, this is a FO nipping at the edges to try to fill the big gaping hole left by Correa.  

    For adding a good defensive glove to your OF and a bat that has historically hit well at TF and has upside to him 30+ HR's. 

    Not every signing is going to be a franchise guy. They are banking on their young guys to be those guys....they haven't proven they can yet so until they do you bring in a veteran that can help the team win games. I believe that's the goal, right? 

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