The Minnesota Twins finalized the signing of Joey Gallo to a one-year contract that is worth a reported $11 million. Mark Contreras was designated for assignment in order to make room for Gallo on the 40-man roster.
He joins the Twins after splitting the 2022 season between the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Dodgers. The Yankees acquired Gallo from the Texas Rangers at the 2021 trade deadline, when he was one of the more sought-after players.
However, the two-time All-Star struggled upon joining the Yankees and that carried into this past season. Gallo was a candidate to be designated for assignment prior to the Dodgers trading pitching prospect Clayton Beeter for the former first-round draft pick.
“A year ago he was worth a lot in the industry and got traded for a lot. The true talent level remains,” Dodgers president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman said when discussing the Gallo in August.
“We feel like getting him here, getting him with our guys, that there’s a real compelling upside story. For us, it was lengthening our position-player base to cover for unforeseen things that could pop up in August, September, October.
“We saw it last year when (Max) Muncy went down the last game of the year. Things can happen, and adding a talented player that we feel like there’s some real potential upside with, was something that was compelling for us.”
Despite that optimism, Gallo couldn’t get on track and hit just .162/.277/.393 with four doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 23 RBI over 44 games after joining the Dodgers.
He nevertheless was included on their postseason roster for the National League Division Series, though didn’t appear in any of the four games against the San Diego Padres.
Agent Scott Boras expressed optimism Gallo would re-establish his value in 2023 if given an opportunity to play on a daily basis.
Joey Gallo stats
Even with his struggles over the past two seasons, Gallo’s 170 home runs since 2017 are tied for 12th-most in baseball.
In his career, Gallo has a 13.36 at-bat-per-home-run ratio that ranks fifth-best in American League/NL history (minimum of 1,500 at-bats), trailing Mark McGwire (10.61), Babe Ruth (11.76), Aaron Judge (11.99) and Barry Bonds (12.92).
Since 2020, the two-time Gold Glove Award winner ranks second among all outfielders with 32 Defensive Runs Saved.
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