The Joey Gallo era is officially over in New York, as Gallo has been dealt to the Dodgers for Double-A RHP Clayton Beeter.
And so, an ignominious year and change in pinstripes ends for Gallo with a .159/.291/.368 slash line, 25 home runs, 46 RBI, 77 walks, 194 strikeouts, and an 85 OPS+ in 501 plate appearances over 140 games.
All that for the low, low price of four mid-level prospects and about $7.5 million, as the Rangers picked up the tab on Gallo’s remaining 2021 salary when the trade went down, meaning the Yankees only paid about two-thirds of Gallo’s $10.5 million salary for 2022.
Think about this: 502 plate appearances is the threshold for the batting title, and entering Thursday, there are 154 players on pace to qualify for the 2022 batting crowns, and only two – Max Muncy and Trent Grisham – are below the Mendoza line, Muncy dead last at .162.
Which means Gallo, over the last year, is theoretically the worst hitter in baseball, and he ends up going to the same team that employs the worst qualified hitter in baseball this year.
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The latter is the Dodgers’ problem, but now that his tenure is over, we can ask about the former: is Gallo now officially the worst trade of the Brian Cashman era for the Yankees?
Sure, there are tons of bad “veteran for prospect” deals in Yankees lore, as we’ve seen Seinfeld favorite Jay Buhner, speedster Willie McGee, borderline Hall of Famer Fred McGriff, and future Cy Young winner Doug Drabek among those dealt by the Yankees before their time.
In the Cashman era, though, a lot of “bust” deals were for pitchers, who at least were serviceable for part of their tenures, and it’s tough to really criticize too hard on a rental failure. These might be the four “worst” multi-season trials based on performance and trade return:
RAUL MONDESI (2002)
Acquired for: Scott Wiggins
The Yankees needed a right fielder to replace the retired Paul O’Neill, as the group they had wasn’t cutting it, so they got Mondesi (who was hitting just .221 but had 15 dingers in 75 games) mid-season. He posted a .250-27-92 in 169 games in pinstripes but quickly wore out his welcome, and was dealt at the 2003 deadline to Arizona for David Dellucci, Bret Prinz, and Jon-Mark Sprowl, who were spare parts in 2003 and/or 2004.
Dellucci played sparingly as a backup outfielder before leaving as a free agent, Prinz was an up-and-down arm in ‘04 before being dealt for Wil Nieves, who got a little run as a backup catcher from 2005-07, and Sprowl caught two seasons at High-A Tampa before leaving. Oh, and as for Wiggins, he pitched 2 2/3 innings with the 2002 Jays, and that’s the sum total of his MLB life.
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KEVIN BROWN (2004)
Acquired for: Jeff Weaver, Yhency Brazoban, and Brandon Weeden
Brown had a bounce-back All-Star season in Los Angeles in 2003, and the Yankees, who lost three-fifths of the rotation that took them to the 2003 World Series, acquired two seasons of Brown (and gave up a fourth member of that ’03 rotation in the deal).
The then-39-year-old Brown wasn’t awful, but he wasn’t great, either, posting a 4.95 ERA in 35 starts over two seasons around injuries (who breaks a hand punching a wall?) and ineffectiveness…oh, yeah, and he gave up the goat in Game 7 of that 2004 ALCS, too.
Brown became a free agent and retired after ’05 so the Yankees go nothing back for him, while on the other end, Weaver led the Dodgers in innings in 2004 and 2005 but was remarkably average, Brazoban was the Dodgers’ closer during a bad 2005 season and then disappeared, and Weeden never made it out of High-A before going back to college to play football.
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JAVIER VAZQUEZ (2004)
Acquired for: Randy Choate, Nick Johnson, and Juan Rivera
Vazquez was also imported to join holdovers Mike Mussina and Jose Contreras, injury returnee Jon Leiber, and Brown in that 2004 rotation – and he ended up leading a Yankees team that used eight different full-time starters in innings pitched.
The rub? They gave up three guys in Choate, Johnson, and Rivera who had pretty good careers to get him, and even though Vazquez was part of the deal to fetch two good years of Randy Johnson, that one also cost Dioner Navarro. Although fun fact – this trade tree led to Damaso Marte and Nick Swisher, so there’s part of 2009’s World Series in there.
SONNY GRAY (2017)
Acquired for: Dustin Fowler, James Kaprielian, and Jorge Mateo
The leader in the clubhouse for “couldn’t handle New York,” Gray was 26, an All-Star, and had 2 ½ years of team control when the Yankees got him to bolster their rotation – and in doing so gave up two injured players and Mateo, who was a top prospect but had just gotten to Double-A and was seemingly in the midst of a possible position change.
This trade had no real winner, as Gray had a 4.51 ERA in pinstripes, was banished to the bullpen in 2018, and eventually straight up dumped to the Reds for Shed Long Jr. – who was quickly traded to Seattle for Josh Stowers, one of the eventual pieces in the Rougned Odor trade. On the Oakland side, Fowler hit .224 in 69 games for Oakland in 2018 but never made the Majors again until being sold to Pittsburgh in 2021, Mateo didn’t make the Majors until being dealt to San Diego in 2020 for a kid still in Low-A, and Kaprielian has a 4.30 ERA in parts of three seasons with the Athletics and is at least under tram control for four more years.
And finally, honorable mention to Gallo, who cost the Yankees Josh Smith, Ezequiel Duran, and Glenn Otto – who are all on the MLB roster as of Tuesday, with Otto a key member of the rotation – and Trevor Hauver, who has 12 homers in High-A. Sure, the Yankees got half a season of Joely Rodriguez, too, and then cost-cut him and re-signed him and turned him into Miguel Castro and…yeah, it’s probably Gallo.
Follow Lou DiPietro on Twitter: @LouDiPietroWFAN
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