Joey Gallo Twins Agreement

MINNEAPOLIS — The Twins have a lot of work to do after missing Carlos Correa, and their quest for impact continued Friday with the addition of the slugging outfielder. joey rooster on a one-year, $11 million deal, a source told MLB.com’s Mark Feinsand. The club has not confirmed the deal.

Gallo is coming off a difficult 2022 in which he slashed .160/.280/.357 with 19 home runs and a 39.8% strikeout rate for the Yankees and Dodgers, struggling immensely after moving to the Bronx with an increase to his already high Punch. numbers, limiting his ability to reach his otherworldly power. For now, he occupies an odd position on a Twins roster already filled with left-handed corner outfielders.

But any one-year deal carries relatively little risk, particularly considering Gallo’s strong defensive ability (including experience in center field), and there are plenty of upsides the Twins can hope to take advantage of, considering Gallo is just one season away from post a race best 4.7 WAR in 2021 with the Rangers and Yankees, thanks to his perhaps one-of-a-kind power and ability to draw walks.

Considering how often Gallo has stared at comically over-the-top changes on and off the field (including four-man outfields), one would think the 29-year-old will benefit from the recently enacted limitation on changes. defensive for the 2023 season. and beyond. According to Baseball Savant, Gallo has faced infield changes in at least 82% of his plate appearances in each of the past six seasons.

If nothing else, the 2022 Twins took a step back in their ability to hit the ball over the fence, as only Byron Buxton (28 home runs) and Correa (22) topped 20 home runs. Gallo homers with the best of them, most recently hitting 38 home runs in ’21 before struggling in ’22. He’ll give the Twins a mid-order advantage across the diamond, fitting their preferred mold of defensive flexibility.

Even so, the Twins didn’t need more left-handed corner outfielders, where they already have Max Kepler, Trevor Larnach, Alex Kirilloff, Matt Wallner and Nick Gordon as such options, and this signing seems to be an even stronger indication that Minnesota could be looking to trade one or more of those players for a big-hitting addition to the pitching staff or elsewhere.

“I am anticipating based on the calls we have had lately that [the trade market] It will start to come in maybe right after Christmas, somewhere around the turn of the year, that there will be a little bit more attention in the trade market,” Twins president of baseball operations Derek Falvey said. “We will be in those talks.”

Kepler has long been a hot name in trade rumors, but considering his offensive woes, it doesn’t seem likely he could spearhead a deal that would bring back a top-tier pitcher. That could require a younger, higher-ceilinged player like Larnach or Wallner, and perhaps more.

Falvey acknowledged Friday that the Twins are attracting “a lot of interest” in a number of their major league players, and that they need to be open to such deals if they are to avoid further depleting a farm system that has become far less robust in the States. Joined. last year. As the market transitions from free agency to trades in the coming weeks, there is still a lot of work to be done as Minnesota could still use a shortstop, right-handed pop and impact pitch.

“Well, I think our list is not complete, so I would say our view at this point is that we should continue through the offseason,” Falvey said. “It’s December 16 and I think there’s more time for us to figure out what our group and outfield look like.”