Brewers Rumors: Reported Interest in Yankees OF Joey Gallo

The 2022 MLB trade deadline is August 2nd and is very quickly approaching. So far, the Milwaukee Brewers are yet to make a deal but have been linked to a few players, most recently Joey Gallo of the New York Yankees, as Bob Nightengale would report.

Coming out of the All-Star break, the Brewers are swinging some hot bats right now, but in terms of upgrades, centerfield is the position that sticks out the most.

As I wrote recently, Tyrone Taylor has an OBP of only .283, and his OPS+ sits at 101, having just crawled above league average during the Boston series. Meanwhile, Jonathan Davis has an OPS of .623 in 26 games and an OPS+ well below league average at 81.

Gallo has centerfield experience from his time with the Texas Rangers, but over the last two seasons with the Yankees, he has rarely played there, spending most of his time at either of the corner outfield positions. With that said, in the past, we’ve seen the Brewers sacrifice defense if they believe they will be getting favorable offense in return. The most obvious example of this is when the team moved Mike Moustakas to second base.

Before being traded to New York last season, Gallo had a four-season stretch with the Rangers, where he averaged an .842 OPS and an OPS+ of 116, along with 113 total home runs. However, since joining the Yankees, he has struggled, and his production has really dipped this season.

Over 273 plate appearances, Gallo is slashing .159/.282/.621 with 12 home runs and only five extra-base hits. Gallo is striking out nearly 39% of the time, although it’s important to note that even at his best, he often had a strikeout rate over 35%.

While contact has been hard to come by, Gallo’s hard-hit rate and barrel rate are among the best in baseball–not to mention that he is drawing walks at an almost 15% clip–which is on par with his career average.

This would be a move made by the Brewers where they are very much hoping that a change of scenery and playing at American Family Field would help Gallo regain some of his old form.

Now, with that said, if a deal were to be made, it’s important to remember that Gallo is still going to strike out a lot — it’s just what he does — and in all likelihood, his batting average isn’t going to be all that good. He is a career .201 hitter.

But what the Brewers would hopefully be getting is a power bat who also draws a lot of walks and hits the ball hard when put in play. As a left-handed hitter, perhaps Craig Counsell has Gallo platoon with the right-handed Taylor.

Gallo would be a rental, as he will hit free agency following the season. He is also owed about $3.4 million as well for the remainder of the season, according to MLB Trade Rumors, which would be an affordable amount for the Brewers.