Joey Gallo’s time with the Yankees finally came to an end on Tuesday.
The struggling outfielder has been dealt to the Los Angeles Dodgers for Double-A pitcher Clayton Beeter. The Dodgers will pay around $4 that is left on Gallo’s salary, according to Jon Heyman.
The trade ends what had been a disastrous tenure in New York, as Gallo struggled to recreate the production that he had in Texas.
Gallo had taken the brunt of the ire from Yankees fans this season as he struggled at the plate. He was batting .159 in 233 at-bats and struck out 106 times in 2022 alone.
Gallo also had an on-base percentage of .282 and a slugging percentage of .339. The outfielder, who the Yankees picked up last season in a trade with the Texas Rangers, has faced a barrage of boos during his at-bats at Yankee Stadium and was a constant punching bag for New York’s windbags behind the mic on sports talk radio.
Yankees manager Aaron Boone had only briefly spoken with Gallo after the trade was finalized and he was hoping to see him when he swung by Yankee Stadium to pick up some things later in the day.
“We know it’s been a tough really calendar year for him,” Boone said. “I’ll have the conversation with him. I have a lot respect for him. I have a lot of respect for how he worked, how he carried himself. Who he was in that room and I think a lot of us really feel for the situation he was in and the burden he felt, and carried. I think a lot of us, myself included very much hope he goes and kind of recaptures what we know he’s capable of doing. I’ll truly be rooting for him from afar.”
The picture painted of Gallo’s two seasons in New York was not a pretty one. In 501 plate appearances, he has batted .159 while hitting just 25 home runs and striking out 194 times.
The struggles had forced Gallo to limit his time on the streets of New York and he took a big hit to his confidence, he told NJ.com in an interview published on Tuesday. Things got to a point where Gallo even had players from other teams reaching out to try and keep his spirits up.
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“Kansas City guys reached out to me over the weekend. A bunch of guys,” Gallo said in the interview. “It makes me feel like a piece of s–t, honestly. I remember playing here with the Rangers, watching (Yankees) get booed off the field and thinking, ‘Holy s–t! I feel bad for that guy.’ Now it’s me. I do appreciate people reaching out, but it makes me feel like I’m a problem.:”
Beeter has pitched 51.2 innings with Double-A Tulsa this season and has a 5.75 ERA. The Dodgers had drafted Beeter in the supplemental second round in 2020 and he is ranked 15th among Los Angeles prospects by MLB.com.
