The White Sox announced the signing of Joey Gallo to a minor league contract. The Boras Corporation client will be in camp as a non-roster invitee.
Gallo is looking to rebound from the worst season of his career. The two-time All-Star inked a $5MM free agent deal with the Nationals last January. He appeared in 76 games and hit .161/.277/.336 with 10 homers across 260 plate appearances. Gallo struck out in 39.2% of his plate appearances, the second-highest rate among hitters with 200+ trips to the dish. While the whiffs are nothing new, that came with a personal-low 12.3% walk rate and slugging percentage.
It was the third straight season in which Gallo has had a tough time offensively. His bat has dropped sharply since the Yankees acquired him from the Rangers in a big deadline trade in 2021. Gallo had hit .211/.336/.497 over parts of seven seasons in Texas. Since leaving Arlington, he owns a .165/.289/.384 slash in more than 1200 trips to the plate between four teams.
Gallo won consecutive Gold Gloves in the outfield in 2020-21. His sprint speed and defensive grades have dropped since then, though he’s still capable of playing right field. Washington used him mostly at first base last season. He logged nearly 500 innings there while starting just seven games in the outfield.
Chicago is likely to give Andrew Vaughn another chance to take a step forward at first base. Right field is wide open. Mike Tauchman and Austin Slater are probably lined up for a platoon there. Gallo, Dominic Fletcher and former highly-regarded prospect Oscar Colás could compete for reps in camp.
Why not? Some team always wants him, so will make a good trade chip for them.
cbraves: The question becomes, what kind of prospects do they think they can get for these has-beens like Gallo, Dalbac, Slater and Perez, among others?
If any of them have just a decent season, a team with injuries may be willing to overpay for someone like this to fill a void. May not be much of a return, but may get a good wildcard type prospect.
Aside from trade value, they do require 9 guys to stand inside the white lines all summer! Can’t just send kids up there to fail, the system is barely now showing what life could be in five years
Don’t forget Drury…
Between those four players one of them might have something left in the tank. Maybe.
At best they’ll probably get random filler prospects in return, but it’s better than nothing. Also, they’re big league veterans. For a rebuilding team, having that experience around for the young players isn’t a bad thing.
That’s what the Nats thought when they signed him last year.
Can’t hurt as a bench guy with power won’t cost a ton if he makes the team.
No lose situation for Chicago and Gallo gets to stay in the show if he makes the team.
I look at his numbers from last year @ a $5mm contract, and I start to think maybe Bregman is worth $40mm. Then I snap out of it.
The drywall in this dude’s house must be nothing but spackle, after he turned down the Rangers extension.
He probably shorted himself at least $55m by not taking the Rangers’ offer.
Poor fella! That’s a big oops!
The rangers offer was like $85 million through 2026 maxing out at $100 mil. Boras and him asked for $300.
Holy f.
Boras doesn’t do extensions
Maybe Gallo should “do extensions”. He had the final say.
How does this guy keep finding employment?
Good hair and interviews well.
He’s still got a good eye, hustles, is a versatile asset on defense, and everyone dreams he’d be able to some day make enough contact to be a value
if he has a “good eye”, then the rest of the package can’t get his bat to the spot he needs to get to based on that K rate. white sox have nothing to lose in this minor league contract. but I can’t see him playing his way out of Charlotte unless there are a slew of injuries.
wishing him well, maybe I’ll get to see him hit some bombs in that beautiful Charlotte stadium.
@MacGromit: I mean, you have seen the Sox roster, right?
Gallo is likely at LEAST sharing time at first, Even with Vaughn and his warning track power, or DH. Though the Sox management is typicalyl inept to have guys like this in the OF as well.
A player who is too stubborn to learn to improve his game does not deserve to take ABs away from younger players.
Not a clog on the basepaths, either.
“Keep finding employment”..MLB is not a charity. It’s a for-profit business, that only gives “employment” to those that they think can help them make more money, sometimes called “winning” in sports.
How has Joey Gallo helped his last few employers?
“Helped his last”…Unfortunately I don’t write posts long enough(I’m still at work)to explain the concept of how a for profit business works.
But, knowing this site, someone else will soon be along to gladly and more throughly explain the concept of business to you.
But, I will add that whether said player can help a given team or company “make money” is in their estimation(and discretion), not yours or mine.
This is your boss. Go back to work!
This is his “union rep” F off…. Oh crap just dropped my phone in the toilet “on break” lol
Clean cut, good face. Good looking ball player.
“Clean cut, good face. Good looking ball player.”
Oh if that only translated to hits.(Then again this org may actually think that does)
The fans enjoy the cooling breezes of his whiff-every-other-at-bat.
He’s not employed yet. He has to make the team first. Mike Moustakas got an invite to camp last year, and he never took a regular-season at-bat in a White Sox uniform. Gallo likely is in the same boat, unless he can prove that he still has the ability to play RF.
At this point, I’m in favor of any move that increases the odds of Dominic Fletcher leaving and staying gone.
When he runs into one it goes out to Mars.
I became aware of this information six days ago when one of my sources saw Mr. Gallo shopping for white and black clothing at the outlet mall by Camelback Ranch
Maybe he was going to a funeral? Going to be in a Blues Brothers cover band? Appearing in Reservoir Dogs 2?
He’s a classic movie fan? He’s color blind? Likes the song ‘Ebony and Ivory’?
“Colir blind..Ebony and Ivory”..You’re overthinking it. It’s obvious that Joey Gallo is a huge fan of Oreo cookies and actually may be angling for an endorsement deal.
My source also told me the only reason a multimillionaire would purchase clothes from a Puma outlet store is to get ready for an epic 23 games in Chitown before getting DFA’d
“Only reason a multi millionaire..Puma store”.. Incidentally, did anybody actually see Joey Gallo on the day that D.B Cooper hijacked that plane?..
Or, the day the Lindberg baby was kidnapped for that matter? I’ve even heard whispers on the street that Joey Gallo may have links to the JFK assassination plot.
DB Cooper was a mythical person and story created by the flight crew and passengers to split the money. The Lindberg baby was a terrible drunken accident that couldn’t be told to cops or the press honestly the way that it went down.
Gallo might’ve been on the grassy knoll though. Tony Gwynn and Wade Boggs definitely weren’t there because they would’ve made contact with the magic bullet and deflected it towards Jackie O. But Gallo would’ve swung a foot over top of it. Being involved in the JFK assassination also might explain why his career plummeted when he left the Rangers…
My dad served in the air force with DB Cooper in Vietnam.
Res. Dogs 2…. Better stop and grab a 1911 for the “waistband”.. “tough guys” love waving those around in everyone’s face, the grip apparently gives them the fixation their little members haven’t been able to provide!!
I’ll stick w/ Jesus, AR-10 30-06 “suppressed”
I know there aren’t bad minor league deals because you might catch lightning in a bottle. But there is no lightning anymore, just an empty bottle.
And it has one of those damn safety caps on it!
Not Gallo, Joey Callo
White Sox have a potentially interesting ballclub heading into training camp
In a 1963 Mets sort of way
I’m rooting for Joey to hit 25+ HRs and .150.
So am I, so the White Sox can flip him at the deadline instead of being DFA’d.
And 220 K’s
Good move. If he has a lucky power surge early with no pressure, place him after Robert in the lineup to help their biggest trade chip see some better pitches. Same thing with Dalbec.
There’s no such thing as a bad minor league contract. Maybe you are just lucky enough to get him when he & Bobby D. Finally have it figured out Major League pitching? Hmmmm? Or not & you simply say adios amigos!
They are gonna suck either way, so it might be worth it
The sabermetrics geniuses allowed guys like this to take 30+ million from the fans.
“Light tower power. This guy will hit a gazillion home runs in Yankee stadium and then join his Yankees colleagues in Monument Park”.
As soon as he left Texas, he was never the same.
Do teams realize this guy is a terrible baseball player? But he just keeps getting opportunities…
“Keeps getting opportunities”..MLB is not a charity. It’s a for-profit business, that only gives “opportunities” to those that they think can help them make more money, sometimes called “winning” in sports.
Thank you for your condescending answer. I guess a guy that hasn’t even come close to hitting .200 since 2021 is a guy that can help a team win…
A minor league deal is on par with his skillset, or lack of.
By OPS+ he actually put together a dead-level league-average season at the plate in ’23. If he can do that again he might be the best hitter on the team. The only guys who did it last year were Moncada (in 45 plate appearances) and Pham (who arrived at the end of July), both departed.
Gallo’s 2023 is the first and only season in baseball history a batter had a batting averavge below .180 and still had a league average or better OPS+ in 300+ plate appearances.
Is it really? There are almost always going to be big outliers in large sets of data. Stathead tracks baseball data back to 1871, and it took until 2023 for a batter to have an OPS+ of 100 or better while hitting under .180 in 300+ plate appearances for it to finally happen. Not only has there been a small portion of batters to get that many plate appearances with that low of a BA to start with (73 to be exact), but only 18 have an OPS+ over 50. Gallo and Rob Deer in 1991 are the only ones with an OPS+ over 85 while hitting under .180 in that many PA’s. You’re going to find outliers when you look through about 150 years of players. If anything, one outlier in 152 years means the stats we use to measure players today are pretty good.
Even if we expand that to players who hit under the mendoza line, Gallo in 2023 and Max Muncy in 2022 are still the only players ever to hit .200 or lower with a 100+ OPS+ in 300+ PAs. Only 13 have ever put up a 90 or greater OPS+ (again, dating back to 1871). It is still very much advised that if you want to be a semi-decent hitter, do not rely on the three-true-outcomes to the degree Gallo does.
I’m glad Gallo is here instead of Gavin Sheets.
Why not…..trying to lose 99 games.
I don’t think they have to try too hard. lol
He makes Dave Kingman look like a contact hitter
Players who can’t bat even .200 over two seasons should be automatically relegated to AAA (or lower) for one year. I’m tired of chumps like Gallo wasting space in a major league uniform. It’s a bad brand of baseball and should be run out of the league.
Even though batting averages are going down, batters who regularly hit under .200 are still uncommon. There are only 6 non-pitchers since 1900 to hit under .200 in 2000+ plate appearances. The rest are catchers. Gallo is one of only 4 players in the last 15 seasons to have three seasons 300+ plate apearances and a sub-.200 BA. Two include Martin Maldonado and Austin Hedges, and the fourth is Chris Davis, who has been out of the league since 2020 and only stuck around because he played on some historically bad Orioles teams. Gallo is still very much a unicorn as he’s the only batter who has found any prolonged success taking three-true-outcomes to the extreme.
The last 2 signings let me know Robert is gone sooner not later.
He’s gone in either July (which means he played well enough to be traded) or November (which means he played poorly enough to be bought out of the option years).
Fingers crossed for a José Abreu reunion. 5 dingers in 22 PR winter league games:)
Yes!
You know what makes gallo better than laroche?
He’s both willing to take a bus to work and admit defeat.
Lotta hate gonna come in this one but good luck gallo
I’ll say on it too. I didn’t know boras negotiations involved minor league contracts for mlb ball players. Is that really worth his time here or a sorry Joey not interested.
Boras gets paid either way. He’s made his bucks signing all the still-good players to big league contracts. Now he’s stocking up on emergency taco bell change.
Very true but is time worth trouble? This contract no. The next. That’s why boras is still here over tearing up the papers.
Might as well be Vinny Gallo.
Perfect fit
Why? I’m sick of hitters who can’t hit their weight and pitchers with 5+ ERA who walk 15% of the batters they face. MLB has too many teams. There’s just not enough talent to go around.
can he play third base? I’ll give you Stroman for him right now straight up.
well now they’re guaranteed to go to the Series. although I don’t know which series.
that sums it up pretty nicely.
Similar batters: Dave Kingman, Rob Deer, Russell Branyan.
Crazy to think he has 4 pist season ABs.
Aging like a fine gallon jug wine, or reclining buddah
I just saw that Gallo hasn’t hit at least .200 for a season since 2019, but has still racked up over 1,800 PAs in that stretch.
That’s crazy.
To be fair Gallo just learned this morning that the goal in baseball as with Donkey Kong and life is to get a high not a low score. Not low as in golf, but high as in bowling. Pledging to turn over a new leaf right this instant
Dingers and walks, my friend. Dingers and walks.
Joey Gallo has always had a positive WAR except 2016 covering 17 games.
“What is it good for”, says that old song, which in the matter of Joey Gallo has never rung so true.
A poor man’s Dave Kingman! Yeah, he’s THAT bad.
Dang 5 million for a .161 average and .3 WAR? Crazy
He’s very accomplished at one of the “true outcomes,” keeps the game moving
They should speed up games with just o e pitch per ab. Swing, miss or dinger. Keep the line moving. Out in 52 minutes
In his peak days he was a fascinating player to watch. Worked a lot of deep counts and you just never knew if/when he was going to get enough of his bat on the ball to launch it into the bleachers. Sucks that he couldn’t stay healthy in 2019. He could’ve snagged some MVP votes at the rate he was playing that year.
If Gallo can replicate his ’24 numbers with the ’25 Sox, he’ll very likely be in the among the team leaders in HRs. Those tots got him fired from the Nats, but with those same numbers with the Sox, he’ll surely win team awards.
Imagine living in 2025 and still thinking batting average matters.
Imagine living in 2025 and thinking that there are great offensive players who hit under .200.
We’ll be able to actually hear those wiffs in that empty park on the Southside
good grief
Maybe the Sox need to sign Julio Gallo as I think every fan is going to be drinking A LOT this season.