Joey Gallo’s disastrous stretch creates Yankees’ dilemma



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Joey Gallo was brought to the Bronx to give the Yankees a helping hand.

Instead, he only created more questions about his future with the team.

Gallo is on contract for another year, but his first two-plus months with the Yankees have been largely disappointing and not exactly what both sides had in mind when he landed here in a Rangers trade on the deadline. .

The left fielder, who is eligible for refereeing after earning $ 6.2 million this season, capped a rough orientation to the Yankees with a 0-for-4 effort on Tuesday night in a 6-2 loss. against the Red Sox in the AL replacement game. at Fenway Park. It was a fitting end for Gallo, who reached .160 with 13 homers, 37 walks, 88 strikeouts and a 93 OPS-plus (100 being the league average) in 58 games for the Yankees over of the regular season.

With Gallo one of the culprits of an underperforming offense that could undergo changes in the offseason, the Yankees will have to decide if they think he can settle down next year with a full season.

Joey gallo
Joey gallo
Robert sabo

In his last eight games of the regular season – a streak in which the pressure has increased, with the Yankees needing to win as many games as possible to advance to the playoffs – Gallo has recorded just two hits in 23 at-bat, plus two walks. , not to mention two costly defensive blunders. A hit was just a perfect dropout on the wide-open third baseline against the Rays, who were playing a four-way outfield against him. The other was another infielder single on a vacant left-side dribbler, taking advantage of the change again.

It’s possible that Gallo’s struggles also influenced third baseman Phil Nevin’s decision to aggressively send Aaron Judge home on Giancarlo Stanton’s rocket single against the Green Monster in the sixth inning on Tuesday. If Nevin had held Judge, the Yankees would have had runners in the corners with one out for Gallo, led 3-1. Instead, he turned into a runner in second with two outs, and Gallo quickly finished the round with a weak pop-up behind third base.

Still, manager Aaron Boone said on Tuesday night he didn’t regret any of his roster decisions, including the Gallo batting cleanup. The Yankees intended his left-handed bat to provide the balance essential to the roster, but it became less effective when his bat failed to deliver more often.

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