Perspectives: Gallo, Loudness, and More

By Paul Semendinger

July 12, 2022

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By all measures, Joey Gallo has had a terrible time in New York. As a Yankee, he is hitting .163. That's not just bad, it's horrific. He does walk a lot, but even with his walks, his On Base Percentage is still under .300 (at .295). The Joey Gallo Experiment has been a disaster.

The 2022 Yankees were so good in the season's first half that they created a dynamic that wasn't present at the start of the season... they set the bar at the highest level. Fans, experts, the media, even the players, I am sure, expect a World Series victory for this team. Anything less at this point would be a huge disappointment.

The question is, can the Yankees win a World Series with Joey Gallo in the lineup? Conventional wisdom (which I agree with) is that the Yankees can't win a World Series with Joey Gallo as a regular player on this team. I don't necessarily believe in "clutch," but I do believe that some players wilt under pressure. Joey Gallo seems to be one of them. I'm amazed that Gallo, a fly ball hitter, a slugger, has only two career sacrifice flies. I think that's telling. He seems to be a player who can't come through when the situation calls for it. It seems that the pressure of playing in New York has gotten to Gallo. Some players can step up, others can't.

I think all who follow baseball agree that it's time for Gallo to be traded. It's time for the Yankees to go a new direction. I feel bad for Gallo, to a point, but I also know that he could thrive in a different environment. And that would be a good thing. Gallo hasn't hit, but unlike most players who come to the Yankees and fail, it doesn't seem that he alienated the fans the way other disappointing players have. I hear a lot of, "Too bad for Gallo. I was really pulling for the guy." I didn't hear people saying things like that about Carl Pavano, Sonny Gray, Jacoby Ellsbury, and so many others. As they played poorly, those players seemed to infuriate the fanbase. Not Gallo. I hope he's traded, soon, and I also hope that he finds peace, happiness, and success in a different city with a different team. I hope he starts hitting 40 homers a season again.

All that being said, courtesy of the great Katie Sharp, it must be noted that in games Joey Gallo starts, the Yankees are 45-14. That's a .762 winning percentage. You read that right. The 2022 Yankees are a better team when Joey Gallo starts. The Yankees are only 16-11 (.592) when he doesn't start. Some how, fluke luck, a roll of the dice, or whatever, the Yankees have been a much better team when Gallo is in the lineup. They just have. Period. As the Yankees look to trade him, they must make sure that the player they get to replace him can at least do the things he has done well enough. This includes playing pretty good defense and having a throwing arm that is respected throughout the league.

It's time for Joey to go, but just trading him for a bag of balls won't necessarily be the correct move.

I have to wonder what would happen if Gallo wasn't traded... would the Yankees be in trouble? The easy answer is - probably, but the history of the post season is replete with un heralded players performing at the highest levels. If Gallo is a Yankee in October, there is a fair chance that he could have a great post season. Why not? It's happened before. Look down the list of Yankees who have had big post season home runs. Along with the stars, there have been others: Bucky Dent, Aaron Boone, Jim Leyritz, Scott Brosius, Raul Ibanez, Greg Bird... on and on. David Weathers had a 9.36 ERA with the 1996 Yankees in the regular season. In the post season, he went 2-0, 0.82 in seven games. No one saw that coming. No one.

Joey Gallo has the skills and the ability to do the same. It could happen. It just might... You read it here first.

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Last night, I watched a replay of the rant that a personality on WFAN went on with a caller, yelling and yelling and screaming and such earlier that day. I saw this on Twitter. I wish I hadn't. The subject of the disagreement happened to be Joey Gallo.

People were calling the rant "epic." Call me crazy, but I greatly dislike when sports show hosts yell at the callers. I didn't think it was epic. I thought it was demeaning to that sports personality. Hearing things like that makes me want to listen less and less to that program. That's just me. Maybe some people like the yelling. I don't.

I don't listen to sports radio often. The rant ended with the radio personality saying, "I hate you." The co-host just laughed. No, I didn't like it at all. I have found that listening to WQXR or Q104.3 are much better ways to spend my driving time.