Texas Rangers need more power in the lineup. So why would they trade Joey Gallo?
No matter what your opinion is of Jon Daniels, one thing is undeniable about the Texas Rangers general manager: He likes to make deals ahead of the MLB trade deadline.
Granted, the ones made the past few years have been to make the Rangers better in future seasons instead of the rest of the current one. That again is the case this season, though nothing had been finalized when this thing hit the World Wide Web.
Daniels has made three deals at the deadline that led to playoff appearances.
He traded Mark Teixeira in 2007 for a group of Atlanta Braves prospects that included future All-Stars Elvis Andrus, Matt Harrison and Neftali Feliz. They became central to the team’s runs to the World Series in 2010 and 2011.
He made two trades well ahead of the 2010 deadline, acquiring Cliff Lee from Seattle and Bengie Molina from San Francisco. Both of them were key players in the club’s first run to a World Series.
The 2015 trade for Cole Hamels helped the Rangers win two straight American League West titles, but also was the beginning of a full-on gut of the farm system that the Rangers are still attempting to overcome.
Maybe some of that will be alleviated Monday, when the Rangers don’t play.
They played Sunday, and it went like much of the rest of the season.
Here’s some Rangers Reaction from a 7-2 loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Trade talk
When the Rangers traded Jurickson Profar in December 2018, part of their thinking involved the likelihood that they would be able to re-sign him.
His agent is Scott Boras, and the Rangers had received no indication that Profar would be willing to sign an extension that would keep him with the team that signed out as a 16-year-old.
That’s relevant now because Joey Gallo’s agent is Scott Boras, and Gallo is at the same point in arbitration that Profar was, with two years of club control remaining. And there this: ESPN’s Jeff Passan reported that the Rangers have been discussing Gallo in talks ahead of the trade deadline.
Trading Gallo would still come as a surprise, even though he is hitting only .183 and hasn’t hit a home runs since Aug. 19. The Rangers are likely asking a lofty price for him.
He also remains the Rangers’ biggest offensive threat in a lineup that doesn’t have many, and he is a terrific defensive right fielder.
The Rangers should build around Gallo, not trade him.
The brevity of the season might be playing head games with Gallo. He has always been the kind of player who frequently puts too much pressure on himself.
The lack of any protection in the lineup is also helping to stifle his power. Teams don’t have to pitch to him, and are particularly careful even when they do.
“We don’t slug it a lot right now,” manager Chris Woodward said. “Depending who we go after, whether it is a younger version of a potential superstar, I don’t know how we access that via free agency next year.
“We do need a little more firepower, especially in the middle of the lineup to carry the load at times. You see other teams, especially in our division, they are middle-heavy and it makes it tough for that opposing team to pitch to you. That is something we have missed this year.”
But if contenders are calling about Gallo, they likely envision dropping him in the middle of two hitters who have a more fearsome pedigree than Jose Trevino and Todd Frazier, who sandwiched Gallo on Sunday.
The Rangers should try to their best to extend Gallo if they don’t trade him. They should then do their best to put some better power hitters around him for next season.
The biggest trade buzz involves Lance Lynn. The Rangers have a few players on expiring contracts who could fetch some prospects in return, like Mike Minor and Shin-Soo Choo (full no-trade protection), but nothing like a Lynn package would produce.
Or a Gallo package.
Pitcher-friendly?
The Dodgers connected for five home runs in the three-game series and had one taken away in the opener on a leaping catch by Leody Taveras. The Rangers hit three.
The Rangers have allowed 22 homers in their first 19 games at Globe Life Field. They have hit 10 home runs.
For all the talk that the new $1.2 billion ballpark was going to favor pitchers, a very good case can be made that the Rangers’ batting order is responsible for the pitcher-friendliness.
It’s not like the Rangers are knocking the ball out of visiting ballparks. They have 17 road home runs in 14 games, and their 27 total homers are last in the league.
Opponents have seen balls that would be homers in other ballparks turn into outs. That happened in the season opener to Trevor Story of the Colorado Rockies, and it has happened to Rangers hitters.
The Rangers, though, are no longer a team that can mash their way to a victory.
“You’ve got to keep going,” catcher Jeff Mathis said. “It’s a little different from the teams I’m used to and what I played against. We don’t have that firepower the Rangers have had in the past. We just have find a way to score runs.”
There are no cheap homers at Globe Life Field. A hitter can’t just miss a ball and count on it to carry past the fence.
Not even Gallo. Well, maybe Gallo.
The fact is that opposing lineups have more power, are hitting more balls harder at Globe Life Field and they are going farther.
Put some more punch in the Rangers’ lineup and see what happens.
How about a hit?
The Rangers didn’t need a home run in the third inning, when they loaded the bases with no outs while trailing 4-0.
The heart of the order, spots 3-5 were coming up against a rookie pitcher Tony Gonsolin, who was having issues finding the strike zone.
He uncorked a wild pitch as No. 2 hitter Nick Solak batted, which allowed Taveras to score. Solak then walked to again load the bases.
Trevino, though, popped out. Gallo took a called third strike on a pitch that should have been ball four, and Frazier struck out swinging.
That was as pivotal in the final outcome as Kyle Gibson allowing three home runs in the first three innings.
“It ended up being the game,” Woodward said. “To come out of it only 4-1, that hurt.”
Trevino has batted ninth this season but is now in the three-hole because of a recent hot streak. Gallo is Gallo. Frazier’s big bat has largely disappeared since a 10-game hitting streak earlier this month.
Solak might be the Rangers’ next-best power threat. Rougned Odor has power, but he also has an eye infection and a .150 batting average.
But the Rangers needed a single. A sacrifice fly, like the one Mathis delivered in the fourth, would have done wonders. Gallo getting a favorable call would have made a big difference, too.
“Joey got a couple of good rips I think he would like to have back, middle of the plate and swung through,” Woodward said. “Then he takes a really close 3-2 pitch that I thought wasn’t a strike. That kind of swung the whole inning.”
This story was originally published August 30, 2020 at 7:10 PM.
