If the Padres continue to scuffle offensively, they could turn to a familiar target from outside the organization: the Rangers’ Joey Gallo. The Padres are trying to weather a storm of injuries and cold bats, but while they wait for Austin Nola and Trent Grisham to return from the injured list, it’s easy to speculate about potential additions, and few would be as exciting as Gallo.
Remember, the Padres had interest in Gallo at last year’s trade deadline, but they balked at moving CJ Abrams or Luis Patino. That price may still be too high, but the Padres remain “particularly interested” in Gallo, writes the Athletic’s Dennis Lin. The trade market is still developing, however, and the Ranger’s aren’t likely to make Gallo a quick-strike target. Even with diminished power outputs the past two seasons – .197 ISO in 2020 and .181 ISO this season – Gallo would be one of the higher-end pieces available, should the Rangers make him so.
After all, even though his slugging percentage has fallen under .400 SLG the past two seasons, Gallo has begun to bounce back this year thanks to an above-average ability to get on base (18.7 percent walk rate). Through 241 plate appearances, he now has a 119 wRC+ with a batting line of .207/.365/.389. He has an improved .226 ISO/.435 SLG since May 15th.
For the Padres, Gallo’s ability to play all three outfield positions holds some value, mostly because of the injury concerns around their starting trio of Grisham, Tommy Pham, and Wil Myers. All three have spent time on the injured list this season. But it’s Gallo’s overall offensive ability that brings the most appeal for a team that has struggled to score runs of late. The Friars have just a 74 team wRC+ over the past two weeks, the third-lowest mark in the Majors in that time.
Gallo sucks
Please no.
Took the words right out of my mouth.
The only thing sucking is your momma douchebag.
I’m a hard core Rangers fan, and I can’t wait for him to hopefully be off the team. The only player who has been more frustrating to watch (in recent Ranger history) has been Odor.
Don’t worry Padres, you have current Hall of Famer Junior Tatis!
I don’t get it with Gallo. I wouldn’t want him starting for my team.
IMHO, Adam Frazier (2B, OF) from the Pirates is a better option based on this years overall numbers and rhe versatility he offers to play IF and OF.
His price will be substantially less and they need more placesetters, especially if/when Pham goes down. Frazier ha done well in the spacious PNC, just imagine the holes he’d find in Petco. Would almost be ashame to see how much more productive he’d be with Reynolds settling into the 3-hole and Ke’Bryan back.
Frazier’s price will not be low.
“substantially less” does not mean low — more speaks to the Gallo asking price (chicks dig the long ball). Frazier should still get a top-100 prospect-plus.
Frazier will likely be the Pirates lone All-Star. Doubtful his price is low.
Remember when the O’Malley’s sold the Dodgers because Peter was worried about his heirs and skyrocketing salaries? Looks like the heirs are able to handle it with the Padres.
So Peter O’Malley should have predicted TV rights would be worth billions of dollars in the future?
Before that TV deal, the Padres had basically done exactly what O’Malley feared would happen to the dodgers if he didn’t sell… be mediocre and mostly irrelevant for multiple decades
That’s like saying everyone should have known in the 90s that Apple would be bigger than Microsoft in 2020. Get in early, right?
They saw that they struggle against the AAA Mets and decided they needed to get better lol!
its a shame too, the Mets might be good themselves if they weren’t a AAA team.
Curious what the price would be. If it’s still Abrahams+…. Padres should run imo
Who is Abrahams?
Abrams is a top-10 SS prospect for SD.
Yes, I know. Abrams is a top 8 MLB prospect, but who is Abrahams?
Funny…
Kris Bryant can play 3rd, 1st and all 3 OF spots, why not go for it?
didnt Gallo make a stink about playing certain positions in the past too?
Why would the Cubs sell ?
Why should the cubs sell?
Can their pitching really carry them to a ws?
Do they have enough on the farm to be buyers to make them ws contenders?
Cubs have a lot of impending free agents
Bryant, Baez, Rizzo first and foremost according to sportsrac.
If you can get long term mlb ready or close to pieces cubs should retool instead of getting comp picks when they QO the 3 players and rebuild.
Making the playoffs is usually the goal. If they stay in first or in striking distance of first, they aren’t going to sell.
Bc there Is only two real contenders.
Dodgers
Mets
Mets don’t have the offense to last with the big boys
Not rn… wait till everyone gets back. Don’t give the BS when they didn’t hit the first two weeks when half their games got cancelled…. can’t get in rhythm you won’t hit…
Wait until they get their guys back and Lindor takes off. They had one of the best offenses in baesball last year, and added Lindor. Not saying it will happen for sure, but if things click I think the Mets are the third best team in baseball, man for man. Behind only the Dodgers and Padres, and not that much behind.
Lol! The Mets will only be competing with the Phillies and Nats for third place when its September, and tha’s being geenrous. New year, same old lolmets.
It’s funny how the yanks have no shot of winning the division this year and will probably miss the playoffs..
I’m not really a Joey fan but the Padres could do a lot worse. The Rangers have been hitting with the roof closed (constant rain in Texas this year) and that really dampens power. Least that’s what I have heard. I have no proof on that.
Wow, if now we’re making excuses like this baseball is doomed!
@rocky7 Its no different than talking about how any pitchers park will curtail a power hitters abilities.
Mr Payne! please tend to your neglected fantasy team!
Is Boris leaking out this information to generate interest in a player that really shouldn’t be getting any?
Tyler Naquin + Sonny Gray if the price is reasonable.
Think both are free agents at end of the season so they’d be purely rentals.
Sonny Gray has two more years left on his contract. Slightly more than a rental.
I’m a Ranger fan, and I’m torn on Gallo. Love the power, love the defense, love the walks. But the strikeouts and avg Baffle me along with the rest of the baseball world. And the emergence Of Garcia and Calhoun make him more expendable than in recent years. But what really concerns me is the Rangers inability to develop their top prospects into more than .210 hitters that can hit 20-30 homers a season (profar, Gallo, mazara) , 40 in gallon case. Just hope Chris young can turn things around for us
Watching a player walk to first is quite a highlight. I’d rather watch him bunt against the shift. At least there’s element of surprise.
Rangers should trade Garcia alongside Gallo. Gibson and Kennedy too. Bring in as much talent as possible.
Why would we trade Garcia? That’d be stupid. He’s our best player right now, has 4-5 yrs of control, and makes 500k a year right now
Gallo could use some help with his launch angle problem. Level his swing and he could be an all star outfielder. Not a bad risk if the Padres are going for it. The question is: what do you give up? Rangers hitters are paralyzed by analytics.
Gallo and Ian Kennedy for Jagger Haynes (LHSP) Mason Thompson (RHRP) and Victor Acosta (SS).
Look, I like Haynes and Acosta. But Gallo and Kennedy are going to be among the best available at their positions at the deadline. The headliner needs to be a bit better than a guy struggling in relief at the AAA level. Swap Thompson out for Lange or Ona and I think that would be an intriguing deal for both sides.
in an era where most hits are out of the park and pitchers can’t throw for strikes, how valuable is Gallo?
Pitchers are throwing more strikes this season than they have in years.
Gallo is fine as a complimentary player on a good team but he’s not a star. I wouldn’t give up a top 10 prospect or want him on a long term deal. He’d make the yanks a better team at the moment but that says a lot more about the disgrace that is 2/3 of NY’s OF than Gallo being an “impact” player.
Gallo and Jon Daniels for AJ Preller back???
I loathe JD.
Preller must know something we don’t!
I saw the Pads beat reporter post a tweet saying Max Scherzer could start for the Pads on july 31. As a Nats fan do you think the Nats could get Abrams. I would say probably not. Is Campusano an option? I would only support a max trade if we get good prospects not just a few lames
There is no way that the Padres would give up 6+ years of either Campusano or Abrams for a half season of Scherzer, no matter how good he is pitching. The Padres have made it clear that they are both trying to contend now and for the long term. They view Campusano and Abrams as huge pieces of their future success. I would say that it’s much more likely that the Padres aim for a Sonny Gray type if they end pursuing another SP at the deadline. A solid mid rotation starter who won’t cost them any of their 3-4 remaining elite prospects.
I wouldn’t say never. If scherzer signed an extension I could def see a bigger prospect bundle
Gray has two years left on his deal. Expect to lose one of Abrams or Campusano if they try and trade for Gray. Mostly like it would cost Abrams as the Reds need a true SS.
At this point in time Abrams value is about 3x that of Campusano and 2x that of Gray.
Depends on the price. He may be a good “change of scenery” candidate, if he’s suddenly on a winning team…. But no way I’d overpay for him.
A guy who hits a shade above .200 with a 35% strikeout rate is “exciting”? Not to mention he’s hardly the model of durability. The bar is set pretty low for exciting in this case.
This is a good time to acquire Gallo. To me, his current OPS+ of 113 appears sustainable, and I would expect slight upside to that number. Combine that with very good fielding, and that is a pretty good player.
As a RS, I’d be pleased to see the RS pick him up and play him in CF. Like the writer mentions, I don’t think he is worth a Patino or Abrams level prospect, but I think he ranks well above-average.
That OPS+ is based heavily on walks, where he leads the AL. And he leads the AL in walks mostly because there’s only one other competent hitter on the Rangers (Adolis Garcia). Pitchers just pitch around him (Garcia is hard to walk).
That cuts both ways. If they can no longer pitch around him, they need to give him more pitches that he can hit.
It would cost the RS too much to trade for him.
Gallo stays healthy which is more than you can say for the other 3 Padres outfielders
I don’t think it would be worth it for the Padres to acquire Gallo unless he came at quite a bargain price. Tommy Pham has a .940 OPS over his past 15 games, and while him, Grisham and Myers have been injury prone this season, I think they are all better overall hitters than Gallo when fully healthy. Profar isn’t that awful as a fourth outfielder, either. I guess I just don’t think that they should give up much just to use Gallo as an active fourth outfielder. Why not acquire a cheap, decent backup outfielder and use those prospects to acquire more pitching instead?
I think targeting a guy who is more of a 4th OF makes a lot of sense. Maybe a veteran rental like Josh Reddick or Jarrod Dyson. Either one would be pretty cheap to acquire and would provide more LH depth.
Logistically part of the problem with them adding a bench piece though is they don’t really have the roster space because Mateo is out of options and I think Kim has some language in his contract about not being sent down.
Love all the Patino trade talk while he plays for the Rays AAA Durham.
He was mentioned in the article that the Padres refused to pay that price. I think most folks know that he was traded. Patino is more about the price that the Rangers are asking.
Not a bad guy for the Mets to look at. No clue when nimmo gets back and they could use the help immediately as we all know. But then I believe Gallo has one more year of control so they can use him when Conforto hits the market for next year. Curious what the rangers would want for him.
Preller will fleece Daniels per usual. I’d say acquire him it won’t cost much knowing how preller works
Joey Gallo is on his way to becoming another Crush Davis. The Padres are dumb if they think he’s the answer to their problems.
Take J-Up off the Angels hands, you can have him for free!
Justin uptown is dog doo doo only plays when he wants toooo ….. chiiiild pppplease!!!
You’re just saying that because you got burned by Melvin.
Preller sure does love his ex-Rangers. Or current Rangers for that matter.
I would be extremely concerned moving Gallo away from Arlington
.216/.352/.521/.873 in Texas
.201/.311/.453/.764 on road
Dudes the guy we need and there’s little debate about it is peralta from the snakes he immediately upgrades our outfield and probably puts our offense over the top with speed and obp
Good luck with getting him from the Diamondbacks.
Are you guys seeing something from Peralta that I am not?
.245/.302/.409/.711 with 4-HR compared to
.207/.365/.389/..754 with 10-HR from Gallo? Tommy Pham’s numbers are as good as the 2 of them!
Teams won’t be getting top-50 prospects in mlb for guys like these. The Padres wouldn’t trade Gore, Abrams, Patino or Campusano for Syndergaard when he was absolutely dominating! They won’t dip into that stash for any underperforming outfielder at the trade deadline.
Gallo has only averaged 96 games since being a full time player. His season is, statistically, half over.
Why not if the price is right. No way he fetches 1 of the Padres top 5 prospects, but maybe someone closer to top 10?
I’m as disappointed by Pham as anyone but his last 30 games: BA 265, OBP .413, OPS .895, SLG .482, SB 6, HR 4. Small sample but the OBP is particularly impressive.
If the Pads decide to bring in another OF it should be a major improvement (which would cost them a top prospect like Campusano) not a minor one. Or they settle for another depth piece (inexpensive) with options, preferably a L with power who can PH.
Do you have an outfielder in mind who they could or should target?
Sure, but it all comes down to ownership and what they want to spend on a rental or long term, as well as who the sellers are. Castellanos would be rental upgrade for playoff push. Maybe Marte too. Doesn’t look like Cubs (Bryant) will be sellers especially if Pads keep losing to them. I’d rather they look for a long term deal though via trade. Pham is decent lately, Grisham should be back soon. At some point Myers gets hot, streaky as he is. Maybe they hold pat on OF and address C (Stallings) or P issues at trade deadline instead. This lineup could use power but not lower BA and more strikeouts. They need hitters not sluggers.
He would fit right in with the pathetic bats in the Padres OF recently.
In fairness Grisham is hurt and Myers isn’t 100% either.
Pham is just now getting all the strawberry scented glitter out of his eyeballs from the offseason.
Pass on Gallo. The Padres should go after a rental (Escobar) or if their seeking a longer term piece they should look at acquiring Reynolds from the Pirates.
Reynolds is the best of the OFs mentioned by far. 4 years of arbitration, he is young and he is easily the best defensively and offensively. He would also cost the most. HE is the kind of player who might actually cost a prospect like Abrams or Campusano. I don’t see the Padres trading them.
I just don’t get it with Gallo, he has always struck out a lot and now his power seems to be fading. Why does his name always come up as the answer for any team?
Why don’t the Padres just bring back Renfroe? Or sign Yasiel Puig? They seem basically interchangeable with Gallo.
Because when a guy has a great 70 games like Gallo had a few years back it takes like a gazillion years of regression for some fans to admit he’s just not that good.
….. or there’s an injury that directly correlates to his downturn, and fans think he will be 2019 Gallo again, once he’s healthy
teams like Sd imo should pass. A fringe contender with a good offensive park could look at him as a buy low sell high guy. Or, perhaps he recovers so much he’s the center of a surprise run. Cincy, Arizona, even Anaheim or Colorado. I don’t think any of them will actually do it, but that’s the type of team that should look at Gallo
You keep saying that, but it is a lot more than 70 games. Gallo was #33 in wOBA from 2017-2019. If you took his worst year out of 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, you would have a player with an OPS+ of 109 with GG-caliber fielding.
To me, he is very much a Hunter Renfroe type of player. Good fielding, with a lot of HRs, and a lot of Ks. There is a lot of value with that, but they sometimes get overlooked because of the low average.
I’m not saying he’s not a good player. It’s just that for a hot minute he looked like, despite the K rate, he could be great. He’s good, not great. Although I’d take him over Renfroe any day, but I see the comparison.
Good, that was my only point, and what I believe should be the driving narrative here, The SDP need an outfielder, and Gallo is a pretty good outfielder. Way too many posters treat this as a binary decision, like if he isn’t great, then he is a bum.
If Gallo could learn to bunt to the left side his average would raise maybe a 100 points. Watching the defensive positioning against him and him hitting right into it is so ridiculous!!!
Joey Gallo AKA Chris Davis (cheaper version)
Perhaps the Padres should have kept Franmil around… although they wouldn’t have Austin Nola if they hadn’t traded him for Taylor Trammell. Speaking of Nola, can’t he play the outfield? Why not use him in left and push Pham to CF while Grisham is out?
Nola can play infield and basically he’s been used there very rarely at 2B or 1B in situations where they want him available to catch still in case an injury happens to the other catcher.
The bigger issue with Nola to LF right now though is he’s on the IL and will be there longer than Grisham probably.
They could have used someone else in the Nola trade if they didn’t have Trammell. Trammell’s trade value dropped like a rock during his one year in SD.