Dodgers News: LA Acquires Two-Time All-Star Outfielder From New York Yankees
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The Los Angeles Dodgers missed out on the Juan Soto sweepstakes. The Nationals' superstar was dealt to the Padres earlier on this day, which seems to last forever, for half of the Padres farm. Despite the hold-up in the trade involving Eric Hosmer, who is now going to Boston, the deal is done.
The Dodgers had to pivot to something new since the Soto deal went down. The Dodgers pivoted to Andrew Friedman's favorite hobby, a reclamation project. Welcome to LA, Joey Gallo.
I'm not going to sugarcoat it. This deal is an odd one. Gallo has not hit well in 2022 and did not hit well for much of 2021. He currently sports a .159 average for the year and an OPS of .621 for the Yankees.
In 2021 he did post a .869 OPS for the Rangers with an OPS+ of 138. In 2019 he had an OPS of .986 and Gallo has previously shown to be probably the most powerful bat in the major leagues not named Aaron Judge. Per Statcast, Gallo has the number one power tool in baseball.
Clayton Beeter is going to New York in the deal. He was the team‘s number 15 prospect and showed a lot of life at AA.
Andrew Friedman and the Dodgers love taking cast-offs from other teams. No further example can be found than Trayce Thompson, who has posted a .894 OPS with the Dodgers and has been as clutch as they come for the boys in blue.
Overall, the Dodgers have been underwhelming at this trade deadline, but their transaction align with the previous comments of Dave Roberts and Clayton Kershaw that LA doesn't need massive improvements to compete for a title.
Gallo is a name but not a particularly big one. There are still a few hours so this sentence may be outdated by then.
