Author Topic: Joey Gallo - our lefty power bat (Read 7113 times)

imref · « **Topic Start:** January 23, 2024, 02:50:59 PM »

Welcome Joey Gallo. 1/$5 million plus bonuses.

.177 / .301 / .440 last year, career: .197 / .323 / .466, so Rizzo went out to find the worst possible player to sign.

Slateman · « **Reply #1:** January 23, 2024, 02:58:31 PM »

THE STOVE IS EN FUEGO BOYS

machpost · « **Reply #2:** January 23, 2024, 03:00:18 PM »

Aside from suckers such as myself, who is going to go to the ballpark to observe this drivel?

Slateman · « **Reply #3:** January 23, 2024, 03:04:11 PM »

Quote from: machpost on January 23, 2024, 03:00:18 PM

Aside from suckers such as myself, who is going to go to the ballpark to observe this drivel?

Probably the sams folks who did last year? The NCR being full of tranients benefits ownership.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #4:** January 23, 2024, 03:08:26 PM »

Quote from: imref on January 23, 2024, 02:50:59 PM

Welcome Joey Gallo. 1/$5 million plus bonuses.

.177 / .301 / .440 last year, career: .197 / .323 / .466, so Rizzo went out to find the worst possible player to sign.

well, there's the lefty power bat at the amount they like. In sort of damning by faint praise, a .320 OBP would have been behind Stone, Jeimer, Dom, and Joey among Nats with over 250 PAs last year, and a .741 OPS would have ranked 4th. wOBA would have also been 4th (.320). In all of these numbers, bump him up one among returnees because Jeimer isn't walking through the door again.
Edit - .301 OBP, .320 wOBA - my bad on OBP. Still, .323 OBP lifetime

His D should be good either in left or 1st.

This isn't the guy I wanted, but he should help. Again, damning by faint praise.

imref · « **Reply #5:** January 23, 2024, 03:08:33 PM »

i don't see how Gallo is preferable to Matt Adams on another minor league deal.

machpost · « **Reply #6:** January 23, 2024, 03:10:08 PM »

Quote from: Slateman on January 23, 2024, 03:04:11 PM

Probably the sams folks who did last year? The NCR being full of tranients benefits ownership.

Then I guess I'll enjoy having the ability to stretch out and/or sit mostly wherever I want to, but man, I miss the days when the place was packed every night and sold out most weekends.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #7:** January 23, 2024, 03:12:41 PM »

Quote from: imref on January 23, 2024, 03:08:33 PM

i don't see how Gallo is preferable to Matt Adams on another minor league deal.

he can field well. Never been a complaint about his defense in the OF or 1st.

His Ks and average will make everyone cringe, but even last year, his O was above average. Rebound candidate.

imref · « **Reply #8:** January 23, 2024, 03:20:25 PM »

interesting thing about Gallo is his stats are almost identical against LHP and RHP.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #9:** January 23, 2024, 03:21:48 PM »

My guess is they plan to play him in the field and not DH.

Slateman · « **Reply #10:** January 23, 2024, 03:24:07 PM »

The last four seasons, he has a .416 slugging percentage. We sure this guy still counts as a power bat?

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #11:** January 23, 2024, 03:26:26 PM »

BTW - this is unofficial. Just Feinsand's reporting.
https://www.mlb.com/nationals/news/joey-gallo-nationals-free-agent-contract

Quote

The hope is that Gallo can return to the player he was a few years ago, when he hit 151 home runs across 573 games from 2017-21, including 38 or more in three seasons. Gallo has always hit for strikingly low averages, but he reached new extremes the past two seasons, hitting .168 while failing to hit for enough power (40 home runs in 227 games) to make up for it.

But there’s good news: Although his contact numbers are unimpressive, Gallo was still a net positive with the bat last season, posting a 104 wRC+. Gallo continued walking at an excellent pace (14.5 percent) and posted an elite hard-hit (52.9 percent) and barrel rate (19.3 percent). Any improvement in his bat-to-ball skills would help him go from average to good with the bat in a hurry.

Gallo was a bit below average in the field over the past two seasons, but from 2018-21, he was worth 7 Outs Above Average, so there’s still a shot he can provide some value with the glove. He’s also been a solid baserunner throughout his career, providing three baserunning runs in his career, per Statcast. FanGraphs has also rated him as a positive contributor on the bases every year of his career.

They also mention his season started strong but fell apart with a May injury. I suppose the idea is that this a Jeimer-like signing where there are reasons to hope for a bounceback and a deal. Still leaves us with less than $10 million spent on FAs this season.

Natsinpwc · « **Reply #12:** January 23, 2024, 03:26:43 PM »

Quote from: Slateman on January 23, 2024, 03:24:07 PM

The last four seasons, he has a .416 slugging percentage. We sure this guy still counts as a power bat?

Compared to Dom. Dollar Store power bat.

Senatorswin · « **Reply #13:** January 23, 2024, 03:26:55 PM »

He'll be taking at-bats away from guys who should be playing every day to see if they're keepers or not.

JCA-CrystalCity · « **Reply #14:** January 23, 2024, 03:27:52 PM »

Quote from: Slateman on January 23, 2024, 03:24:07 PM

The last four seasons, he has a .416 slugging percentage. We sure this guy still counts as a power bat?

barrels, hard hits . . . that .416 SLG is still probably over .200 ISO.

Could you live with .329 OBP / .493 SLG and a .350 wOBA? That was Gallo last season through 5/31.

imref · « **Reply #15:** January 23, 2024, 03:36:26 PM »

Quote from: Senatorswin on January 23, 2024, 03:26:55 PM

He'll be taking at-bats away from guys who should be playing every day to see if they're keepers or not.

who? Meneses and Gallo will split 1B/DH duties assuming Garrett is healthy and plays LF until Crews arrives.

blue911 · « **Reply #16:** January 23, 2024, 03:41:22 PM »

Can’t wait for Darnell to fix ‘em. Get rid of those pesky homers in no time.

welch · « **Reply #17:** January 23, 2024, 03:42:29 PM »

Is Gallo that much better than MAT?

imref · « **Reply #18:** January 23, 2024, 03:42:52 PM »

Guess the player's last season before signing with the Nats:

A. .265 / .334 /.497
B. .177 /.301 /.440
C. .247 / .346 / .505

If you guessed "Nelson Cruz, Joey Gallo, and Eric Thames", congratulations.

Mattionals · « **Reply #19:** January 23, 2024, 03:43:36 PM »

I hope I am wrong, but no moves would have been better than this

Senatorswin · « **Reply #20:** January 23, 2024, 03:46:41 PM »

Quote from: imref on January 23, 2024, 03:36:26 PM

who? Meneses and Gallo will split 1B/DH duties assuming Garrett is healthy and plays LF until Crews arrives.

He's a waste of time and will add nothing. Meneses should play first every day. Garrett should be in left every day. When prospects come up they shouldn't have to sit any games while we watch old Joey to hit below the Mendoza line.

imref · « **Reply #21:** January 23, 2024, 03:49:21 PM »

Quote from: Senatorswin on January 23, 2024, 03:46:41 PM

He's a waste of time and will add nothing. Meneses should play first every day. Garrett should be in left every day. When prospects come up they shouldn't have to sit any games while we watch old Joey to hit below the Mendoza line.

You could make a case I guess for Riley Adams to DH against LHP I suppose.

imref · « **Reply #22:** January 23, 2024, 03:53:11 PM »

So the OD lineup now looks something like this:

1. Abrams
2. Thomas
3. Gallo (DH)
4. Ruiz
5. Meneses (1B)
6. Garrett
7. Garcia
8. Senzel
9. Robles

This is going to be a long season.

Slateman · « **Reply #23:** January 23, 2024, 03:58:41 PM »

Quote from: JCA-CrystalCity on January 23, 2024, 03:27:52 PM

barrels, hard hits . . . that .416 SLG is still probably over .200 ISO.

Could you live with .329 OBP / .493 SLG and a .350 wOBA? That was Gallo last season through 5/31.

103 wRC+, low .700s OPS.

Through May doesnt help this team next year. No one is trading for him based on the first two months if the season.

This is nothing more than a lottery ticket of a free agency signing. Which is fine, but like there were significantly better options.

Senatorswin · « **Reply #24:** January 23, 2024, 04:12:29 PM »

Quote from: imref on January 23, 2024, 03:49:21 PM

You could make a case I guess for Riley Adams to DH against LHP I suppose.

They need to decide what they're going to do with Pineda and Millas also. One of these guys should go to AAA and the other go north. Joey taking up a spot. I also agree what somebody else said if you wanted something like this Matt Adams would of been better.