New York Yankees set to acquire Joey Gallo from Texas Rangers for six minor leaguers

The New York Yankees are concluding a deal to acquire outfielder Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Wednesday night.

The deal is pending a medical review.

The Rangers will get right-handers Glenn Otto and Randy Vasquez, second baseman Ezequiel Duran, shortstop Josh Smith, second baseman/outfielder Trevor Hauver and outfielder Everson Pereira from New York, sources told Passan.

Gallo was a late scratch from the Rangers’ lineup ahead of Wednesday night’s game versus the visiting Arizona Diamondbacks, with speculation that a trade was in the works.

That proved to be the case, with the Yankees swooping in and acquiring arguably the fiercest left-handed bat on the trade market to go with fellow New York sluggers Giancarlo Stanton and Aaron Judge.

New York’s left-handed hitters have struggled this campaign, ranking last in the majors in average (.197), 28th in home runs (22) and OPS (.633) and 29th in hard-hit rate (33%).

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Gallo should help.

He has spent all seven of his major league seasons with Texas, but the Rangers — an American League West-worst 36-65 entering Wednesday — have been in unloading mode, with Gallo their prized player.

A two-time All-Star, the 27-year-old slugger ranks sixth in the AL this season with 25 home runs, to go with 55 RBIs and a .223 average. He had struggled mightily at the plate since the All-Star break, with zero home runs and a .067 average in the 10 games following, before breaking out Tuesday with a three-run shot versus the Diamondbacks.

Gallo is among just eight rostered major leaguers with multiple career 40-homer seasons (2017, 2018).

But he also has excelled in the outfield, winning a Gold Glove in 2020. He leads the majors with 14 defensive runs saved this season and joins the Toronto Blue Jays’ Marcus Semien as the only players with 20 home runs and 10 defensive runs saved.

Gallo is owed $2.2 million from his $6.2 million salary. He is eligible for arbitration next winter and can became a free agent after the 2022 season.

Gallo gave what became a prophetic goodbye to Rangers fans when he started thanking them in a postgame interview Tuesday night on the team’s television broadcast. He told reporters after that he didn’t want to miss an opportunity to thank everyone.

“We don’t know the future, and I don’t want to like miss an opportunity to tell everybody I appreciate it,” Gallo said. “I’ve been 10 years here. I remember last year when I almost got traded, there was like a lot that I was thinking, ‘Man, I wish I would have done this, I wish I would have said something.’

“I want the fans to know that I appreciate everything they’ve done for me and supporting me and buying my jerseys and whatnot. You know, I really appreciate it.”

The Rangers got a strong package in return for Gallo.

Otto, a fifth-round pick of the Yanks in 2017, has split time between Double-A and Triple-A this season, going 7-3 with a 3.33 ERA in 12 starts. He has posted sub-4.00 ERA in all four of his minor league seasons.

Duran, a 22-year-old from the Dominican Republic, had been off to a hot start in Class A this season, with 12 home runs, 48 RBIs and a .290 average in 67 games for Hudson Valley.

Smith, also with Hudson Valley, was the Yankees’ second-round pick in 2019. He has 17 steals and 44 runs in 39 games this season, while hitting .324.

Hauver, a third-round pick last year, was hitting .288 with nine home runs and 49 RBIs this season, his first in the minors.

Vasquez, from the Dominican Republic, has a 2.75 ERA across three minor league seasons, with 147 strikeouts in 140.2 innings.

And the Venezuela-born Pereira is hitting .397 in 17 games this season in the minors.

The Yankees started Wednesday nine games behind the Boston Red Sox in the AL East. They trail the Tampa Bay Rays, Oakland Athletics and Seattle Mariners in the wild-card race for two spots.

The last-place Rangers are on pace for their first 100-loss season since 1973, the franchise’s second season in Texas. Their last winning season was 2016, when they won the AL West, before getting swept by Toronto in a best-of-five division series.

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