If you’ve paid attention to baseball or been on Twitter for more than 75 seconds a week, you’ll notice the Joey Gallo experiment in New York hasn’t worked out for the Yankees. In a 128-game sample, Gallo is hitting just .163 with an on-base percentage of .295 and slugging .372. His average on-base percentage is 40 points lower than it was during his time with the Rangers, and his slugging is 80 points lower. With the Yankees’ successful 2022 season, their eyes are on the ultimate prize (as it is always). Last season the Yankees and Rangers made a deal where Texas acquired Josh Smith, Glenn Otto, Ezequiel Duran, and Trevor Hauver. The question is, could Joey Gallo come back to Texas?

There are multiple factors to consider in this scenario. According to Jon Heyman, the Rangers and Padres are two teams that could show interest in acquiring Gallo before the trade deadline. Jurickson Profar and Nomar Mazara are on the San Diego roster with AJ Preller at the helm. Joey Gallo had much better success in the Rangers organization, and of course, there’ll be other teams linked. My main question is, what are the Yankees willing to get back for Joey Gallo? Are we looking at a Giants / Rangers trade between Willie Calhoun and Steven Duggar? Are the Yankees looking to get a decent amount back, or because they don’t want to DFA Joey, are they more desperate to trade him so they’ll get something back? So I asked for some reinforcements and opinions from my Dallas Sports Fanatic Crew:

Joey Gallo’s 10th home run of the season.

Exit velocity: 106.6 mph
Distance: 426 ft#Yankees #Pirates
pic.twitter.com/WVvvqfUHB6

— Bronx Bombers News (@NewsBronx) July 7, 2022

Alex:

If the New York Yankees aren’t trying to dump Joey and are looking for a profitable return, then it’s not a viable trade from the Rangers’ perspective. While there’s a chance you’ll get the same product for Joey Gallo as you did before August 2021, it’s not a guarantee, of course. The Rangers have a crowded outfield with Kole Calhoun, Adolis García, Leody Taveras, and Steven Duggar (add Josh Smith to the mix too). Three of the four guys mentioned are left-handed hitters. Joey Gallo feasted on left-handed pitchers in 2019, but since they couldn’t keep the consistency. Add to that Nathaniel Lowe and Corey Seager, making it a left-handed heavy roster, something that created a problem three years ago. If it’s a player-for-player exchange where a Rangers’ minor leaguer is blocked with some serious depth, I say go for it, or if it’s a cheaper ask from the Yankees.

Rangers fans know the potential Joey Gallo can bring, and in any profession, there are places you feel comfortable. If you’re not breaking the bank for Joey Gallo, give it a try. If the experiment fails, he’s a free agent, and that’s that. If he shows success, you bargained for him, and I would say that may tip the scales in the Rangers’ favor for a discount come free agency. I say do it.

Dylan Duell:

There isn’t a ton of “good reason” for the Rangers to pursue bringing Joey Gallo back, but it sure would be fun. While Adolis Garcia has started to win over the young members of the fan base and Corey Seager and Marcus Semien will start to work their way into that role as well, no one resonated with Rangers fans like Gallo did in the years since Adrian Beltre’s retirement after 2018. With the team playing much better baseball in 2022, it would be a fun bit of buzz to add for the final couple of months of the season while the team likely hangs just in the periphery of contention for a Wild Card spot.

The cost is of course where things get complicated. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Rangers would have to pay more than any other team interested in Gallo since the Yankees already seem to have been absolutely fleeced in the deal from last summer. Do things not really work like that in Major League Baseball trade negotiations? Possibly, but it’s still something to ponder. The Rangers have a lot of infield prospects who will likely be blocked severely in their system over the next five or so years. Surely just one of them could be enough to get Gallo for two months and then possibly the chance to sign him beyond that. I don’t think the price would be too high, but if it is, then this fun scenario is not really worth pursuing.

Garrett Jones:

This is a rare scenario that could benefit both teams. The Rangers, if they pull this off, could really make out like bandits. Not only, as Alex mentioned, did they bring back a sizable haul from the Yankees’ last deadline for four players that have already reached the bigs, they have avoided the worst play of Gallo’s career, and haven’t really missed out on anything, either. After the trade, Texas was well out of a playoff pace, and this season, there aren’t exactly expectations to contend, either.

For me, it depends on the price. Gallo is a free-agent-to-be, so he falls in the rental category. Thus, the return the Yankees should expect fairly should be a mid-level prospect. Gallo expressed how much he liked the Rangers organization last year, so it would also work out well in that department. To me, as long as the ask isn’t a top-15 prospect in the Rangers organization, I say jump on the deal.

Joey Gallo makes it 7-2 with the rare 2-run triple on a batted ball with an xBA of .010! #Yankees #RepBX pic.twitter.com/XaWvDjgTrF

— YankeeSavant (@YankeeSavant) July 9, 2022