Former Yankee Joey Gallo hits unofficial rock bottom with new contract

One of the worst trade acquisitions in New York Yankees history — some might argue the actual worst — has a new home for the 2025 season after bouncing around MLB since the middle of 2022 when he was traded to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Joey Gallo has signed a minor-league contract with the worst team in baseball, the Chicago White Sox. A minor-league contract. The least talented roster in the entire league wouldn't even grant him a guaranteed MLB contract.

Though the warning signs were always there with Gallo in terms of his strikeout rate and lack of contact, the former All-Star was never the same after he was traded to New York at the 2021 deadline. After accruing 4.2 WAR in 95 games with the Rangers that year, he fell off a cliff and has statistically been among the worst active players ever since.

In 140 games with the Yankees, Gallo hit .159/.291/.368 with 65 runs scored, 25 homers, 46 RBI, 194 strikeouts and an 84 OPS+. He accrued just 0.5 WAR over that span, which was his worst mark since 2016, when he appeared in only 17 games. In his next 231 games with the Dodgers, Twins and Nationals, he logged 1.1 WAR and was still wildly below average on offense.

Somehow, someway, you can just smell Gallo homering off the Yankees in a meaningless May game after Gallo sneaks onto Chicago's roster.

Yankees' Joey Gallo moves on to minor-league deal with Chicago White Sox

During his time in New York, Gallo cited the vitriol from Yankees fans as a reason for his horrific play. And perhaps that would have been understandable if he didn't continue to perform just as poorly in all of his subsequent stops.

In defense of Yankees fans, for a very long stretch they remained optimistic about Gallo despite his struggles. He was frequently cheered and encouraged when he stepped to the plate, but as he continued to let everybody down worse and worse as the months went on, the situation became untenable. Gallo, a former All-Star, was an automatic out. And he couldn't even make productive outs.

Terribly unfortunate. Nobody feels good about it. But every time Gallo is in the news, it elicits bad memories for Yankees fans when you realize how close they were in both 2021 and 2022 to potentially doing something special.

For Gallo, this is the unofficial end of his MLB career, with retirement more than likely to follow if he can't make the most of this minor-league pact.