Joey Gallo's descent with Nationals proves Yankees fans weren't the only problem

When the Yankees obtained Joey Gallo at the 2022 trade deadline, he was viewed as the Crown Prince of Three True Outcomes.

One hard-to-stomach stint, another hard-to-stomach stint, a third hard-to-stomach stint, and a fourth stint that was un-stomach-able from the jump later, and the number of true outcomes appears to have been sliced by two-thirds.

Gallo, since his Yankees days, has been a Dodger (thanks for Clayton Beeter), a Twin, and a Washington National, and currently resides in D.C. While Yankee fans should respond, "DC" (don't care) to any Gallo question, the baseball media made him our problem a few years back, when everyone agreed that the crowd just didn't understand the quirks of his holistically unique game.

"The Dodgers will be able to tap into his power," the refrain went. "They just ... unlock the best in everyone."

"Twins fans will understand that the strikeouts are just one ingredient in Gallo's delicious pie. They're far more forgiving than those savages in the Bronx," claimed another chorus.

Well ... while we'll never know just how much taunting Yankee fans were to blame for Gallo's backslide, the fact is he's now worn out his welcome in two additional cities and is trending towards a third. The slugger's career in Washington is careening off the tracks; he's on pace to put up worse numbers than ever before, which might result in a commute out of town sooner rather than later.

Former Yankees slugger Joey Gallo has descended further with Washington Nationals

His K rate in the Bronx, for those curious? 38.5% in 2022, 38.8% in 2023. Both quite poor. Both featuring larger samples than his Nationals numbers (228 and 273 plate appearances, respectively). But ... yeah, the Washington data has been even worse than the performance that caused him to avoid leaving his apartment in New York. In layman's terms, yeesh.

For a long while now, it's felt unnecessary to rehash Gallo's time in the Bronx, yet people keep attempting to goad more quotes out of him. Every single one of them, without fail, has been extremely sad.

Were the Yankees the beginning of the end for Gallo? Or was he a deeply odd hitter who represented the extremes of the modern game who was destined to be the first Rob Deer-esque slugger to recede with age and the proliferation of power? Hell, even batting .134 with nine total hits so far this season, he still has an 85 OPS+ with positive bWAR. He can't keep getting away with this.

Soon, it seems, we'll find out whether he'll get another chance to. Because, for the fourth straight town, this is unsustainable.