As the New York Yankees continue to finalize a trade for Joey Gallo, the deal just keeps getting sweeter and sweeter.
It appeared the New York Yankees weren’t going to be players at the MLB Trade Deadline this year. Hal Steinbrenner essentially said as much earlier this month when being pressed about moves the Yankees might make to prevent a total meltdown in the middle of the season.
New York is still treading water in the American League, well behind the Red Sox in the East and trailing both the A’s and Rays in the Wild Card race. But they’re not so far out of the postseason chase that the towel is being thrown in, rather quite the contrary.
The Yankees swung a trade for All-Star slugger Joey Gallo on Wednesday, and the more fans learn about the deal the sweeter it keeps getting.
New York Yankees news: Joey Gallo trade keeps getting sweeter and sweeter
According to the New York Post’s Joel Sherman, the Rangers are paying almost all of Gallo’s salary and all of Joely Rodriguez’s salary as part of the trade agreement. The Athletic‘s Jim Bowden also noted that Texas will pay the remainder of Gallo’s deal.
Sherman also points out just how significant that is:
"That is not insignificant, as the Yankees’ aim clearly is to remain under the $210 million luxury tax threshold and they were projected at about $206 million before this deal. For purposes of the tax, Gallo would count about $2.3 million and Rodriguez $1.03 million."
The Yankees are sending prospects back to Texas as part of the deal, something that contradicts a report on Wednesday that stated the Yankees farm system wasn’t viewed as good enough to land them a star at the deadline.
Gallo isn’t Max Scherzer, but all he needs to do is hit a home run off him to squash any notion that the Yankees didn’t make a meaningful trade.