The New York Yankees have reached a deal to get All-Star slugger Joey Gallo from the Texas Rangers, a person familiar with the trade told The Associated Press.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity Wednesday night because the deal has not yet been announced and was subject to approval of medical records of the players involved.
Gallo, 27, would give the heavily right-handed Yankees a much-needed power lefty bat. With switch-hitting center fielder Aaron Hicks hurt, second baseman Rougned Odor and outfielder Brett Gardner have been the only left-handed hitters to see substantial playing time.
Gallo is hitting .223 with 25 homers, 55 RBI and a major league-leading 74 walks. While he has played right field for Texas, he presumably would play left for the Yankees, who have Aaron Judge as their regular right fielder.
Judge was scratched from the starting lineup Wednesday night, a day after returning from the COVID-19 injured list, but pinch hit in the fifth inning.
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.
The two-time All-Star is a career .211 hitter in seven seasons, but launches a lot of homers. He hit 41 home runs in 2017 and 40 in 2018.
The Rangers will receive pitcher Glenn Otto, infielders Ezequiel Duran and Josh Smith as well as Trevor Huver from the Yankees and a few other prospects, according to ESPN MLB Insider Jeff Passan.
MARLINS-ATHLETICS: The Oakland Athletics are in playoff contention, and Starling Marte is their midseason reward.
Oakland obtained the versatile but well-traveled outfielder from the Miami Marlins for left-hander Jesus Luzardo.
“We felt like Starling was frankly the best position player that was out there on the market,” A’s GM David Forst said before the team’s game in San Diego. “We’ve always said when the team performs and puts itself in a playoff position, it’s on us to do whatever we can to try and help them.”
The A’s, who began the day six games behind AL West leader Houston, also acquired left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin this week from the Chicago Cubs.
Marte, 32, is batting .306 with an .859 OPS and 22 stolen bases in 25 attempts. The Marlins will cover nearly all of his remaining contract for 2021, and he becomes a free agent after this season.
It’s the third time in 18 months that Marte has been traded. He joins an outfield that also includes Ramon Laureano and Mark Canha.
The Marlins made the deal after they were unable to reach an agreement with Marte on a contract extension. They’re last in the NL East and expected to make more moves before the trade deadline Friday.
Luzardo is 2-4 with a 6.87 ERA in 13 games, including six starts. He was sidelined for four weeks in May after he broke the pinkie on his pitching hand when he thumped a table while playing a video game.
MARLINS-ASTROS: Miami sent right-handed reliever Yimi Garcia to the Houston Astros.
The Astros sent outfielder Bryan De La Cruz and right-hander Austin Pruitt to Miami.
BREWERS-DIAMONDBACKS: The Milwaukee Brewers acquired All-Star third baseman Eduardo Escobar from the Arizona Diamondbacks for two prospects.
The 32-year-old Escobar made his first All-Star game this season and is batting .246 with 22 homers. The switch-hitter should be a valuable and versatile piece for the first-place Brewers, who are trying to lock down the NL Central.
Escobar has played third, second and shortstop for the Diamondbacks this season and has played the outfield earlier in his career. He was one of the few bright spots for Arizona this season, which had MLB’s worst record at 31-71 going into Wednesday.
The Diamondbacks received outfielder Cooper Hummel and infielder Alberto Ciprian from the Brewers. The 26-year-old Hummel is hitting .254 with six homers in Triple-A. The 18-year-old Ciprian was playing in rookie ball this year.
RANGERS: Second overall pick Jack Leiter signed with the Texas Rangers, getting a $7,922,000 signing bonus that is the largest for a drafted pitcher in 10 years.
The deal for the right-hander out of Vanderbilt, and the son of former big league lefty Al Leiter, was for just above the recommended $7,789,900 slot for the second player taken in baseball’s amateur draft on July 11.
That was the largest signing bonus for a pitcher since Gerrit Cole got $8 million after the Pittsburgh Pirates took him first overall in 2011. That was the last draft before Major League Baseball guidelines for signing bonuses of drafted players went into effect.
REDS-ROCKIES: The Cincinnati Reds added more help for their struggling bullpen by acquiring right-hander Mychal Givens from the Colorado Rockies in exchange for two pitching prospects.
The Rockies got right-hander Case Williams and right-hander Noah Davis, the Reds’ 26th-rated prospect.
On Tuesday night, the Reds acquired relievers Luis Cessa and Justin Wilson from the New York Yankees for a player to be named.
The 31-year-old Givens, who is due to be a free agent after the season, has a 2.73 ERA and 27.4% strikeout rate in 29 2/3 innings for Colorado.
MARINERS: Catie Griggs takes over as president of business operations for the Seattle Mariners.
Griggs spent the past four seasons as the chief business officer for the Atlanta United of Major League Soccer and will oversee all aspects of the Mariners’ organization outside of baseball operations.
Griggs replaces Kevin Mather, who resigned in February after video surfaced of him making derogatory remarks about some players and club operations.
NATIONALS-PHILLIES: COVID-19 issues among the Washington Nationals prompted Major League Baseball to postpone their game against the Philadelphia Phillies.
The postponement came one day after Nationals star Trea Turner exited the game against Philadelphia in the first inning following his positive test for the virus.
MLB announced the Nationals-Phillies postponement little over an hour before the game was set to begin at Citizens Bank Park, and said that would allow for “continued testing and contact tracing involving members of the Nationals organization.”
The game was then scheduled to be made up as part of a straight doubleheader starting at 12:05 p.m. Thursday.
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