Rangers Manager Basically Confirmed Joey Gallo is Getting Traded

The Texas Rangers are a bad baseball team. Nearly 100 games into the season the Rangers are well on their way to 100 losses. This poor season comes a year after the team had the second-worst record in baseball in the COVID-19 plagued season of 2020.

The first week after the all-star break in 2021 sees the Texas Rangers sitting at 35-59 which makes them definite sellers at the July 30th trade deadline.

Who gets sold off then? The Rangers have balked on opportunities to sell off valuable pieces at the deadline because of pipedreams of bouncing back the next season. That's not committing to the tank. The front office has been back and forth in the past few seasons deciding the level of competition the squad is going to be at.

After the start of this season, there's no question anymore.

For the Texas Rangers, the tank is on. This means that there might be firesale at the deadline for players like Joey Gallo and Kyle Gibson that could potentially help the Texas Rangers future out by refilling the minor league system that already holds future stars like Josh Jung.

To me, Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward sealed Gallo's fate after the Tigers game on Monday, July 19th when he said that Gallo was a quote, "Player to build around." Nothing says trade bait, like calling someone a cornerstone of your franchise.

Here are Woodward's complete comments:

Gallo and Gibson are arguably the top position player and starting pitcher, respectively, who could be moved by the trade deadline which is rapidly approaching. Gallo is having a stellar year, while Gibson is throwing gem after gem on his way to a 2.29 ERA over the first half in 17 starts. Since his disastrous debut, Gibson has a 1.86 ERA for the Rangers. The only problem is that he's 35 and doesn't fit the Rangers' long-term plans. Bonus for the trade partner, Gibson isn't a rental.

He isn't the draw that Gallo is though who is just 27 years old and having his second great year in the last three. Gallo is a hitter who has game-changing power and above-average defense in the outfield. He would make nearly every single playoff contender better and is under team control through 2022, which means if the Rangers want to trade him, his value will never be higher than it is over the next ten days.