Pete Rose is not a fan of what the New York Yankees are doing right now.
Specifically, what they are getting out of Joey Gallo.
The Yankees were bounced by the Boston Red Sox last week in the American League Wild Card Game, and Boston has since beaten the Tampa Bay Rays and advanced to the AL Championship Series.
Perhaps the Yankees could be in Boston's spot had they gotten more out of the bottom of their lineup, which included free-swingers like Joey Gallo.
“That was the worst (bleeping) lineup they could have put on the field," Rose said to USA Today's Bob Nightengale. "Their 6,7,8,9 hitters were all out-men. They had to have (Aaron) Judge and (Giancarlo) Stanton do something. If they didn’t, all of the pressure was on Joey Gallo. You saw how that worked out."
Then, he took his criticism of Gallo a step further.
"How does someone who didn’t play every day strike out 213 times?" Rose says. "Ray Charles wouldn’t strike out that much. I just can’t imagine striking out 213 times without killing myself."
The problem isn't so much Gallo, rather what he represents in what is objectively bad roster building by Brian Cashman. Much of the Yankees lineup is filled with those feast-or-famine hitters. When they are all clicking at the same time, they are unstoppable. But they've had the roster constructed that way for years now, and it has gotten them no further than the ALCS.
