(This story originally appeared in the September 2021 edition of Yankees Magazine.)
For months, the Yankees said that they weren’t too right-handed. Then they went out at the trade deadline and added left-handed batters Joey Gallo and Anthony Rizzo. That’s baseball, Suzyn.
Obviously, the team had a lineup balance issue, and it’s to general manager Brian Cashman’s credit that he was able to address it without doing too much damage to the top levels of the team’s farm system. Neither Gallo nor Rizzo ended up being the difference makers the Yankees needed to make a deep run in the postseason, but both were worthy additions to the team’s lineup, and while Rizzo heads into the offseason as a free agent, Gallo should get another run with the Bombers in 2022, giving him a chance to go to town on the stands in right field.
To me, though, the best thing about this story is something that is barely mentioned inside, but that I hope comes through. The interviews for this piece were the first that I did in person since spring training of 2020. I had long conversations with both Rizzo and Gallo in the dugout at Yankee Stadium, and it was amazing to remember just how different it is to get to speak to your interview subject one-on-one, face-to-face, as opposed to doing it on Zoom. Things like body language, follow-ups, shared small laughs — I think they make a huge difference in the storytelling process. I hope that it came through in the piece.
https://www.mlb.com/news/yankees-magazine-anthony-rizzo-joey-gallo-usher-in-new-season
