A Farewell to Yovani Gallardo

Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

As you have probably heard, Yovani Gallardo has been traded to the Texas Rangers for young talent in the form of RHPs Corey Knebel and Marcos Diplan as well as SS/UT Luis Sardinas. You can find a detail of the Brewers’ haul in Kyle’s article, here.

This article is more of an official farewell to Gallardo, and an acknowledgement of his strong career with the Brewers. Yovani never got much love from the fans after he failed to become a true number 1 starter, but his career numbers are indicative of a productive workhorse that the team could count on year after year.

Among all-time Brewers pitchers, Gallardo finished:

6th in career rWAR (15.8)

5th in career fWAR (18.8)

5th in career wins (89)

1st in career K/9 (8.558)

1st in career strikeouts (1226)

And among Brewers starting pitchers, finished:

3rd in career ERA (3.69)

2nd in career Win-Loss% (.582)

Gallardo seems to have lost a fair amount of his strikeout potential in recent years, but he adapted well to his new life as a groundball pitcher, and had one of his best years in 2014. He likewise bounced back from an uncharacteristically down year in 2013, posting the lowest ERA (3.51) of his career last season.

Gallardo was the Brewers Opening Day starter five times in a row from 2010 to 2014, the most consecutive in Brewers history and second most total to former Brewer Ben Sheets (6). Starting in 2009, Gallardo averaged 192 innings pitched and 33 starts, throwing no less than 185 innings or 30 starts over that time.

Gallardo was the team’s best pitcher in 2011 -as part of a staff with Zack Grienke- when the Brewers last won the NL Central, and was integral to the team’s success. He earned a 2.08 career postseason ERA with the Brewers over 5 games (4 starts).

Yovani is also the active leader in career home runs for a pitcher with 12, and won the NL Silver Slugger Award in 2010, the same year he was selected for the All-Star Game. He received a few Cy Young votes the following year, but was never the staff ace fans expected him to be.

If Rangers fans see Gallardo for what he is, a workhorse 2-3 starter, they will not be disappointed with his performance over the 2015 season, and at $9 million (the Brewers will pay $4 million), Yovani is an absolute bargain for Texas.

In the end, Gallardo is one of the most prolific pitchers in Brewers’ history, and he deserves to be missed.