“I would love to be back here. I would love to be here for the rest of my career,” Zac Gallen told Arizona Sports’ Alex Weiner and other reporters during a recent community event in Phoenix. As to whether a new contract with the Diamondbacks is possible, Gallen was more circumspect, saying “I think what sometimes gets lost in translation is that’s not necessarily always up to the player. If the opportunity is there and it’s something that we deem is the right fit for us, as myself as a player and for me and my soon-to-be wife as a family, then yeah, we’ll explore that. But right now we’re just going through the process and we’ll see what happens.”
Gallen is one of the more intriguing free agent pitchers available, as a former Cy Young candidate and top-of-the-rotation who is hitting the market on the heels of the worst season of his career. Though Gallen finished strong over the last two months of 2025, his 4.83 ERA and 21.5% strikeout rate were career lows, and batters took Gallen yard to the tune of 31 home runs.
MLBTR still projects Gallen for a four-year, $80MM free agent deal, yet it is possible he and agent Scott Boras might explore a shorter-term contract with opt-outs attached, so Gallen could potentially re-enter the market as early next winter after a better platform season. Such a contractual scenario might make a reunion with the pitching-needy D’Backs more plausible, though it remains unclear exactly how much Arizona might have to spend this offseason.
More from around the National League…
- Though the Cardinals non-tendered Yohel Pozo yesterday, Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that the team is interested in working out a new deal to re-sign the catcher. Though the Cards have four other catchers (Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages, Jimmy Crooks, and top prospect Leonardo Bernal) on their 40-man roster, Herrera’s injury history might require a return to the DH role, and Bernal has yet to play any Triple-A ball. Re-signing Pozo, as Goold notes, would therefore give the Cardinals some more depth behind the plate, at least until they can gauge Herrera’s readiness during Spring Training. Of Pozo’s 88 career MLB games, 67 were with St. Louis last season, and he hit .231/.262/.375 over 168 plate appearances.
- The Nationals will be hiring Andrew Aydt as an assistant hitting coach, the Washington Post’s Andrew Golden reports. Aydt is Driveline Baseball’s assistant director of hitting, and becomes the second ex-Driveline staffer to join the Nats’ coaching ranks after pitching coach Simon Matthews. This will be Aydt’s first job with a pro organization (though he has worked with several big leaguers during his time at Driveline), and he continues the trend of younger, analytically-driven hires under new Washington president of baseball operations Paul Toboni. Aydt will move into the Nationals’ assistant hitting coach role even though the team has yet to hire a lead hitting coach to replace Darnell Coles.
Gallen should have accepted the guaranteed $22 million QO. If he returns to 2024 form he would easily secure a better pay day than 4/$80. Worst case he would have still gotten $22 million for next season
They are predicting Dylan Cease to still get a big contract despite a so so year. I’m sure someone will bite and do the same with Gallen based on his history of solid pitching. To me the 4 years $80 million would be a bargain.
Your right Gallen to Atl is a perfect fit.
@Cadagan1: Don’t think I’d count on Atlanta signing a FA w/a QO. Doubt the FO wants to give up the PPI pick they were awarded when Baldwin won the ROY. Prime opportunity for them to beef up their lower 3rd ranked farm system in the next draft. They’re in the lottery and the extra 1st round PPI pick/slot money is huge for them. Very possible the FO waits until the lottery drawing before they decide. The higher they draft, the less chance they sign a QO FA—-imo.
RSox – sounds good on paper but these guys know how easily an injury ends it all. 4/80 while maybe a bargain based on his history pre-2025, means he gets paid an additional 58 mil should he suffer a major injury. Maybe, he can secure an opt out just in case of a great 2026 but, too hard to walk away from 58 mil guaranteed.
Your option is theoretically sound, but real world risks make it not worth it. Risking 58 hoping for the rebound and maybe getting 3/75 next year (allowing a large AAV bump but realizing he is still a year older), means risking 58 hoping to get 75. That extra 17 is money he will never need so, why risk it.
If you disagree, ok that is a personal choice but when actually faced with the real life scenario, players don’t tend to do that. Gallen didn’t for sure and yes, there is an exception or 2 out there. Some work out and some don’t.
Percentages of bad outcomes is what cause the majority of players to take the safer route
Rsox: Neither you nor any of us know the market well and thoroughly enough to advise or second-guess any player’s decision on such matters.
Their representatives have much more and better information on the market for any given player.
Hey Alfred you’re right and MLBTR really needs to add a disclaimer at the top of the page warning players not to take any of our suggestions as real career/financial advice because we are just random people on the internet and what the hell do we know. I’d like to see huge displays in the clubhouse as well so it really sinks in for these guys.
LOL
If it was good enough for Trent Grisham, why wouldn’t it be for Zac Gallen?
ASTROS27: Different players with different attributes and different markets. That’s all there is to it.
Thanks 4 explaing.
Short answer: CF not nearly as likely of a career injury as SP.
Trent had a career year and realized he was maybe 3/45 ish. He gets a chance at nearly 1/2 on 1 year? Oh yeah, he jumped at that.
If he has a 2024 year, he still gets 2/20 and almost is back to 3/45 – no risk of loss really so he took the guarantee high pay day – it’s actually the same as Gallen, in taking the guarantee of the higher payday.
Gallen at 4/80 is a higher guarantee of $$. (80 is more than 22 + risk of 0).
Grisham 22 for 1 year (his risk of injury is low so, his risk of getting less than 2/22 later is low.
He has another strong year and he still gets 3/45 ((or more) next year.
Longtimecoming: Great explanation.
“I would love to be back here. I would love to be here for the rest of my career,”
-every player right before they sign with the Dodgers
Yep, just ask Freddie Freeman. Granted Freddie now has 2 more World Series rings.
Freddie left, in part, because the Braves decided he wasn’t worth what the Dodgers offered and traded for Matt Olson and so Freddie pivoted and came home to LA. The Braves closed that door, not the other way around. The Braves let a franchise cornerstone walk when they had a chance to have a Brave for life. Not saying they were right or wrong, but to equate Freddie saying he wanted to be a Brave for life and then signed with another team is lacking context that tells the proper story. Freddie said multiple times that he never wanted to leave and felt betrayed when they traded for Olson.
Same thing here. He can want to stay all he wants but he shouldn’t have to be paid at a discounted rate just to stay. If someone wants to pay him what he’s worth and the Dbacks want a hometown discount, then that’s his call.
“Lacking context”? Freeman fired his agent for not telling him the Braves had basically matched LA’s offer. Their offer was close to the same money, 1 less year, no deferral. Anthopolous gave up negotiating w/FF’s agent and traded for Olson when the agent tried to squeeze for more (w/out notifying FF thus the firing.) Correct that FF wanted to play near his family, but the agent screwed FF, not the Braves. Atlanta didn’t just “let a franchise cornerstone walk.”
@Jeff, that’s totally fair, I forgot about the agent thing. Main point I was trying to make was that using Freddie as an example of a player saying they never wanted to leave (and then they leave) was that it wasn’t a fair comparison.
Maybe I went a little hard on the Braves, wasn’t my intent. But the point still stands that just because a player wants to stay doesn’t mean it’s only up to them.
Yeah, that’s also fair MLB. FF definitely is an example of that, no matter the “extenuating” circumstances w/his agent
He said the decision doesn’t come down to him.The team offers you deals.You either accept or turn down.It comes down to how much money they need.It comes down to getting what they deserve.How much is that?
TB Sox NY: Every player, like any employee in any industry, deserves as much as he can get.
The funny thing in your comment is talking about what a player deserves instead of what the team regards their potentials baseball to be. Speaking as a former player I would have like to get more than I did, but then I played in a time where salaries were very low compared to the greedy players of today. In truth I was humbled and grateful to play a sport for money that I would have played for free just because I loved baseball. Period. The ridiculous player salaries has led to gambling issues, lessened team loyalty and outrageous costs to fans. Moreover it has made parity in the sport a real joke.
X-baller: BS. If you actually played at any professional level, you would express yourself more intelligently in English, and you would never call players greedy.
The word troll is appropriate for you.
Im anxious to see how Gallens market unfolds. Having watched most of his starts the past three seasons, I wouldn’t recommend a 4-year, $80 million contract. That said, teams always need pitching and baseball ops departments are very sophisticated nowadays. If they feel Gallens problems are correctable, they may jump in with both feet.
…..especially not w/that QO attached to him. Just say no to Gallen.
The Cardinals probably should have moved ‘Pozo at the deadline for whatever they could get. He still looked like found money in July. He really got exposed when his playing time increased. He’s a great story and a likeable guy, but a pretty limited player.
Limited, perhaps, but not without ability. He can hit anybody’s fastball. And he rarely strikes out. As a defender he is at least average. I think teams learned if you try and get ahead of him with first pitch fastball, you could get burned. A guy that has that ability is someone a hitting coach should enjoy coaching.
Anybody looking for catching depth could do worse. The Cardinals have catching depth, unless they move some for pitching or RH hitting OF help.
Gallen to Astros – book it!
dano62: The Astros are going into a rebuild. They won’t sign a guy like Gallen.
Think they’re still trying to win, but it does look like they’re trying to stay under the luxury tax again this year. Signing an arm like Gallen probably isn’t part of that strategy.
Gallen struggles to miss bats with his stuff. Has to stay out of the zone b/c the FB isn’t +, so he is usually nibbling and looking for a friendly zone.
Fastball will continue to decline. Home run numbers are a red flag. I wouldn’t sign home long term deal and if/when a team does prepare for a possible decline to back end of the rotation SP.
He’s had one down year gave up as many tators as Shota. He’s still got some good value
In 2025, Zac Gallen’s fastball became a straight, fat, 93.5 mph batting-practice heater. Which team is hiring that?
Don’t care as long as the Braves don’t. Let him take that QO and downward slide somewhere else.
Be nice to see the Nats do something to change the results other than change the non- players.
Looks like their new non-players are getting ready to rebuild again.
Nats ain’t what they used to be: The Nats ain’t what they used to be.
Please remind me, if the pandemic had not occurred and a full 2020 season had been played, did the Nats have a good shot at competing for a title again or was 2019 a “one and done” season no matter what, like the ’23 Rangers???
Nats — They have a long way to go in DC to get that team back on the rails. First step is getting better ‘baseball minds’ to make better decisions on personal.
In the opening year of Baltimore’s rebuild under Elias, the emphasis was almost entirely internal to build out the departments, staff, and all facilities. It was well well worth it, as the foundation they needed to build upon was instrumental in the following years of player acquisitions.
The core of the Nationals franchise is rot at this point, and a new coat of paint on it would have been half measures. Nationals need a whole tear down and rebuild.
I was stunned when the Orioles/Angelos’ hired Elias, since Ownership did seem to know how bad the organization needed a whole make over.
The same is true for the Nationals…I was stunningly surprised that the Learner’s made the Tobani hire. It’ll be a long road, but at the end of it there will be a functioning franchise on par with (or maybe better than) most organizations. 2029/2030 watch out!
O’sSayCanYouSee: Unfortunately, despite promising results early on, it hasn’t really worked out in Baltimore.
There are never any guarantees.
Alfred — What hasn’t really worked out? Are you saying the Orioles were a better Organization before Elias?
O’sSayCanYouSee: Aren’t you still waiting for them to win a postseason series, or even a game?
Alfred — Post Season Wins = “Working out”?
O’sSayCanYouSee: That’s a not insignificant aspect.
Alfred — Winning in the post-season, okay, anything else really not working out for Elias?
Maybe it’s more ‘hasn’t finished all his goals’ and less ‘not really working out’.
Before Mike, the Orioles were a third world organization: bad at drafting, developing, free agent acquisitions, operationally inconsistent, infrastructurally deficiencient, philosophically bankrupt, analytically ambivalent, institutionally archaic, and really sucky. Even the Ownership has changed under his watch.
As far as Elias goes, he may still have some punch-list items, but the remodel has seen the majority completed (very well-ly) and should finish up the rebuild on time and under budget.
Rare thing in contracting…on time-ie-ness.
Huh? Well-ly and time-ie-ness are not words.
No, they certainly aren’t ‘words’, but they are fun(ny)…and I’m certain it hasn’t obstructed comprehension.
((Well, considering ‘6-7’ is a word as of this year, with no concrete meaning it appears anything can be a word these days…even it means the word has no meaning.))
If you say so. Whatever floats your boat.