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Nationals Claim Ken Waldichuk, Designate George Soriano For Assignment

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The Nationals have claimed left-hander Ken Waldichuk off waivers from the Rays, according to announcements from both clubs. Tampa had designated him for assignment a few days ago to make room for infielder Ben Williamson, acquired as part of the three-team trade headlined by Brendan Donovan. To open a spot for Waldichuk today, the Nats have designated right-hander George Soriano for assignment.

Waldichuk, 28, was once a notable prospect but his stock is down. When his stock was high, the Yankees traded him to the Athletics as part of the Frankie Montas deal. Over 2021 and 2022, between those two clubs, he tossed 205 minor league innings with a 2.94 earned run average, 35.3% strikeout rate and 10.2% walk rate. Baseball America ranked him as Oakland’s #5 prospect going into 2023.

He got a lengthy run in the majors in 2023 but posted a 5.36 ERA. Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2024 and part of his 2025. When he returned last summer, the A’s sent him to the minors, where he put up an 8.65 ERA in 51 Triple-A innings.

That performance has pushed him into the DFA carousel but teams clearly still have some faith in a bounceback. The A’s designated him for assignment in December when they acquired Jeff McNeil. He was claimed by Atlanta, who later designated him for assignment and traded him to the Rays for cash.

The Nats may try to pass him through waivers later but they would be a good landing spot for him if he can hang onto a roster spot. Their rotation has very little certainty, especially now that MacKenzie Gore has been traded to the Rangers. They project to have a largely unproven group consisting of Josiah Gray, Cade Cavalli, Foster Griffin, Brad Lord, Jake Irvin, Mitchell Parker and others. Waldichuk still has options and could be sent to Triple-A as depth while the Nats experiment with the guys in that group.

Soriano, 27 in March, spent his entire career with the Marlins until recently. He tossed 118 innings for Miami over the past three seasons with a 5.95 ERA. He exhausted his three option seasons in that time, which nudged him onto the DFA carousel.

Teams are clearly still intrigued, despite the lack of major league success thus far. That’s probably because he is coming off a strong season in the minors. He threw 42 2/3 Triple-A innings last year with a 2.32 ERA, 28.8% strikeout rate, 8.8% walk rate and 55.7% ground ball rate. Since the end of last season, he has gone from Miami to Baltimore, Atlanta and Washington via the waiver wire.

Since he’s out of options, those teams have tried to get him through waivers to become non-roster depth. He has less than three years of service time and doesn’t have a previous career outright, so he wouldn’t have the right to reject an outright assignment in favor of electing free agency. The Nats can take as long as five days to explore trade interest before putting him on the wire but could be motivated to do so sooner. The 60-day injured list opens up next week, which will provide teams greater flexibility for fringe roster moves.

Photo courtesy of Kiyoshi Mio, Imagn Images

Yankees Claim Osvaldo Bido, Designate Braden Shewmake For Assignment

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The Yankees have claimed right-hander Osvaldo Bido off waivers from the Angels, according to announcements from both clubs. The Halos had designated him for assignment a week ago when they acquired left-hander Jayvien Sandridge from the Yankees. To open a 40-man spot for Bido today, the Yankees designated infielder Braden Shewmake for assignment.

Bido, 30, has been riding the DFA carousel all winter. He finished the 2025 season with the Athletics but has subsequently gone to Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, the Angels and now the Yankees via waiver claims. He has shown enough potential that teams like him but he had a rough season in 2025 and exhausted his final option. That has pushed him to fringe roster status and several clubs are seemingly hoping to get him through waivers and into the minors as non-roster depth.

The righty showed his potential with the A’s in 2024. Still playing in the Oakland Coliseum at that time, Bido gave the A’s 63 1/3 innings in a swing role, allowing 3.41 earned runs per nine. His 10% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 24.3% of batters faced.

The A’s moved to Sutter Health Park last year, a minor league facility, as a temporary home on their way to Las Vegas. That proved to be a hitter-friendly venue, with negative impacts for Bido. He had only allowed three home runs in 2024 but saw the ball go over the fence 19 times in 2025, in a slightly larger sample size of 79 2/3 innings. He was optioned to the minors a few times and finished the year with a 5.87 ERA.

Bido does not have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service. That means he would not have the right to elect free agency if he were eventually passed through waivers, which explains to constant cycle of waiver claims and DFAs.

The Yankees will probably go down that same road. They don’t have room for Bido in the rotation and their bullpen already projects to have Paul Blackburn and Ryan Yarbrough serving as long relievers. For now, Bido has a spot and could report to camp with a chance to earn a job, but it’s also possible the Yankees put him back out on waivers with the hope of him clearing. If that is indeed the plan, they will likely put him out there quickly. The 60-day injured list opens up next week, which will open up extra roster flexibility for most clubs.

Shewmake, 28, was claimed off waivers from the Royals exactly a year ago today. He spent 2025 in the Yankee system but never got called up, exhausting his final option season in the process. He’s considered a strong defender at multiple infield positions but hasn’t shown much with the bat. He has a .118/.127/.191 line in 71 major league plate appearances. Over the past four years, he has a Triple-A line of .241/.304/.386, which translates to a 78 wRC+.

Now that he’s in DFA limbo, he will have resolution within one week. The waiver process takes 48 hours, so the Yanks could theoretically take five days to field interest. His interest should be minimal with his light bat and lack of options. Like Bido, he does not have a previous career outright and is shy of three years of service, meaning he would stick around as non-roster depth if he clears outright waivers. With the aforementioned 60-day IL situation, the Yanks could be motivated to put him on the wire sooner rather than later.

Photo courtesy of Darren Yamashita, Imagn Images

Konnor Pilkington Elects Free Agency

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The Nationals announced Thursday that lefty Konnor Pilkington, whom they had designated for assignment last week, cleared waivers and rejected an outright assignment to Triple-A Rochester in favor of free agency. He’s now free to sign with any club.

The 28-year-old Pilkington pitched 28 1/3 frames for the Nats in 2025, working to a 4.45 ERA with a strong 27.6% strikeout rate. The southpaw’s 13.8% walk rate was an eyesore, however, and marked the continuation of longstanding command issues that have plagued him since his early days in pro ball.

Pilkington is a former third-round pick of the White Sox. He’s pitched 88 1/3 innings in the big leagues and has a solid 3.97 earned run average with a roughly average 22% strikeout rate along the way. His 12.9% walk rate has held him back, and that’s actually an improvement over his work in the upper minors. Pilkington has pitched parts of four seasons at the Triple-A level but carries a grisly 6.10 ERA there, thanks in no small part to walking 14.1% of the opponents he’s faced.

A starter earlier in his career, Pilkington moved to a relief role full time and saw his four-seamer clock in at a career-high 94.5 mph average. He logged an 11.6% swinging-strike rate in the majors, just north of the 11% league-average, and logged a gaudier 13.8% swinging-strike rate in Triple-A.

Pilkington still has one minor league option year remaining, and while his overall track record in Triple-A isn’t good, he notched a 2.59 ERA in 42 1/3 innings with Washington’s top affiliate in Rochester this past season. Rival clubs could be intrigued by his uptick in velocity and the strikeout numbers following a move to the bullpen and take a flier on a minor league deal now that he’s a free agent, but he’ll need to rein in his walks considerably if he’s to carve out a long-term role in the majors.

Poll: Who Will Sign Zac Gallen?

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The impact position players are off the market for the most part at this point, and yesterday the top starter remaining followed suit as Framber Valdez landed with the Tigers on a three-year, $115MM deal. That leaves right-hander Zac Gallen as both the final remaining qualified free agent and the best starting pitcher still available. Gallen’s market has been a bit deflated coming off the weakest season of his career, though with a lifetime 3.58 ERA and 3.65 FIP across 1007 1/3 big league innings there’s no doubt that he could still impact a rotation-needy team if he can get back on track. Which teams would the right-hander be the best fit for, and where will he ultimately land? A few of the most likely options:

Arizona Diamondbacks

For a qualified free agent who lingers on the market, sometimes a homecoming simply makes the most sense. The Diamondbacks are the only team in the majors that wouldn’t forfeit a draft pick in order to bring Gallen into the fold, and that alone makes them a sensible fit. Beyond that, the Arizona pitching staff is in serious need of help. Adding Gallen would be prudent, given the team’s lack of experienced rotation depth and a fifth starter (Michael Soroka) who has had durability concerns. His addition could push some of those depth starters into the mix for a bullpen that lacks impact options with Justin Martinez and A.J. Puk both set to open the season on the injured list. The biggest obstacle for a reunion between Arizona and Gallen is money; ownership hasn’t been shy about their desire to bring down a payroll that has sat in the $190MM range over the past two years, and unless ownership makes an exception for a beloved longtime D-back, the Snakes are more or less at their limit.

Baltimore Orioles

The O’s entered the season with a need to upgrade the rotation. They’ve acquired Shane Baz and re-upped with Zach Eflin, but neither is a surefire front-of-the-rotation arm. That’s also true of Gallen after that shaky 2025 showing, but at his peak he’s been the type of arm Baltimore seeks. Adding Gallen to a rotation including Trevor Rogers, Kyle Bradish, Baz, Eflin and Dean Kremer would be a more aggressive approach than the O’s took last winter when signing back-end veterans like Tomoyuki Sugano and Charlie Morton to one-year deals. Baltimore’s payroll is still nearly $20MM shy of last year’s Opening Day mark, so there shouldn’t be any major financial hurdles.

Chicago Cubs

The Cubs have already had a big offseason, headlined by their Alex Bregman signing and a trade for Marlins righty Edward Cabrera. The Cabrera trade has given the Cubs a deep cache of starting pitching options that’s pushed Colin Rea and Javier Assad into depth roles, and even more help figures to be on the way when rehabbing southpaw Justin Steele returns at some point in the first half. Even so, the team’s starting pitching options all have worrisome injury histories. That includes Cabrera, who briefly went on the IL with an elbow issue back in September. Adding a healthy workhorse like Gallen could make plenty of sense to raise the floor, and with talented arms like Steele, Cabrera, and Cade Horton in the mix Gallen might be under less pressure to deliver the ace-level results he’s flashed in the past.

San Diego Padres

The Padres have been clear about their desire to add another starter, and Gallen could be just the sort of high-upside arm the team needs to credibly replace Dylan Cease. It wouldn’t be the first time president of baseball operations A.J. Preller pulled off a major move in the final months before Opening Day. Cease was acquired in March of 2024, while righty Nick Pivetta signed with San Diego last February. The biggest obstacle to Gallen following in their footsteps could be financial, as it’s unclear just how much wiggle room the Padres have left. Perhaps the team working out the details of veteran righty Yu Darvish’s possible exit from the club could create the budget space necessary to land Gallen.

Other Options

While the aforementioned quartet of clubs are perhaps the most likely destinations for Gallen, they aren’t the only ones. Detroit could have made sense as a Gallen suitor, but their agreement with Valdez surely takes them out of the starting pitching market at this point. The Angels have been connected to the right-hander recently, but they’re viewed as a bit of a long-shot and are by far the least competitive team among this group. Atlanta is known to be shopping for a veteran starter, but it’s unclear if the team has the stomach for the sort of $20MM+ annual salary for which Gallen figures to be searching. The Blue Jays were connected to Valdez shortly before he signed, suggesting a willingness to continue adding to their rotation, but Gallen might not be viewed as impactful enough to justify pushing Cody Ponce and Jose Berrios out of the fifth starter job. The Giants were also connected to Gallen earlier in the winter but have since signed Adrian Houser and Tyler Mahle. President of baseball ops Buster Posey downplayed the idea of adding another starter last week, but the San Francisco rotation has both injury and workload concerns behind ace Logan Webb.

Where do MLBTR readers think Gallen will ultimately land? Have your say in the poll below:

The Opener: Skubal, Padres, Red Sox

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Here are three things we’ll be keeping an eye on around the baseball world throughout the day:

1. Skubal decision expected:

Reigning AL Cy Young Award winner Tarik Skubal went to an arbitration hearing with the Tigers yesterday, and a report from the Associated Press indicates that a decision on the matter is slated to be announced today. That decision will have substantial financial ramifications, not only for the Tigers and Skubal but for future high-end starting pitchers who go through the arbitration process. If the Tigers win, the ball won’t be moved forward for those pitchers at all as Skubal will be paid just $19MM, lower than the $19.6MM record David Price set during his final trip through arbitration over a decade ago. That scenario would presumably leave the Tigers with some additional spending power, even after adding Framber Valdez last night. If Skubal wins, the Tigers will add an extra $13MM in salary to their books as they pay him a hefty $32MM in his final season before free agency.

2. What’s next for the Padres?

The Padres have long been known to be hoping to find another bat and found one yesterday when they agreed to a $4MM deal with Miguel Andujar. The former Rookie of the Year runner-up is coming off his best season since that debut campaign; Andujar split the 2025 season between the A’s and Reds, slashing .318/.352/.470 (125 wRC+) in a platoon-heavy role where he torched lefties and was a slight bit above average versus righties. While Andujar has experience at all four corner positions, he’s a poor defender who figures to see plenty of DH work with San Diego. With Andujar aboard, will president of baseball operations A.J. Preller turn his attention towards acquiring a starter who can help fill the void left by Dylan Cease in the club’s rotation?

3. Are the Red Sox done?

The Red Sox reached an agreement with infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa yesterday, adding a talented and versatile defender to an infield that had questions at third base and second base. Though “IKF” raises the infield’s floor, he’s a well below-average hitter coming off a punchless .262/.297/.324 (75 wRC+) showing in 459 plate appearances — not exactly a replacement for the Alex Bregman-sized hole in Boston’s lineup.

It’s possible the Sox could go with some combination of Kiner-Falefa, Marcelo Mayer, David Hamilton, Nick Sogard, and Romy Gonzalez at second and third base, with Kristian Campbell or even Ceddanne Rafaela possibly mixing in, depending on health and performance (though indications are that the Red Sox prefer them in the outfield). It’s still unclear how much — if at all — Kiner-Falefa will impact the club’s pursuits of players like Isaac Paredes, Nico Hoerner, Matt Shaw, and other infield options on the trade market.

Pirates Sign Mike Clevinger To Minor League Deal

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The Pirates announced that veteran right-hander Mike Clevinger will be in camp as a non-roster invitee. The ACES client signed a minor league deal this afternoon.

Clevinger spent most of the 2025 season in Triple-A with the White Sox. He had a decent year, allowing a 4.20 ERA with league average strikeout (21.9%) and walk (8.5%) marks. The 34-year-old had actually broken camp with Chicago in a bullpen role, but he was taken off the roster after giving up five runs with eight walks across his first 5 2/3 innings. He built back up as a starter in the minors but never got another look from the big league club.

That was the ninth season in which Clevinger logged some MLB action. He was an above-average starter for Cleveland early in his career. His stuff dropped off following a 2020 Tommy John surgery. Clevinger managed decent run prevention marks in 2022-23 but didn’t have anywhere near the same strikeout ability as he showed before the elbow injury. He was limited to four starts in 2024 by a neck injury that required surgery and hasn’t been much of a factor at the MLB level over the past two years.

Pittsburgh has plenty of upside in the rotation. They’ve subtracted from the depth behind Paul Skenes and Mitch Keller by trading away Mike Burrows and Johan Oviedo for offensive help. Bubba Chandler and Braxton Ashcraft are entering their first full MLB seasons. With Jared Jones still recovering from last year’s UCL surgery, the fifth starter job would be up for grabs among Hunter Barco, Thomas Harrington and Carmen Mlodzinski. Any Spring Training injuries would seriously test the depth.

It’s likely the Pirates still have at least one big league rotation pickup coming. They’ve even jumped into the mix on Framber Valdez, improbable as that kind of splash seems based on Pittsburgh’s usual spending habits. There are a number of mid-rotation or back-end arms still available if Valdez ends up elsewhere. A minor league deal for Clevinger shouldn’t have an impact on those pursuits. They’ll need a couple veteran arms at Triple-A Indianapolis to avoid pushing too many prospects as injuries necessitate during the season.

Giants Sign Michael Fulmer To Minor League Deal

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The Giants announced a number of non-roster invitees to spring training today, with Shayna Rubin of the San Francisco Chronicle among those to pass them along. Most of the players were already in the organization or their signings had been previously reported but right-hander Michael Fulmer and outfielder Jared Oliva were new names. Fulmer is represented by BBI Sports Group and Oliva the Beverly Hills Sports Council.

Fulmer, 33 in March, has had periods of major league success but also lengthy injury interruptions. He was a rotation staple for the Tigers from 2016 to 2018, winning American League Rookie of the Year in the first of those seasons, but then Tommy John surgery wiped out his 2019. When he returned, he struggled and got moved to the bullpen. He was a fairly effective reliever from 2021 to 2023 but then required a revision surgery on his ulnar collateral ligament, wiping out his 2024.

He was back on the mound in 2025 but was mostly stuck in the minors. He briefly got called up to the big leagues by the Red Sox and the Cubs but only made three appearances between those two teams. He pitched in Triple-A for those two clubs as well as the Mariners and Royals last year, throwing a total of 66 1/3 innings with a combined 3.39 earned run average. His 10.5% walk rate was a bit high but he struck out 31% of batters faced.

The San Francisco bullpen looks notably weaker than it did just a few months ago. They traded away Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval at the trade deadline, then Randy Rodríguez required Tommy John surgery in September. They haven’t really made any moves to strengthen the group apart from making buy-low investments in injury reclamation projects like Sam Hentges and Jason Foley.

Fulmer joins Gregory Santos as experienced non-roster depth and will try to pitch his way into a return to a regular big league role. From 2021 to 2023, Fulmer made 177 appearances with a 3.55 ERA, 24.6% strikeout rate, 9.4% walk rate and 40% ground ball rate.

Oliva, 30, has a major league track record consisting of 26 games for the Pirates over the 2020 and 2021 seasons. He stepped to the plate 59 times and produced a .179/.220/.214 line. He spent last year with the Brewers on a minor league deal and hit .252/.335/.413. He’s generally been good for double-digit steals throughout his minor league career and swiped 57 bags last year.

The Giants project to have a regular outfield consisting of Harrison Bader, Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos, with Jerar Encarnación, Drew Gilbert, Luis Matos, Grant McCray and others in the mix for bench/depth roles. If some playing time opens up, perhaps Oliva’s base running skills can help him earn a bench job. If he eventually gets a roster spot, he still has options.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

Latest On Padres’ Ownership

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The legal battle which has been hovering over the Padres for the past year-plus moved a bit closer to resolution this week. While it’s not over the finish line, it appears the club took one step toward closer to potentially being sold. Various details were provided by Dennis Lin of The Athletic, Eben Novy-Williams, Kurt Badenhausen and Scott Soshnick of Sportico, as well as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Interested readers are encouraged to read those pieces in full to get all of the pertinent details. The key takeaway is that Sheel Seider, widow of Peter Seider, has dropped many of the claims in her lawsuit against Peter’s brothers. The two sides of the lawsuit have reached agreement on many of the claims, with the exceptions of those related to trust distributions and demand for accounting.

After Peter died in November of 2023, his stake in the team was placed in a trust. Eric Kutsenda, a business associate of Peter’s, was made the club’s control person on an interim basis. Teams are often owned by many people but MLB designates one individual the control person to represent the team in league matters. Peter’s brother John Seidler was reportedly set to be named control person in December of 2024. Two of Peter’s other brothers, Matt and Bob, remained involved in his trust.

In January of 2025, Sheel filed suit against Matt and Bob, seeking to be named control person of the franchise. The suit claimed that Peter wanted control of the franchise to eventually pass to his young children, with her steering the franchise in the interim. The suit accused Peter’s brothers of various types of malfeasance to take control of the club, including selling themselves assets at below-market prices, and to eventually sell it. Matt then filed a response with a counter narrative, saying that Peter never listed Sheel as a trustee despite amending his trust multiple times and that many transactions had been made to her benefit.

MLB approved John as control person on February of 2025. In November of 2025, the Padres announced that they would be exploring a sale of the club, despite no signs of progress with the dispute. As mentioned, this week’s news seems to represent progress, but with some hurdles remaining.

Acee reports it’s likely that a sale will not take place until full resolution of the legal matters. That’s a situation with some recent precedent in Major League Baseball. After the death of Orioles’ owner Peter Angelos, his surviving family members engaged in a similar fight for control, also involving lawsuits. Those suits were dropped in February of 2023. Later that year, it was reported that David Rubenstein was in talks to buy the club, which he eventually did.

Sportico identifies Jose E. Feliciano and Dan Friedkin as two people interested in buying the club. Feliciano’s investment firm Clearlake Capital was part of the BlueCo consortium which bought  the English Premier League club Chelsea in 2022 for roughly $3 billion in USD. Forbes estimates Feliciano’s net worth to be $3.9 billion. Clearlake reportedly has about $90 billion under management. Mark Walter, Dodgers’ control person and chief executive officer of Guggenheim Partners, was also part of BlueCo.

Friedkin also owns a Premier League club, having purchased Everton in 2024 for an undisclosed price. He also owns the Serie A club Roma. Forbes estimates his net worth to be just under $9.9 billion. He was born in San Diego in 1965.

Joe Lacob is also identified as someone with interest by all three articles linked above. Lacob has been connected to various MLB clubs in the past, including the Athletics and the Angels. He owns the NBA’s Golden State Warriors and the WNBA’s Golden State Valkyries. Forbes estimate his net worth to be $2.3 billion.

Forbes calculates the value of the franchise at $1.95 billion. Sportico comes in a bit higher at $2.3 billion. This week’s reporting suggests the Padres are likely to seek far more than that, with Acee reporting the team likely values itself in the $2.5 to $3 billion range. If they can get anywhere close to that, it would be a record. The largest sale of an MLB club to date is the $2.4 billion Steve Cohen paid to buy the Mets.

It’s possible that a sale could provide some greater certainty about the future of the club in a few areas. The player payroll peaked in 2023, with Cot’s Baseball Contracts putting the Friars at $249MM that year, but has been at a lower tier since then.

That has seemingly played a role in some transactions. Juan Soto’s final year of club control was traded to the Yankees, with younger and cheaper players coming back in return. The Friars signed Nick Pivetta last year but backloaded it significantly, with Pivetta only getting $4MM in the first year of a four-year, $44MM deal. With the cheapest year now completed, he has been in trade rumors this winter.

The person making the decisions about those transactions is president of baseball operations A.J. Preller, who has been running the San Diego front office since 2014. There has been some reported tension between him and the new guys running the team. Despite the club being fairly successful on the field, Preller is going into the final year of his contract and rumors of extension talks haven’t led to a new deal, putting him in lame duck status for 2026.

Photo courtesy of Chadd Cady, Imagn Images

Blue Jays, Josh Fleming Agree To Minor League Deal

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The Blue Jays reached agreement with left-hander Josh Fleming on a minor league contract, reports Alden González of ESPN. The Republik Sports client receives a non-roster invite to Spring Training.

Fleming spent last season in Triple-A with the Mariners. The 29-year-old southpaw worked mostly out of the bullpen and struggled to a 4.91 ERA across 84 1/3 innings. He got ground-balls at a 57.8% clip but had an 11.5% strikeout rate, the second-lowest mark among Triple-A pitchers with at least 50 innings. He’s a sinkerballer who barely scrapes 90 MPH while mixing in a cutter, changeup and curveball.

A former fifth-round pick by the Rays, Fleming has spent the majority of his career in the AL East. He pitched for Tampa Bay between 2020-23 and logged the ’24 campaign with the Pirates. He carries a 4.77 ERA across 254 2/3 major league innings. As was the case in Triple-A, he has thrown strikes and gotten a ton of grounders while barely missing any bats at the big league level. He’ll likely begin the season at Triple-A Buffalo as long relief depth.

Latest On D-backs, Zac Gallen

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As Zac Gallen continues to twist in the winds of free agency, there’s been growing speculation about a potential reunion with the D-backs. It still seems like a long shot, given Arizona’s desire to scale back payroll after record levels of spending in 2025, but Gallen himself voiced interest when asked about a potential reunion.

“I think people understand what Phoenix means to me,” said Gallen when asked about the possibility of returning (video link via Blake Niemann of FOX 10 Phoenix). “My wife is from here. I’m calling this home base now, so for us to be here would be awesome. It’s been really humbling that [fans] have come up me and would like me to come back — especially because I know how the first half of last year went, we didn’t make the playoffs, things like that. It gives you chills that people still want you to come back and be a part of the organization.”

As Gallen alluded to, the first half of his 2025 season was nightmarish. He tossed consecutive quality starts just twice over his first 22 appearances, pitching to a brutal 5.60 ERA through 127 frames. The right-hander’s strikeout and walk rates were both trending in the wrong direction, and he became more homer-prone than at any point in his career. Gallen served up 23 round-trippers through those first 22 starts — already more than in any full season in his career prior — despite being only two-thirds of the way through the year.

Over the final two months, Gallen turned things around, but not in overly convincing fashion. Gallen’s 3.32 ERA over his final 11 starts/65 innings was a major improvement, but his strikeout rate actually dropped by a couple percentage points. Gallen’s command improved and he dodged hard contact more effectively, but his 4.22 SIERA over his final 11 outings wasn’t materially different than the 4.24 SIERA he posted through his first 22 starts.

Put another way, Gallen was very similar on a rate basis in those first 22 and final 11 starts. However, he had more success stranding runners in the season’s final third (76.5%) than the first two thirds (64%) — in part due to a downturn in home runs allowed. Home run rate and homer-to-flyball ratio tend to be fairly volatile in smaller samples, so between that and some some modest improvements to his command, the final couple months looked like a much larger turnaround than may actually have been the case.

Even if Gallen can’t rebound to his 2019-24 form (3.29 ERA, 26.6 K%, 7.8 BB%), he’d still improve both the Diamondbacks’ rotation quality and depth. At the moment, the Snakes will go with the re-signed Merrill Kelly, Ryne Nelson, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt and free agent signee Michael Soroka to comprise the staff. Depth options beyond that group include Yilber Diaz, Kohl Drake, Mitch Bratt and Cristian Mena — a group with virtually no major league experience. One notable injury would leave the D-backs relying on a carousel of rookies to round out a staff that already has multiple pitchers in need of a rebound (Pfaadt, Rodriguez, Soroka).

John Gambadoro of 98.7 Arizona Sports suggests that Gallen would prefer to be with a team by the time camp opens next week. That doesn’t leave much time for a deal to come together, whether with the D-backs or another club. The Diamondbacks, Gambadoro adds, are either at or very close to the top threshold of owner Ken Kendrick’s set payroll limits. He speculates that the Snakes could try to bring Gallen back on a two-year deal, the second season being a player option, just as they did late in the 2023-24 offseason when agreeing to their ill-fated deal with lefty Jordan Montgomery. In this instance, they might need a more creative structure and/or some deferred money to make it work.

The Montgomery deal, of course, didn’t pan out. Montgomery required Tommy John surgery midway through the 2024 season after pitching to an ERA north of 6.00. Kendrick publicly lamented the move late that season.

On the one hand, it’s hard to see Kendrick doubling down on that tactic after the Montgomery deal blew up so spectacularly. On the other, Gallen is a wholly different situation. He’s spent nearly his entire big league career in Arizona and is beloved by the fans and those within the organization. That includes Kendrick, who said of Gallen in an appearance on 98.7 shortly after the season ended:

“He’s a special young man who spent nearly seven years as a D-back. He definitely had an up-and-down season — performed better in the later part of the year, certainly, than earlier in the year. I think his actions the other evening… he didn’t want to take his uniform off. He’s loved being a Diamondback. I don’t want to say it’s out of the touch of reality that we’d work out an arrangement to bring him back. He’s been a great D-back. Last I recall, he was the guy who pitched seven or eight innings of no-hit ball in a World Series game for the Arizona Diamondbacks. … He’s the guy you want to root for.”

Certainly, that doesn’t mean that the D-backs will tear up prior budget plans to bring Gallen back into the fold, but the longer he remains unsigned and the closer spring training gets, the more a soft landing at home seems to make sense. Gallen rejected a qualifying offer from the D-backs, so they’re the only team that wouldn’t have to forfeit a draft pick (or picks) in order to sign him (though they’re technically forgoing the compensatory pick they’d secure if he signed elsewhere)

Gallen has also drawn recent interest from the Orioles. At various points of the offseason, each of the Cubs, Angels, Giants and Tigers have reportedly inquired on the veteran righty. Many of those clubs have since added to the rotation, but Gallen still stands as a viable source of innings for any club seeking rotation help. And, for a team that believes it can get Gallen back to his previous heights, the current price point could prove to be a bargain.

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