Cubs fans briefly celebrated a major signing, only to have the dream of Zac Gallen pitching in Chicago quickly evaporate.
The Chicago Cubs got some big news on Saturday morning.
Or so they thought.
MLB insider Bob Nightengale reported that the Cubs are “close to finalizing an agreement with free-agent starter Zac Gallen that will pay him an average of $22 million per year.”
However, that doesn’t appear to be the case right now.
Nightengale then updated his report and said the Cubs are “hopeful” to get a deal done with Gallen. ESPN insider Jeff Passan also confirmed that Gallen “does not have a deal and is not close to finalizing one.”
It was a whirlwind 10 minutes for Cubs fans who believed the team landed a frontline starter in Gallen. While that could still be the case in the coming days, the former Diamondbacks pitcher remains a free agent on the open market.
No deal has been met between the two sides, but the Cubs appear to be fully in on Gallen this offseason. Mark Feinsand of MLB.com first acknowledged the team’s interest in the right-hander on Friday, and now there is some hope that a deal eventually gets done.
Seeing the Cubs interested in Gallen is not a total surprise, considering he fits under that high-risk, high-reward category. Chicago loves to take chances on pitchers whose value might be down following a subpar year.
That is the case for Gallen entering the offseason. He posted the worst numbers of his career in 2025, finishing with a whopping 4.83 ERA and 175 strikeouts across 192 innings pitched. His numbers and metrics were just down across the board.
However, this is the same pitcher who is just a few seasons removed from a top-3 National League Cy Young finish. In 2023, Gallen ended the year with a 3.47 ERA, a 1.119 WHIP, and 220 strikeouts across 210 innings pitched.
With his value down, the Cubs can get him at a significant discount compared to some of the other available pitchers on the open market. Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, and Tatsuya Imai are all going to cost much more than Gallen.
In Nightengale’s original report, he said the Cubs and Gallen are finalizing a multi-year deal worth around $22 million per season. That means the front office offered him somewhere between a two to four-year deal worth around $44 to $88 million -- depending on the number of years.
If that is indeed the price tag for Gallen, that would be a nice move for the Cubs. Hopefully, something will materialize between the two sides in the coming days.