Brewers' top rivals become victim of latest free agent spoof

For a brief moment, it appeared the Chicago Cubs were adding a frontline starter to their rotation on Saturday evening.

There's no doubt that the Cubs are on the hunt for pitching this offseason, with several reports claiming that Chicago is interested in adding one of the top free agent starters on the market this offseason. Already, the Cubs' unwillingness to reach an uncomfortable spot with their payroll led them to miss out on Dylan Cease, who, despite having relatively pedestrian numbers over the last three seasons, might just be the best starter available this winter when underlying metrics are taken into consideration. Regardless, after Cease signed with the Toronto Blue Jays for an impressive seven-year, $210 million contract, one of Chicago's top targets this winter is already off the board.

As Cubs fans begin searching for alternatives, one name that was often linked to Chicago prior to last season's trade deadline, when Hoyer should have added another starting pitcher, is starting to pop up once again: Arizona Diamondbacks' ace, Zac Gallen. The 30-year-old Gallen is a free agent for the first time in his career this offseason, and turned down the Diamondbacks’ qualifying offer several weeks ago, meaning any team that signs him will surrender one or more 2026 draft picks.

For a brief moment on Saturday evening, it appeared as if the Cubs were the team willing to lose draft capital to add Gallen to their rotation. A report from USA Today's Bob Nightengale initially claimed that the Cubs were "close to finalizing an agreement with" Gallen and even included that it was a multi-year deal worth an average of $22 million per season. However, after sending the baseball world into a frenzy, Nightengale updated his post on the social media platform X, to say that no deal had been reached yet and the Cubs are simply "hopeful" that they will land Gallen.

Cubs fans thrown for a loop after inaccurate report claims team is close to signing starting pitcher Zac Gallen

There's still a chance that Gallen eventually lands with Chicago -- there must be at least some mutual interest if Nightengale was led to believe that an agreement was imminent, but for now, Gallen remains a free agent, and one that likely has plenty of interest from around the league. Not only is the former third-round pick a durable starter who has made 28 starts or more in each of the last four seasons, but on three occasions Gallen has finished top-10 in NL Cy Young voting, including a third-place finish in 2023.

That said, there are some reasons to be concerned about Gallen as a front-line starter that would have eased the nerves of Milwaukee Brewers fans had the Cubs actually agreed to a contract with him. For one, he's coming off a season in which he posted a 4.83 ERA, with an expected ERA of 4.28 and a FIP of 4.50, both of which explain that Gallen's underperformance wasn't necessarily due to bad luck or poor defense. Additionally, his underlying metrics have never been strong, but in 2025 they really took a hit. As documented on Baseball Savant, Gallen's chase, whiff, strikeout, walk, barrel, and hard-hit rates all dipped below the 51st percentile in 2025. Without an overpowering fastball, and now showing an inability to generate strikeouts at the same rate he used to, while also walking batters at his highest clip since 2021, Gallen has some work to do to prove that he can return to the pitcher he was in 2022 and 2023.

Even still, Chicago adding an arm like Gallen's to their mix would certainly impact the Brewers’ chances of completing a four-peat in the NL Central in 2026. With Shota Imanaga already returning on the qualifying offer and Justin Steele expected to return to the rotation early on in the season, the Cubs’ rotation would surely be a formidable one with Gallen also in the mix. Time will tell whether or not there was any weight to this rumor.