“I would love to come back here. I’d love to spend the rest of my career here,” Zach Gallen told Arizona Sports Network’s Alex Weiner and other reporters at a recent community event in Phoenix. As for whether to sign a new contract with the company rattlesnake It is possible that Galen was more cautious and said “I think what sometimes gets lost in translation is that it’s not always up to the player. If there’s an opportunity and we think it’s right for us, for myself as a player and for me and my soon-to-be wife as a family, then yes, we’ll explore that. But now we’re just going through the process and we’ll see what happens“.
Gallen is one of the most attractive free-agent pitchers, entering the market after the worst season of his career as a former Cy Young candidate and a top pitcher in the rotation. Although Gallen had a strong final two months in 2025, his 4.83 ERA and 21.5% strikeout rate were both career lows, and batters allowed 31 home runs in Gallen’s field.
MLBTR still expects Gallen to get a four-year, $8MM contract in free agency, but he and agent Scott Boras could explore a shorter-term deal with an opt-out, so Gallen could re-enter the market early next winter after a better platform season. Such a contract package could make a reunion with the pitching-needy D’Backs more reasonable, although it’s unclear how much Arizona might have to spend this offseason.
More from the National Alliance…
- Although cardinals No bidding Jorge Pozzo Yesterday, Derek Gould of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that the team was interested in working out a new deal to re-sign the catcher. Although the Cards have four other catchers (Ivan Herrera, Pedro Pages, jimmy crooksas well as top prospects Leonard Bernal) on their 40-man roster, Herrera’s injury history may require a return to a DH role, and Bernal has yet to play any Triple-A ball. So, as Gould noted, re-signing Pozo would give the Cardinals more depth in the backfield, at least until they can evaluate Herrera’s readiness during spring training. Of Pozo’s 88 career MLB games, 67 came last season with St. Louis, where he posted a .231/.262/.375 rebounding rate in 168 games.
- this Nationals Andrew Eidet will be hired as assistant hitting coach, Andrew Golden of The Washington Post reports. Etter is the associate director of hitting for Drive Line Baseball and becomes the second former Drive Line staff member to join the Nationals’ coaching staff, joining pitching coach Simon Matthews. This will be Edert’s first job in a professional organization (although he has worked with several major leaguers during his time at Driveline), and he continues a trend of younger, analytics-driven recruiting under new Washington president of baseball operations Paul Toboni. Although the Nationals have not yet hired a head hitting coach to replace Darnell Coles, Edert will assume the role of assistant hitting coach with the Nationals.
