Will Zac Gallen return to Diamondbacks in 2026?

Zac Gallen is one of the more intriguing pitchers on the free agent market this winter, as interested clubs will have to balance the right-hander’s solid track record up against his shaky 2025 season.  Theoretically, the situation could present an opening for Gallen to accept a qualifying offer from the Diamondbacks, though John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7FM Radio (multiple links) feels “there is no chance he accepts it.”

This winter’s qualifying offer is estimated to be worth roughly $22MM.  While a nice one-year payday, Gallen is undoubtedly looking for much more in a longer-term commitment as he tests the market for the first time.  Even if his struggles this year inevitably lower his asking price, baseball’s ever-present need for pitching means that Gallen should be able to land some kind of acceptable multi-year pact.

Scott Boras (Gallen’s agent) has a long history of finding such deals for his clients, though Boras has also explored relatively shorter-term contracts with opt-out clauses for players who are entering free agency on the heels of so-so platform years.  It isn’t hard to imagine Gallen signing such a deal, and then if he returns to form in 2026, enacting an opt-out clause to immediately return to free agency.  Obviously there’s some risk in betting on himself in such a fashion, plus next year’s market has the added uncertainty of labor unrest and a potential lockout as the Collective Bargaining Agreement expires.

Gallen posted a 4.83 ERA, 21.5% strikeout rate, and 8.1% walk rate over 192 innings in 2025, with the ERA and K% both standing out as career worsts.  Pretty much all of Gallen’s Statcast numbers were below the league average, and he was continually plagued by the home run ball — Gallen’s 31 homers allowed were the third-most of any pitcher in baseball.  The inflated number is related in part to the number of innings Gallen tossed, though his barrel rate and hard-hit ball rates didn’t surpass the 26th percentile of all pitchers.

The good news for Gallen is that he seemed to get on track over the season’s final two months.  After posting a 5.60 ERA over his first 127 innings, he improved to a 3.32 ERA over his last 65 frames and 11 starts.  Gallen’s turn-around came directly after the trade deadline, and had he started pitching better a little earlier, it is quite possible he already would’ve been gone from Arizona considering the Diamondbacks’ other deadline sells.

Ken Kendrick is a known fan of Gallen, and the D’Backs owner stated earlier this week that it isn’t “out of the realm of reality” that the righty could be re-signed.  Within that same interview, however, Kendrick said that “we will not be spending at the same level” as in 2025, though the Diamondbacks still plan to have a competitive payroll and are intent on winning next year.

Whether this adds up to a salary number that can work for both the D’Backs and Gallen’s camp remains to be seen.  If Gallen did reject the qualifying offer and sign elsewhere, Arizona would receive a compensatory draft pick just after the first round of the 2026 draft.  Landing an extra pick in the 31-36 overall range would be a decent consolation prize if Gallen did depart, especially if the Diamondbacks could add starting pitching elsewhere at a lower price.

For instance, a reunion with Merrill Kelly has been speculated on basically ever since Kelly was traded to the Rangers at the deadline.  Kelly was open about his desire to stay in Arizona both before and after the trade, and Kelly would be available at a lower price than Gallen given their ages (Kelly turns 37 in a couple of weeks, and Gallen turned 30 last month).  Gambadoro feels the Diamondbacks will pursue one of Gallen or Kelly but not both, leaving one rotation spot open for a younger pitcher until Corbin Burnes is ready to return from Tommy John surgery.

Between Arizona’s pitching needs and the team’s desire to lower payroll, some other areas of the roster might receive less focus.  For instance, Gambadoro thinks the D’Backs will probably stand pat at first base, with Pavin Smith getting the bulk of at-bats and Tim Tawa or Tyler Locklear facing as the right-handed hitting side of the platoon.  Bringing in a veteran bat for the first base/DH mix would also seem logical, even if such an acquisition isn’t likely to be as high profile as last offseason’s trade for Josh Naylor.

Smith appeared in only eight games after July 5, as an oblique strain and then a quad strain cost him essentially all of the back half of the season.  Smith hit .258/.362/.434 with eight home runs over 288 plate appearances in 2025, facing right-handers in all but 24 of those trips to the dish.  The result was a very solid 123 wRC+ for the season, yet almost all of Smith’s production came during a scorching-hot April, and his strikeout rate ballooned upwards to an ungainly 31.9%.  Getting more out of Tawa or Locklear would go a long way towards solidifying the Diamondbacks’ first base platoon, but the unproven duo has only 390 combined Major League PA between them.