Former Arizona Diamondbacks ace officially declined his Qualifying Offer last week, setting the stage for him to explore the open market.
There has been some debate about whether the D-backs might try to re-sign the pitcher who helped carry them to the 2023 World Series, but with the team looking to trim payroll, it appears more likely that Gallen will move on to a new club.
In a recent Bleacher Report piece, Kerry Miller reviewed all the MLB free agents who rejected Qualifying Offers and offered predictions on their landing spots and contract terms.
Miller projected Gallen to sign a four-year, $96 million deal with the Los Angeles Angels — a particularly intriguing scenario.
Here’s what Miller had to say about the projection:
“Isn’t Zac Gallen exactly the type of pitcher that some atypical team like the Angels will scoop up; willing to pay ~20 percent above the current market price because it’s still a good 20-25 percent below what the market price would have been one year ago?
“[Gallen] was healthy enough to not miss a turn through the rotation. He just wasn’t his usual dominant self, mostly due to what was horrific HR/FB luck through his first 21 starts, but also due to less swing-and-miss stuff than he used to have.
“If he bounces back to pre-2025 form, even a 4/$96M deal would become a laughably team-friendly contract. And if he doesn’t sniff nine figures on a deal, the Boras Special would make a lot of sense for him.”
Miller’s projection does, in some strange way, make a lot of sense for Arizona’s former ace — a struggling AL team that needs pitching above all else, with a chance for Gallen to get a fresh start in a relatively low-pressure environment.
In Anaheim, Gallen would face the same challenge he did in 2022 and 2023: helping a struggling, pitching-needy team claw their way back into relevance. The price point would likely be close to satisfying Boras, though he may hold out for a deal above $100 million.
If this deal were to happen, the D-backs would benefit in the form of a first-round draft pick by way of compensation. But if he receives an offer worth well above $20 million a year, that would all by rule him out from a return to Arizona.
There does, however, lie a possibility that he’ll end up on a short-term deal due to Boras’ tendency to shoot high. The D-backs could very well lose out on that draft compensation as a result.
But it also seems somewhat unlikely that the Angels would so heavily pursue an arm like Gallen, even if he’s exactly the type of arm they would both need and be able to obtain.
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