Nightengale: Cubs to sign Gallen (UPDATE - Passan - no deal is close, he is not signing)

[Illiterate Scholar]

I no longer have a subscription but based on the headline of a Mooney article up today, this doesn't seem dead.

[Jason Ross]

53 minutes ago, mk49 said:

Hopefully, Jason and his source are right.  I don't want Zac.  I like King way more, and I want Imai, probably more than any other SP at the moment.  Cade, Imai and hopefully Wiggins could be our rotation for the next 5 years.

Not my source! Credit goes to someone else in the Cubs-sphere. I just got a game of telephone going on that suggests the Cubs aren't as interested as Nightengale is suggesting. It just leads back to someone who has a source and I just don't think it's that public.

[Jason Ross]

12 minutes ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

I no longer have a subscription but based on the headline of a Mooney article up today, this doesn't seem dead.

It's pretty bereft of anything. "Targeting as an option" leaves a lot to your imagination. Beyond that line there is not a slice of anything other than breaking down his numbers and that a deal could be around the Kukuchi-Manea types as a starting point. But that's it'.

[Tryptamine]

Gallen is the exact kind of disappointing signing I'd expect from Jed who always manages to disappoint even when expectations are low. Hopefully I'm wrong, I'd very much like to be.

[Derwood]

Why all the Gallen hate?

[Jason Ross]

9 minutes ago, Derwood said:

Why all the Gallen hate?

Real signs of decline have taken him from "Top-of-the-rotation" guy to more along the lines of "would start a playoff game, but you should really have one or two pitchers who are clearly better than him" status. 

He has had no pitch of his grade out above 100 on FanGraphs Stuff+ for two years running, his K% dropped 4% last year, his barrel rate is over 9.5 two of the last three years, hitters are pulling him more, his velocity on the fastball has been more up and down (he got it back up most of the way last year but it stayed down for longer at the start of the year than normal). Even on the back half of last year when he was better, his strikeout rate went down further, down to 20.3% or another 1% as he went more contact heavy.

The Cubs already are the 21st best team in the league in strikeouts. And as much as I wish the Chicago Cubs were going to be the team who would buy more than one thing this offseason, they probably only have money for one $20-25m purchase. If it's Zac Gallen, a pitcher who's fastball has declined the most of any of his pitches, that's probably a problem for a team who threw more fastballs than almost anyone last year. He's a pretty good pitcher who isn't the right pitcher for the Cubs (on paper - I'll give the Cubs a bit of a benefit of the doubt if they do it, because they probably understand the internal plan better than I).

You can make the same general argument for why Ranger Suarez isn't the right pitcher or the Cubs either. They need to be shooting a bit higher - even someone like Michael King (who does much of what the Cubs like) at the same AAV is probably a much better fit.

[Stratos]

9 hours ago, mk49 said:

Hopefully, Jason and his source are right.  I don't want Zac.  I like King way more, and I want Imai, probably more than any other SP at the moment.  Cade, Imai and hopefully Wiggins could be our rotation for the next 5 years.

Why Imai so much?

[Derwood]

Just now, Stratos said:

Why Imai so much?

Shiny unknown

[Stratos]

Concerned about Gallen's falloff in K/9, chase %, and other metrics on BB Savant.  Only 30 y/o though, and velo is still there.  Agree they should do better.

[JHBulls]

I didn’t even need the edit in the thread title to know that Bob Nightengale would be wrong. I just needed to remember his decades long track record of being wrong on things. 

Edited December 7, 2025 by JHBulls

[JHBulls]

10 hours ago, Illiterate Scholar said:

I no longer have a subscription but based on the headline of a Mooney article up today, this doesn't seem dead.

You don’t even need a subscription to anything these days. Just copy and paste a paywalled articles URL in here https://archive.md (in the white box and hit “save”)and most articles will open up. I have had very few articles that won’t work, but the majority will. 

[Bertz]

7 hours ago, Derwood said:

Shiny unknown

Japanese pitchers aren't a mystery box anymore.  We have the same absurd levels of detail on their velocity/movement/angle/command as any domestic pitcher.

[CubUgly]

21 hours ago, Jason Ross said:

Nightegale you Boob.

He's so bad, he really needs to quit trying to be in the breaking news business. 

[BKHoo]

Does anyone know Zac’s numbers pitching at Wrigley? 

[BKHoo]

I found my own answer on chatGPT:

 

Zac Gallen has 2 career starts pitching at Wrigley Field (vs. the Cubs). Here are his Wrigley-only pitching lines:

 

• July 20, 2024 (at CHC, Wrigley): 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 6 BB, 4 K (Diamondbacks won 3–0)
• April 19, 2025 (at CHC, Wrigley): 6.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR (Cubs won 6–2)

 

 

Totals at Wrigley Field (career): 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 8 BB, 6 K, 2 HR, 1–1, 4.91 ERA.

[Bertz]

10 minutes ago, BKHoo said:

I found my own answer on chatGPT:

 

Zac Gallen has 2 career starts pitching at Wrigley Field (vs. the Cubs). Here are his Wrigley-only pitching lines:

 

• July 20, 2024 (at CHC, Wrigley): 5.0 IP, 0 ER, 3 H, 6 BB, 4 K (Diamondbacks won 3–0)
• April 19, 2025 (at CHC, Wrigley): 6.0 IP, 6 ER, 7 H, 2 BB, 2 K, 2 HR (Cubs won 6–2)

 

 

Totals at Wrigley Field (career): 2 GS, 11.0 IP, 6 ER, 10 H, 8 BB, 6 K, 2 HR, 1–1, 4.91 ERA.

As expected, ChatGPT is wrong:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/zac-gallen/19291/splits-tool?position=P&splitArr=266&splitArrPitch=&autoPt=false&splitTeams=false&statType=player&statgroup=1&startDate=2002-01-01&endDate=2025-11-01&players=&filter=&groupBy=season&wxTemperature=&wxPressure=&wxAirDensity=&wxElevation=&wxWindSpeed=&sort=-1%2C1

 

[sweetpeteman]

Cunningham's Law states "the best way to get the right answer on the internet is not to ask a question; it's to post the wrong answer."

 

 

Edited December 7, 2025 by sweetpeteman

[NorthsideAvenger]

5 hours ago, CubUgly said:

He's so bad, he really needs to quit trying to be in the breaking news business. 

I'm still waiting on Arson Judge to sign.

[BKHoo]

2 hours ago, Bertz said:

As expected, ChatGPT is wrong:

https://www.fangraphs.com/players/zac-gallen/19291/splits-tool?position=P&splitArr=266&splitArrPitch=&autoPt=false&splitTeams=false&statType=player&statgroup=1&startDate=2002-01-01&endDate=2025-11-01&players=&filter=&groupBy=season&wxTemperature=&wxPressure=&wxAirDensity=&wxElevation=&wxWindSpeed=&sort=-1%2C1

 

How so? 

[Transmogrified Tiger]

Gallen has 5 career starts at Wrigley

[ToolDRT]

Cubs interested in Suarez. Not sure where to post 

 

 

Edited December 7, 2025 by ToolDRT

[Rcal10]

1 minute ago, ToolDRT said:

Cubs interested in Suarez. Not sure where to post 

 

 

Probably more BS. 

[ToolDRT]

8 minutes ago, Rcal10 said:

Probably more BS. 

Yeah, most likely. If we’re out on Tucker (and it seems we are) I’d prefer to spend more on the rotation at this point. 

[CubUgly]

On 12/7/2025 at 1:55 PM, NorthsideAvenger said:

I'm still waiting on Arson Judge to sign.

Passan's follow up was like the scolding of a child.....and perfect.