Zac Gallen Turned Down Longer-Term Offers to Re-Sign with Diamondbacks

It took the full offseason, but Zac Gallen was back with the Arizona Diamondbacks just in time for the start of spring training two weeks ago. The former ace of the Snakes' staff had a dismal year in 2025, and wound up signing a one-year, 'prove it' deal back with Arizona for $22 million. That was the same amount that he turned down with the qualifying offer last November.

Now Gallen tells us that he turned down longer-term offers this past winter that he had in front of him, in order to return to the desert on the one-year deal.

Zac Gallen said he had offers with a little more security on the table, but didn't feel like the value met his worth.

"I feel like I have a multitude of things to prove this year." pic.twitter.com/lu2VsGAdLZ
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"I like the motivation of pitching on a one-year deal... But at the same time, there's an opportunity cost (of doing that), and having the security (of more years) would have been nice," said Gallen.

Gallen turned down longer-term deals in free agency that he didn't feel met his worth

"We had some offers for deals that offered a little bit more security, but didn't feel it was the correct value. So we'll go back (next offseason) and try it again.

"I feel like I have a multitude of things to prove this year."

Starting with the fact that he is more like the low-3.00s ERA pitcher that he had been for the first six years of his career, rather than the 4.83 pitcher he was in 2025.

$14.025 million of Gallen's $22M will be deferred, not to be paid until equal installments each July 1 in 2032, 2033 and 2034.

Before his disappointing season, it would have been expected that Gallen could have commanded a long-term deal in free agency this past offseason north of $100 million. The 30-year-old will have to try again, as he noted, next year, when he'll have a chance to enter the market again.