The Chicago Cubs’ front office has made it clear that they intend to add a starting pitcher in free agency this offseason.

And all indications are that the Cubs were among the finalists to sign elite starter Dylan Cease before he agreed to a seven-year, $210 million deal with the Toronto Blue Jays last week. Reports said that the Cubs were included in negotiations for Cease until the contract reached the $200 million mark, which Jed Joyer and the rest of the front office clearly believed was too much.

Therefore, the Cubs showed that while they’re very keen on adding an ace-caliber pitcher, they aren’t going to break the bank to bring one on board. Luckily for them, the next five best starters (Framber Valdez, Ranger Suarez, Tatsuya Imai, Michael King, and Zac Gallen) are all expected to sign shorter-term deals and therefore cost less money.

The Cubs have been linked to all five of these starters at various points. However, as of the morning on December 6, it seemed like that had already put pen to paper with one of these pitchers — at least for a short time.

Cubs’ Reported Zac Gallen Signing Gets Disputed

On Saturday morning, several social media accounts on X began reporting that the Cubs had agreed to a deal with Zac Galen, who has spent most of his MLB career with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

While the initial posts from account like FOX Sports asserted that this deal was already done, USA Today MLB insider Bob Nightengale poured cold water on this with an X post that read, “UPDATE: The Chicago Cubs are HOPEFUL of finalizing an agreement with free-agent starter Zac Gallen on a multi-year deal, but the deal is NOT DONE with others still in contention. Gallen, with three top-10 Cy Young finishes, has averaged 32 starts a year for the past 4 seasons.”

Since this report was made, just about every account who reported Gallen’s signing with the Cubs as official have deleted their X posts, as they appear to await confirmation that it has indeed taken place.

However, it seems that these account may need to wait a while, as ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan (who many regard as the most trustworthy in the business) made an X post on December 6 that read, “Zac Gallen does not have a deal and is not close to finalizing one.”

This story seems to be developing very fast, and Cubs fans should keep a close eye on what is being said about whether Gallen will really come to Wrigley Field.

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