Cubs interest in Zac Gallen ignores veteran arm who's a better gamble

It's hard to believe that the Chicago Cubs would really spend whatever financial resources remain on another starting pitcher after the most recent Justin Steele update, but as the team learned all too well in the playoffs last year, you can never have too much pitching depth.

Thus, Zac Gallen — he who was thought to have signed with the Cubs during a social media fiasco prior to the Winter Meetings — remains attached to Chicago in various rumors and rumblings. It wouldn't be an awful idea to partner up with a pitcher who finished inside the top 10 in NL Cy Young voting three times in a four-year span from 2020-23, but Gallen is trying to rebuild his value right now after a down season with the Arizona Diamondbacks. It's hard to see how he'd do that while competing for innings with Steele, Cade Horton, Edward Cabrera, Matthew Boyd, Jameson Taillon, Shota Imanaga, and Colin Rea.

Instead, Jed Hoyer and the front office should turn their attention to a key arm from a division rival, one who is both more versatile and cheaper than Gallen.

Nick Martinez, not Zac Gallen, should be Cubs' top pitching target prior to spring training

Since joining the Cincinnati Reds prior to the 2024 season, Nick Martinez has done nothing but excel at role thrown at him. He accrued 6.3 WAR while recording a 3.83 ERA in 308 frames in the Queen City, notably starting 42 games and making 40 appearances out of the bullpen.

On a more micro level, the 35-year-old was serviceable as a starter (4.72 ERA in 145 innings) and dominant as a reliever (2.61 ERA in 20 2/3 innings) in 2025, a continuation of his performance from 2024 (3.84 ERA as a starter, 1.86 ERA as a reliever). That kind of dependability and versatility is exceedingly rare in today's game, and it's why the Reds gave him a $21.05 million qualifying offer last offseason. He was a key piece of their pitching staff operation, and one that would be hard to replace.

Also, unlike Gallen, Martinez isn't attached to a qualifying offer this winter. That by itself isn't a worthwhile tiebreaker between the two, but it does matter a great deal in conjunction with the fact that Martinez's next contract will almost certainly be shorter-term and worth less money on an annual basis.

The Cubs do have their fair share of swingman candidates already, including Rea, Javier Assad, Ben Brown, and Jordan Wicks. None of them has handled the workload that Martinez does on an annual basis, though, nor are they as adept at switching roles on a dime. After a high-risk, high-reward addition in Edward Cabrera, the Cubs would be wise to raise the floor of the pitching staff by adding a versatile chess piece like Nick Martinez.