Diamondbacks’ Zac Gallen voices his support for Torey Lovullo
Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen said Torey Lovullo has his vote of confidence as manager of the club for the 2026 season.
Arizona Diamondbacks players cleaned out their lockers as their offseason began.Ace pitcher Zac Gallen, a pending free agent, expressed his desire to return to the team.
Diamondbacks players trickled into the home clubhouse at Chase Field on Monday, Sept. 29, packing up their stalls and boxing up things to be shipped as the offseason officially got underway.
Utility player Tim Tawa is off to upstate New York to spend some time with his brother, who plays college football. Pitcher Juan Morillo is going back to his native Venezuela for the offseason. Most everyone will reunite when it is time to report for spring training, if not before.
One player who might not be back is free-agent-to-be Zac Gallen, who stated his hope to return to the Diamondbacks even though there was some emotion and finality to his last start of the season on Friday, Sept. 26, in San Diego.
Cleaning out his clubhouse space was a little different this time, Gallen admitted. It wasn’t the same as the past six seasons, when Gallen knew he’d return to Chase Field.
“With the uncertainty of it, of what the future looks like,” Gallen said, describing the feeling.
His fiancé suggested he spend as much time in the clubhouse as he needs, to soak it all in. So Gallen planned to hang around for some time on Sept. 29.
Gallen, the ace of the Diamondbacks’ pitching staff for the past four seasons with a 65-49 career record in Sedona red, made clear he would like to re-sign and that he enjoys playing and living in Arizona, and he is happy that manager Torey Lovullo, whom he respects for the way he handles the team, will be back in 2026.
“Sometimes that’s not always in the cards, so we’ll see,” he said.
Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, on Arizona Sports 98.7 on Sept. 29, indicated Gallen wouldn’t return. “He’s loved being a Diamondback. I don’t want to say it’s out of the touch of reality that we would be able to work out an arrangement where we could bring him back. But certainly he’s been a great DBack.”
In August, after the MLB trade deadline, Diamondbacks president Derrick Hall indicated payroll would decrease in 2026. The team had traded away players to save the organization money going forward.
Re-signing Gallen to a new contract, then, wouldn’t seem to go hand-in-hand with the notion of decreasing payroll. And the Diamondbacks could try to bring back pitcher Merrill Kelly, whom they traded to the Texas Rangers at the deadline but who can become a free agent this offseason.
But a couple of Diamondbacks in the clubhouse like the idea of “running it back” next season — that is, bringing back as many 2025 players as possible and getting the injured players back in the fold to make another run at the postseason. Such is the expectation with the Diamondbacks under Lovullo.
The Diamondbacks were without pitchers Corbin Burnes, A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez and Cristian Mena for most of the season and lost outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr., pitcher Kevin Ginkel and first baseman Pavin Smith until 2026 during the second half of the 2025 campaign.
Starting pitcher Brandon Pfaadt said he’s hopeful Gallen doesn’t sign elsewhere, and Thompson said Gallen is one of the best pitchers the franchise has ever seen.
“I would love to have him back here. He’s a leader for us in this clubhouse,” Thompson said. “You’ve seen him, especially in this last month, when he’s out there on the mound, our team, this is our ace. As he goes, we go. He’s a guy that’s going to be hard to replace.”
Thompson mentioned Gallen’s improved second half of the season. Gallen was 7-12 with a 5.60 earned run average at the beginning of August, but finished 13-15 and only twice over his final 11 starts allowed more than three earned runs.
“The season is a tale of two halves, and he was really impressive to me coming down the stretch,” Thompson said. “He’s earned his free agency, and to make his decision, whatever he wants. I hope that we give him a chance to come back here.
“All this stuff’s over my head. But as a teammate, I love Zac. I want him here. I want to come in after him in hopefully the seventh or eighth inning and be the guy who gets the hold and he gets the win.”
José M. Romero can be reached at jose.romero@gannett.com. Follow him on X at @RomeroJoseM or Instagram at @romerojosem. Sign up for Azcentral Preps Now. And be sure to subscribe to our daily sports newsletters so you don’t miss a thing.