For reports at the MLB Winter Meetings, the race to break news before any of their contemporaries is very real. With that urgency comes significant risk, however, as USA Today's Bob Nightengale found out the hard way on Saturday.
Nightengale reported that Zac Gallen was close to signing a deal with the Chicago Cubs just a day before the Winter Meetings. That, per ESPN's Jeff Passan and a since-updated tweet by Nightengale, wasn't entirely correct.
No, Zac Gallen hasn't signed with the Chicago Cubs just yet
Gallen is one of the top starting pitchers on the market, mostly due to his pedigree. Gallen is coming off a down 2025 season, as he pitched to a 4.83 ERA, but he's also finished top-5 in NL Cy Young voting twice since 2022. If a team like the Cubs takes a chance on him, they could very well revive his career. One down season doesn't define Gallen, who has been the Arizona Diamondbacks ace for the better part of a decade.
That's why when Nightengale announced Gallen was closing in on a multiyear deal with the Cubs for $22 million AAV, it was rather big news. Gallen making that much money before the Winter Meetings even began would loom large over the starting pitching market. Yet, unfortunately for Gallen and other starting pitchers looking for a big payday this winter, it wasn't true.
Zac Gallen does not have a deal and is not close to finalizing one.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) December 6, 2025
Such a reporting flaw feels eerily similar to Winter Meetings' and offseasons past. Whether it be Jon Heyman reporting that Arson Judge – a fictional character at this point – had signed with the San Francisco Giants, or Jon Morosi suggesting Shohei Ohtani was on a private jet to Toronto when that simply wasn't the case, the rush to be first, rather than correct, is the downside to this business.
The challenge of reporting breaking news at the MLB Winter Meetings
Whether it be one of the reporters listed above or even FanSided's own Robert Murray, the benefit of being first to potential signings like Gallen is immense. It's why they make the big bucks, and helps build their reputations as some of the best news breakers in the business. Whether they break such news is often an indication of their relationships in baseball with agents, executives and players alike. Getting such news wrong, or rushing to judgement, can impact those relationships in the long haul.
Nightengale did update his tweet, saying that Gallen had not yet signed a deal but that the Cubs were hopeful they'd be able to ink him at the Winter Meetings. That is obviously a pretty major difference from Gallen closing in on a contract.
Zac Gallen fiasco could be a sign of what's to come at the Winter Meetings
The chaos is just beginning, as the MLB Winter Meetings officially start on Sunday, with the vast majority of moves expected at the beginning of next week. This isn't to suggest that there will be even more reporting flaws next week...but it's not exactly a good sign of what's to come.
Nightengale's flip-flop also shows us just how unpredictable this free-agent class will be. While some free agents have been connected to various suitors so far – think a Schwarber return to Philadelphia, for example – most are wide open as to what their next steps could be. A Gallen signing wasn't expected before the Winter Meetings, but here we are discussing its possibility in full thanks to Nightengale.
The stove is heating up at the perfect time.