ST. LOUIS – Jordan Montgomery, a reigning World Series champion who also pitched for the St. Louis Cardinals last season, is without a team as Major League Baseball draws closer to Opening Day.
Montgomery, a 31-year-old left-handed starting pitcher, is coming off arguably his best season yet, winning 10 games with a 3.20 ERA and 188.2 innings between the Cardinals and Texas Rangers in 2023.
Apparently that wasn’t convincing enough to find a suitor to this point, at least one to which Montgomery and agent Scott Boras have agreed on years and dollars.
This was a pretty common trend among Boras clients this offseason, but three of five high-profile candidtaes eventually settled for new deals.
Blake Snell, the defending National League Cy Young Award winner, just agreed to a two-year, $62 million contract with the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday that includes an opt-out after year one.
Cody Bellinger, a former NL MVP who enjoyed a bounceback 2023 with the Chicago Cubs, agreed to a three-year, $80 million contract on Feb. 24 with the Cubs that includes potential opt-outs after the first and second seasons.
Matt Chapman, a American League defensive stalwart and power bat, agreed to a three-year, $54 million contract with the Giants on March 1 that includes potential opt-outs after the first and second seasons.
J.D. Martinez, a veteran power bat and six-time All-Star, is still unsigned.
Montgomery is still unsigned.
One common trend among Snell, Bellinger and Chapman is Boras reportedly pushed for longer and pricier contracts than what teams ultimately wanted to offer. The price didn’t go down until the urgency for his newly-signed clients to play somewhere grew more.
The New York Yankees reportedly offered Snell a $150 million deal last month, but he never accepted, a sign he likely wanted something larger. New York pulled the offer last week before Snell eventually signed with San Francisco.
According to USA Today baseball writer Bob Nightengale, Montgomery opened free agency looking for something north of $170 million. Now, Monty could pivot to a similar short-term “prove-it” deal to what Snell just signed. Even on a short-term deal, however, his annual dollar value probably doesn’t match Snell.
The Boston Red Sox seem to have the most interest in Montgomery among other potential suitors left after dealing with some injuries, though it would be hard to imagine a deal gets done close to Montgomery’s previous $170 million goal.
Meanwhile, the Cardinals probably won’t entertain a reunion right now. Lead executive John Mozeliak said the team would still look for innings internally as their big offseason signing Sonny Gray returns from a hamstring strain. The Opening Day rotation, for now, will include Miles Mikolas, Lance Lynn, Kyle Gibson, Steven Matz, and, if cleared by the second series, Gray.
On that possibility, The Athletic’s Jim Bowden adds, “Also, it doesn’t sound like Montgomery is interested in a return to St. Louis.”
It’s unclear if either of Montgomery’s other former teams, the Rangers or Yankees, would take a another chance, but both seem to have steady rotation plans in the case he doesn’t return.
The 2024 MLB season actually begins Wednesday as the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres play two matchups in Korea. All other MLB teams, including the Cardinals, will open the new season on March 28 or 29.
