The Diamondbacks and left-hander Jordan Montgomery are reportedly in agreement on a one-year deal that guarantees him $25MM. The deal includes a $20MM vesting player option for the 2025 season, with Montgomery earning the ability to opt out if he starts at least ten games in 2024. Montgomery’s option will vest at $20MM if he makes ten starts, with an additional $2.5MM added to the option upon reaching 18 starts and 23 starts during the 2024 season. ESPN’s Jeff Passan first reported the agreement, while Jon Heyman of the New York Post first reported the terms. USA Today’s Bob Nightengale provided additional details regarding the nature of the vesting option.
The deal brings to a close a lengthy free agency for Montgomery, who defeated the Diamondbacks in the 2023 World Series alongside the Rangers just five months ago. Arizona will be the 31-year-old’s fourth team in the past three seasons. After spending his entire career in a Yankees uniform to that point, the southpaw was swapped to St. Louis in exchange for center fielder Harrison Bader at the 2022 trade deadline. Montgomery found great success in St. Louis, delivering a 3.31 ERA and 3.50 FIP in 32 starts for the club before he was once again swapped in a deadline deal, this time to Texas as the Cardinals faced their first 90-loss campaign of the 21st century. His strong performance continued in Texas as he pitched to a sterling 2.79 ERA down the stretch before delivering a 2.90 ERA in 31 postseason innings as the Rangers claimed their first World Series championship in franchise history.
While Montgomery has emerged as a starter capable of comfortably pitching at the front of a playoff rotation in his 50 appearances (both postseason and regular season) since leaving New York, he showed himself to be a quality mid-rotation arm even during his days in the Bronx. While he missed much of the 2018 and 2019 campaigns while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, the southpaw pitched to a respectable 3.94 ERA and 3.90 FIP in 98 appearances across five-and-a-half years with the club. During his time in New York, he struck out 22.7% of batters faced while walking just 6.9% and generating grounders at an excellent 43.7% clip. Those peripheral numbers are fairly consistent with the ones he’s posted during his breakout over the past two seasons; since the start of the 2022 campaign, Montgomery has struck out opponents at a 21.6% clip while walking 5.6% with a 45.3% groundball rate.
More to come…
