The Red Sox have been tied to Jordan Montgomery for the bulk of the offseason. Reporting last week indicated the Sox remained interested in the left-hander but continued to wait for his asking price to drop.
ESPN’s Buster Olney tweeted this morning that the Red Sox had “recently” conducted a Zoom meeting with Montgomery. Manager Alex Cora confirmed to the Boston beat the meeting took place but indicated it happened before the beginning of Spring Training.
“Buster is right,” Cora said (link via Christopher Smith and Sean McAdam of MassLive). “We zoomed with him. But we’ve been zooming with a lot of people throughout the offseason. I’m not going to get into specifics but yeah, it’s part of the process. It was a while ago, too. I was in South Beach for that one. I was in Miami.” Smith and McAdam point out that Cora was in Miami on the weekend of February 9-11 to watch the end of the Caribbean series and take part in a University of Miami alumni event.
Clearly, that conversation didn’t result in an immediate agreement. With Montgomery still on the market two and a half weeks later, the Sox remain a logical fit. They haven’t markedly upgraded their rotation throughout the winter. Boston took a flier on Lucas Giolito before shipping out Chris Sale for second baseman Vaughn Grissom.
They’re currently set to enter the season with a front four of Giolito, Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta and Kutter Crawford. Righties Tanner Houck, Garrett Whitlock and Josh Winckowski would battle for the final spot. Installing Montgomery atop the group would allow Boston to keep the latter three arms in multi-inning relief roles to begin the year.
[Related: Where Does The Market Stand For Jordan Montgomery?]
The question is whether his asking price will fall to a level with which the Red Sox are comfortable. CEO Sam Kennedy sam last month the Sox anticipated opening the season with a lower payroll than they had in 2023. Roster Resource calculates their 2024 CBT number around $202MM. That’s nowhere near the $237MM base threshold and around $23MM shy of last year’s estimated mark. Signing Montgomery wouldn’t push the Sox into CBT territory, but it would likely push them close to their 2023 spending range.
One of the “Boras Four,” Cody Bellinger, came off the market over the weekend on a three-year deal. The $80MM guarantee was nowhere near what his camp had sought early in the offseason. A reported ask above $200MM never materialized, leaving Bellinger to settle for a modified pillow contract that could allow him to retest free agency via opt-outs in either of the next two offseasons.
That kind of contract might not be as appealing to Montgomery. He recently turned 31 and was ineligible for the qualifying offer this offseason thanks to the midseason trade sending him from St. Louis to Texas. If he took an opt-out laden deal, he could have to wrestle with draft compensation in a future offseason. Montgomery is coming off a third straight year in which he reached 30 starts. He tossed a personal-high 188 2/3 innings with a 3.20 ERA that was the best mark of his career. He added 31 innings of 2.90 ERA ball over six postseason outings to help the Rangers to the first title in franchise history.
Zoom meetings are so 2020.
Huh? They became popular during the pandemic but are used (or TEAMS or other similar platform) are used daily for group talks both work and personal). I was on a seven hour mediation yesterday that would have involved travel and a stay over if it had been in-person. Both types are important today.
1972 to be honest
youtube.com/watch?v=WHjMEwZt5OE
Nothing screams “I want you to be a Red Sox” like taking a couple minutes out of your day to jump online and have a video conference.
I remember Theo Epstein and Jed Hoyer FaceTiming Curt Schilling on thanksgiving to convince him to come to Boston.
Not gonna happen.
The asking price is too high for any team now. Could happen at a lower price.
If Montgomery signs with Boston I will have successfully predicted it, and that will be exactly one correct prediction this off-season. Yay me.
This is a story??
+1. Jeezus this is where we’re at: a freakin’ Zoom meeting between a club needing a pitcher and an actual free agent pitcher occurred online.
But but but his wife has a dermatology residency at a Boston hospital!!
Pimple popper MD.
These things are leaked by agents.
Why does Monty’s agent want it out there right now? Probably because they are trying to push another team over the line by making it look like the Sox might swoop in.
If anything, this probably makes the Sox less likely.
Ordinarily I could see your point but here with his wife’s residency it seems more real than usual.
These guys want too much $
Great reporting. This one was 8 paragraphs of no news.
Notice the report always says Boston is waiting for the price to fall to where they are comfortable. So they have agreed on number of years? I don’t think so.
Monty is simply trying to find a more lucrative deal than the short term deal proposed by Texas. He wants more security since he won a ring and had a good year, he feels he’s earned it. Problem is his 2023 160 ERA+ is 44 points higher than his career ERA+. Does a pitcher finally “find it” at age 30 after 7 years of trying or did he have a career year that will never be repeated? He’s been above league average and consistent for the last several years so he’s a heck of a lot better than Giolito who has sucked since 2021 and has a career ERA+ UNDER 100. We paid that league average pitcher $20MM. If Boras sees that he can easily argue that Monty is worth $35MM based on the comparison but if we step back to reality and ignore Breslow’s screw-up with Giolito, it’s fair for Monty to expect $25MM a year for 3 to 5 years. He’s only 31 so 5 years takes him through age 35. His innings pitched puts him in the work horse category like Giolito, he’s simply a much better and consistent workhorse who is being asked to take less money per ounce of talent than Giolito got.
That’s probably why no deal has been done. Giolito’s contract suggested Breslow has no clue what the value of a pitcher is in the 2024 marketplace. He doubled down on his stupidity when he signed Grissom and paid ATL to use our best pitcher for a mere $8.6MM. If I was Boras, I would stick to my guns because Breslow has shown he’s out of his league with pricing contracts.
I just noticed that Kiki the lifetime .239 hitter who scammed Bloom for $24MM over 3 years including a 3rd year renewal for $10MM after hitting .222 with an OPS+ of 75 is back at it in LAD. He’s now making $4MM which is $3MM more than I said he was worth back in 2021 when his UNCLE ALEX (not true family just his childhood baby sitter) convinced Bloom to bring him on. What a joke. Nepotism at it’s finest.
Wait until you hear about the senate or scotus
Troll: remember uncle Alex challenged him to become the lead of hitter ? A little league coach knows Kiki didn’t have the skills for that
What ever happened to the traditional way of courting a free agent by flying out to them for a face-to-face meeting showing serious intent? If Steve Cohen can go meet Yamamoto in Japan, what’s the excuse here?
Because Steve Cohen going to Japan really helped him seal the deal?
That means Montgomery is definitely signing with Red Sawx
Jordan got caught toobin on the call and now the Red Sox are scared they’ll turn into the crusty Sox if they sign him.
FULL THROTTLE ZOOM SESH!
The players that have held out in the past and missed spring training did not perform all that well. Let them sit out and have Boras screw them over!
If they end up signing him i hope it’s for a one or two year deal, otherwise all i’ll be reading about here 3 years from now is what an awful signing this was for a 32 year old pitcher with a sketchy career records
Montgomery is totally overrated. All this for a 10 game winner.. He’s a #3 with #2 upside but could easily end up a #4. He’s already a month behind. No thanks.
Not sure what you watch Butch but as a Sox fan in NY, I’ve seen enough of Montgomery to believe he’s similar to Andy Pettitte. Despite the non-name, he usually performs well under pressure.
Well as a Yankees fan I can can fairly say he’s nowhere near Pettitte. Like if I had them both in the rotation there’s no doubt who’d I want in a high pressure game, it’s Andy every time. Butch’s assessment is correct. He got himself up to a number 2 last year, I’d say, but I’d have to see that repeated to annoint him that.
DM me your dealers name. Sounds like you’re getting that good good.
Is he better than Giolito or Bello?If he is then he would be the Red Sox number 1.That is all that matters.If you have 5 good pitchers then you win.If you don’t,it doesn’t matter whether he is an ace or 5 th starter.
C’mon Boston and Monty come together on a 6/135M and get this over with.
RS have a CSale hangover and Monty has delusions of grandeur. Monty you’re #3 SP. Boston you’re short a SP.
There’s plenty of reasons why boston is hesitant to give Montgomery the money he’s asking for. Chris sale is just one of them.
Be a little creative, if you’re serious. about Monty: $20 M-yr -1, with an opt out, $25 M Year-2 and 3–opt-out after 3. $30 M-year 4. Average $25 M over 4 Years. You would have 2 Veterans–Monty and Pivetta. Those two give you time for some of your pitching prospects to mature.. Time for Houck & Whitlock to gain added confidence.
3B defense needs to be addressed. Look more closely at Chapman. Then look to move Masa and Kenley. Duval is still available.
Every time we have seen, “Sox are talking to so and so” this year, So and So signs somewhere else in a day or 2.
If the pattern holds, then I expect Monty to sign in the couple of days to any city not named Boston.
DBH – It’s been like this for years though …. sometimes leading up to the trade deadline too. Remember how Bloom was working on a trade for Scherzer? If I remember correctly, there were no leaks for either the Gio signing or the Sale trade. So expect the unexpected, if anything.
FYI – Sale looked good today. Nate looked good on the 24th.
It’s so nice to see guys we all liked doing so well elsewhere.
Remember Mookie, he’s now playing infield and once again in the discussions of potential MVP candidates.
Oh yeah, in other news Monty hasn’t signed yet!!! hahaha
Can someone ring the doorbell and see if Breslow is at home?
Anyone remember Spring Training 2019? Cora’s screw up that caused the pitchers to show up 2 weeks late for Spring Training and what it did to their performances and the injuries it caused?
Signing any pitcher at this point is later than the 2019 disaster.
We should have set a wake up call for Breslow a week ago.
Ok troll… you forgot the most important… 1. Inn 3 k’s three days ago.. my God I have to get a life!!! I’m checking S.T games now!!!!
oimtiant – Thanks for the assist!!!
It’s amazing how well most of the 2018 guys are doing now that they are elsewhere. DD put together a hellova team!!!
Just get a deal done already. not like it matters cause Sox finish last with our without him. they should have made bigger moves earlier on.
The Sox have not been “tied to Montgomery all off season.” If you look back at the press reports about Montgomery, here’s what you’ll see:
Nov: it makes sense, i wonder whether they’ll be in?
Dec: it makes sense, I wonder why they’re not in?
Jan: it makes sense, but they don’t appear to be in because they’re cheap
That’s not “tied to.” There’s no reporting that they were connected except a reported check in with Boras at the winter meetings. All the reporting was centered on the odd fact that they were NOT tied to Montgomery through the off season.
bcjd – Let one person find out his wife works in Boston and POOF he suddenly is tied to the Red Sox.
I find it amazing that he’s been so tied to Boston when the reports in Texas all say he wants back with the Rangers BUT he (Boras) wants more years than Texas wants to do. Insurance for deGrom and Scherzer makes perfect sense but the depth of Ranger pitching is incredible so a long term deal makes no sense.