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Jordan Montgomery To Undergo Tommy John Surgery

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Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery says he will be having Tommy John surgery next week, per Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic. He will therefore miss the 2025 season and likely a notable chunk of 2026 as well.

The out-of-nowhere news is a brutal development for the lefty. The past year-plus have already been a challenging time for him and now he’s slated for another year-plus of rehab before he can improve his trajectory.

The southpaw already had Tommy John surgery once, in June of 2018. He missed the latter half of that season and most of 2019. He then had a subpar showing in 2020. He stabilized things for a three-year stretch after that. From 2021 to 2023, he made 94 starts and logged 524 1/3 innings. He had a 3.48 earned run average, 22.5% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 10.3 wins above replacement for that span. He was a key part of the 2023 Rangers team that won the World Series, tossing 31 innings that postseason with a 2.90 ERA.

He hit free agency after getting that ring and seemed poised for a strong nine-figure contract, but that didn’t come to pass. The 2023-24 offseason was rough for most free agent, with the so-called “Boras Four” becoming the poster children for the chilly winter. Scott Boras clients Montgomery, Blake Snell, Matt Chapman and Cody Bellinger all lingered unsigned into the spring. Each eventually signed a short-term deal that fell well below initial expectations.

In Montgomery’s case, he agreed with the Diamondbacks late in March. It was a one-year, $25MM guarantee, though with an easy path to extra earning power. He could vest a $20MM player option with just ten starts and bump the value to $22.5MM with 18 starts and $25MM with 23 starts.

After missing the start of the season due to his late signing, he never got on track and eventually got bumped to the bullpen. He made 21 starts and four relief appearances, finishing the year with a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings.The club finished 89-73, tied with the Mets and Braves, but those two clubs took the final Wild Card spots via tiebreakers.

In early October, fresh off the sting of just barely missing the playoffs, club owner Ken Kendrick publicly expressed frustration with the Montgomery signing. “Looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did,” Kendrick said. “It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.” While he pointed the finger at himself for suggesting the front office pursue him, it was nonetheless surprising to see an owner publicly roast one of his own players in such a manner.

Despite that apparent tension, Montgomery wasn’t going to walk away from $22.5MM after the season he had. He exercised his player option for the 2025 campaign. That led to a full winter of trade speculation. The Diamondbacks didn’t need him in the rotation, especially after Arizona native Corbin Burnes agreed to sign there. That gave them a projected starting group of Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodríguez, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson.

But Montgomery stayed with Arizona throughout the offseason. Just in the past week, there were some reports of ongoing trade talks. The lefty just pitched a spring game on March 19, less than a week ago. Given the injuries to other pitchers around the league, there seemed to be at least some chance to a club swinging a deal for Montgomery just before Opening Day. That’s obviously off the table now.

For Montgomery, he was surely hoping to engineer a bounceback season in 2025 before returning to the open market. His last foray into free agency didn’t go as planned, enough that he changed his representation and later accused Boras of having “butchered” his case. But he’ll instead go into the 2025-26 offseason still recovering from this surgery. At that point, he’ll likely be looking for a one-year “prove it” deal or perhaps a backloaded two-year pact covering the 2026-27 seasons. He’ll turn 33 years old this December.

For the Diamondbacks, they were also hoping for Montgomery to get things back on track, if only for the cost savings. Per recent reporting, they asked at least one club to take on $13MM of the $22.5MM still owed to the lefty. That was a tall ask but perhaps a strong early-season performance from the lefty could have increased his appeal around the league. Now the club will have no chance of moving any of that money.

The one silver lining is that this clarifies some roster things. Montgomery will be put on the 60-day injured list, giving them an extra 40-man spot to work with. It also crystallizes their rotation plans a bit, since they can just wipe Montgomery off the board. Even without him, they still have six guys for five rotation spots, which perhaps leaves Nelson to work a long relief role until a spot opens up for him.

Photo courtesy of Rob Schumacher, Imagn Images.

Cam Smith To Make Astros’ Roster

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Prospect Cam Smith is going to make the Astros’ Opening Day roster as their right fielder, reports Chandler Rome of The Athletic. The youngster isn’t yet on the 40-man roster and they will need a spot for him, as well as Rafael Montero and Steven Okert. They have two openings already and several candidates for the 60-day injured list, meaning they shouldn’t have trouble finding room for all those guys.

It’s been an incredible whirlwind for Smith, who was a student at Florida State a year ago. In July, the Cubs selected him with the 14th overall pick in the draft and signed him to a $5,070,700 bonus. The Cubs put the young third baseman to work right away, getting him into 15 Single-A games, 12 at High-A and five at Double-A. He walked in 11.2% of his plate appearances and was only struck out at a 17.9% clip. He launched seven home runs in 134 plate appearances and had a combined .313/.396/.609 batting line.

That made him one of the top prospects in baseball going into 2025. The Cubs went into the winter with a loaded farm system but a big league roster that had struggled to push beyond the mushy middle, finishing at 83-79 in each of the past two years. They were looking for a big splash and the Astros were reportedly open to moving Kyle Tucker. He’s a tremendous player but was slated for free agency after 2025, with Houston seemingly having no hope of getting an extension done. The Astros also had a preference to avoid the competitive balance tax this year.

The Cubs, as mentioned, had a very strong farm system. That included a couple of infield guys who were viewed as ahead of Smith. Matt Shaw and Owen Caissie are both on many top 100 prospect lists and each of them reached the Triple-A level in 2024.

All those stars aligned to make the trade happen. The Astros sent Tucker to Wrigley in exchange for third baseman Isaac Paredes, pitcher Hayden Wesneski and Smith. From the Cubs’ perspective, they were giving up a lot in the long term in order to make a big upgrade in 2025. Smith, as a prospect, was obviously a long play. Paredes still had three years of club control and would be an affordable replacement for Bregman at third base. Wesneski, with five years of club control, gave the club some affordable rotation depth.

Arguably, the Astros were making themselves worse in the short term, in order to save some money and come out ahead in the long run. Bregman and Tucker were two big losses. Parades could make up for some of Bregman’s production but likely not all. The outfield looked clearly worse on paper when compared to last year, especially with Yordan Alvarez slated to spend more time as the designated hitter. But beyond 2025, they weren’t going to have Tucker anyway. Now they would have Paredes, Wesneski and Smith’s contributions.

The short-term picture has changed a lot since camp opened. Smith put up a massive line of .342/.419/.711 in Grapefruit League action. As he started building those impressive numbers, there were whispers that the club wanted to get him work in right field, with Paredes blocking Smith’s natural third base position. It seems he has impressed the decision-makers enough to get the Opening Day nod, despite his very limited professional track record of just 32 professional games, none at the Triple-A level.

The outfield picture also changed in another way. Jose Altuve, who has been Houston’s second baseman for over a decade, is now going to be the left fielder. His glovework at the keystone was never great but has declined significantly as he has pushed into his mid-30s.

Overall, it’s a fascinating gambit for the Astros. Moving Alvarez out of left field makes sense, given all the health scares he has had over the years. Trading Tucker was also risky in its own way. Now they seem likely to feature a regular outfield mix of Jake Meyers in center, flanked by Altuve and Smith. Meyers hasn’t hit much in his career but is a strong defender. That glovework figures to be important, as he’ll be flanked by two converted infielders with no real experience on the grass.

The Altuve/Smith combo seems to have a good chance of outhitting a corner mix of Ben Gamel and Chas McCormick, which seemed like a possible Opening Day alignment as recently as a few weeks ago. Then again, even the best prospects often struggle when first promoted to the majors, so there are no guarantees Smith will immediately flourish. Still, it’s understandable bet on a higher ceiling.

If Smith does thrive, that would obviously help the club in 2025 but it could also benefit the Astros in another way. The current collective bargaining agreement added measures to discourage service time manipulation. One of those prospect promotion incentives is that clubs can receive an extra draft pick just after the first round under certain conditions. If a player is on two of the three top 100 lists from Baseball America, ESPN or MLB.com, they are PPI eligible if their club promotes them early enough in the season to earn a full service year. If such a player wins Rookie of the Year or finish top three in MVP or Cy Young voting in their pre-arbitration years, the club earns an extra pick. Smith is ranked 55th overall at BA, 73rd at ESPN and 59th at MLB.com and is therefore eligible.

Turning to a few other roster decisions for the Astros, Zach Dezenzo will get a bench spot but Cooper Hummel will not, per Ari Alexander of KPRC 2. Hummel is out of options, so he should be designated for assignment or traded in the coming days.

Hummel has an awful .159/.255/.275 batting line in the majors but has been much better in the minors and has interesting defensive versatility. He has a .285/.419/.480 line over the past four minor league seasons and hit .316/.435/.447 in camp this year. Defensively, he’s an option at all four corner spots. He didn’t play behind the plate in 2024 but did in previous seasons. That could make him attractive to other clubs but he cleared waivers in April of 2024 when he still had an option remaining.

One final bench spot will come down to Brendan Rodgers or Zack Short, manager Joe Espada tells Rome. Both players were signed to minor league deals, so that will be another 40-man spot the team will need to open. But as mentioned, they have lots of 60-day IL candidates and should be fine there.

Images courtesy of Reinhold Matay, Imagn Images

Angels Sign Nicky Lopez

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The Angels have signed infielder Nicky Lopez to a major league deal, reports Jon Heyman of The New York Post. Earlier, Sam Blum of The Athletic relayed that Lopez has a locker for tonight’s game against the Dodgers. Blum also relayed that left-hander José Quijada does not have a locker, so perhaps he has been removed from the club’s roster. Subsequently, Blum has added that left-hander Angel Perdomo is also without a locker. The 40-man roster count dropped to 39 earlier today with the release of Mickey Moniak. Adding Lopez would bump that back up to 40 but that would drop again if Quijada and/or Perdomo are removed.

Lopez, 30, was in camp with the Cubs on a minor league deal until recently. He was reassigned to minor league camp ahead of that club travelling to Japan for the Tokyo Series. It was reported at that time that he was expected to trigger an opt-out in his deal. He was officially granted his release a few days ago, freeing him up to sign this deal with the Halos.

Broadly speaking, Lopez is a glove-first infielder. He did have one especially strong season at the plate in 2021, though that was largely fuelled by a .347 batting average on balls in play. He has 2,346 big league plate appearances overall with a .248/.312/.314 line and 77 wRC+.

But the defensive profile is strong, with over 2,000 innings at the shortstop position. Defensive Runs Saved has considered him to be roughly average at that spot, before giving him a rough -9 mark last year. Outs Above Average, however, has Lopez at +33 at short in his career. He has also received strong marks for his work at second and third base, with brief showings at first and left field as well.

He was with the White Sox last year and could have been retained for 2025 via arbitration, with MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz projecting him for a $5.1MM salary. Given his light hitting, the Sox weren’t willing to pay that. He was passed through waivers in November and elected free agency. He later signed a minor league deal with the Cubs, with that pact coming with a modest $1.5MM salary if he made the majors. Presumably, this deal with the Angels comes with a fairly modest salary.

The Angels have plenty of uncertainty throughout their infield. Shortstop Zach Neto is going to start the season on the injured list as he is still recovering from offseason shoulder surgery. Third baseman Anthony Rendon underwent hip surgery last month and has been moved to the 60-day injured list. The Angels signed Yoán Moncada to replace Rendon at third but he’s been battling some thumb soreness in camp and hasn’t played in an official spring game since March 12. Second baseman Luis Rengifo has been dealing with a nagging hamstring injury. He’s been back in the lineup for over a week but is hitting .150/.261/.150 in Cactus League action.

As of now, Kevin Newman seems likely to be the club’s shortstop. Rengifo seems to be healthy enough to play either second or third base. Lopez gives them a glove-first guy who can bounce around. Non-roster invitees like Tim Anderson or J.D. Davis could also factor into the mix if added to the roster.

Perdomo and Quijada are both out-of-options lefty relievers. That means they need to be on the active roster or else removed from the 40-man. Nothing official has been announced but their absences from the clubhouse seem to suggest they won’t be making the club.

Quijada, 29, has generally been able to rack up lots of strikeouts but also plenty of walks in his career. To this point, he has 128 innings under his belt with a 4.64 earned run average. He has punched out 30.3% of opponents but given out free passes at a 14.8% clip. He underwent Tommy John surgery in May of 2023, meaning he didn’t pitch much in the past two years.

He qualified for arbitration for the first time after that 2023 season. But due to the surgery, he was only able to bump his salary to $840K, barely above league minimum. He and the Angels agreed to a deal in January that will see him make $1.075MM this year, with a $3.75MM club option for 2026.

Hypothetically, if he were to be passed through waivers unclaimed, he would have the right to elect free agency as a player with at least three years of service time. However, he has less than five years of service, meaning he would have to give up that money to head to the open market. In that scenario, he would likely stick with the Angels as non-roster depth in order to keep his 2025 salary in place.

Perdomo, 31 in May, was acquired from the Braves in a cash deal about a week ago. He has a 5.55 ERA, 35.8% strikeout rate and 15.8% walk rate in his career. He only has 48 2/3 innings pitched but has almost three years of service time thanks to many injured list stints. He has a previous career outright and would therefore have the right to elect free agency if passed through waivers.

Padres Return Rule 5 Pick Juan Nunez To Orioles

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5:10pm: The O’s have officially announced that Nunez has cleared waivers and is back with them. He has been assigned to their minor league camp.

4:25pm: The Padres are returning Rule 5 pick Juan Nunez to the Orioles, reports Jesse Rogers of ESPN. Rule 5 players have to clear waivers before being offered back to their original club. It’s not clear if that has happened yet. Regardless, the Padres open a 40-man roster spot. If Nunez officially winds up back with the Orioles, he will not need to take a 40-man spot with that club.

Nunez, 24, is a right-handed pitcher who has worked both as a starter and reliever. Originally a Twins prospect, he was one of four players sent to the Orioles as part of the August 2022 Jorge López trade.

In his time in the minors, he has posted a large number of strikeouts but also plenty of walks. From 2021 to 2024, he tossed 230 2/3 innings across various levels with a 3.32 earned run average. He punched out 29.6% of opponents but gave out free passes at an 11% clip.

He started 2024 at the High-A level. He was shut down in May with a shoulder injury, limiting him to just seven starts on the year. That made him something of a surprise pick in the Rule 5, since he still hadn’t even reached the Double-A level. Per J.J. Cooper of Baseball America, he was slowed by that shoulder again to start camp. He eventually made four appearances in the Cactus League but gave out six walks compared to just four strikeouts.

Nunez was already going to have a tough path to breaking camp. He has no upper-level minor league experience and is coming off a mostly lost season. It certainly didn’t help that the shoulder problems carried over to this year and he struggled with his control.

The Padres also need to open a number of 40-man spots. They are planning to select the contracts of several non-roster invitees, with Jose Iglesias, Yuli Gurriel and Martín Maldonado reportedly all making the club. Nunez will open one spot. It also seems that Tyler Wade and Eguy Rosario are going to be removed, since both are out of options and aren’t going to make the Opening Day roster.

Wenceel Pérez To Miss At Least A Month Due To Back Inflammation

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Tigers outfielder Wenceel Pérez has been dealing with back tightness throughout the spring. For a while, it seemed as though he would get over it and crack the Opening Day roster. But today, president of baseball operations Scott Harris told reporters that the outfielder will get an injection in his lower back and will miss at least one month. Cody Stavenhagen of The Athletic was among those to pass along the news.

At the start of camp, Pérez seemed likely to start the season on optional assignment in Triple-A. However, a series of injuries to the Detroit outfield moved him up the depth chart. Matt Vierling has a rotator cuff strain in his right shoulder and will start the season on the injured list. Parker Meadows has been dealing with a more confounding injury to his musculocutaneous nerve in his upper right arm. The Tigers recently announced that he would be shut down for about four weeks.

Those injuries prompted the Tigers to sign Manuel Margot after he was released by the Brewers, having previously signed a minor league deal with the latter club. The Tigers made that signing official today and placed Meadows on the 60-day IL. That means he won’t be able to rejoin the big league club until late May.

In addition to prompting the Margot deal, it seemed as though the injuries would give Pérez a chance to break camp with the club. But the back tightness that has been ailing him throughout the spring couldn’t be shaken off. He’ll spend some time on the shelf after getting his injection and won’t be available for a few weeks.

The club will now have to figure out how to proceed without Vierling, Pérez or Meadows for now. Riley Greene is sure to be part of the solution, though it doesn’t sound as though making him the regular center fielder is a consideration. Per Evan Petzold of the Detroit Free Press, Greene will play center from time to time but is still likely to spend most of his playing time in the corners. That also seems to be the case for Margot, per Evan Woodbery of MLive Media Group.

Therefore, it seems like the primary corner guys might be Greene and Kerry Carpenter, who both hit left-handed. The right-handed Margot could perhaps help shield those two from tough lefties. As for center field, while Greene and Margot might factor in a bit, it seems Ryan Kreidler could be a key part of the solution.

Kreidler was optioned to Toledo two days ago but he has rejoined the big league club as the Tigers play the Giants in San Francisco tonight and tomorrow. “Ryan is an elite defender,” Harris said, per Petzold. “He makes our defense better when he’s on the field. Pitching and defense is going to be really important for us moving forward.”

The 27-year-old Kreidler has a line of just .147/.212/.193 in his 167 major league plate appearances but he has a much better line of .236/.342/.416 across the minors over the past four years. He’s done that while playing the outfield as well as the three infield positions to the left of first base.

It’s also possible that further solutions will come from outside the organization. As mentioned, the Tigers just scooped up Margot after he was released by the Brewers. Several others have been cut recently and more guys will shake loose in the coming days as all clubs set their rosters prior to Opening Day.

Brandon Lockridge Makes Padres’ Roster

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Outfielder Brandon Lockridge has made the Padres’ Opening Day roster, per AJ Cassavell of MLB.com. He will seemingly be the club’s fourth and final bench player, as it was reported yesterday that veterans Yuli Gurriel, Jose Iglesias and Martín Maldonado will be selected to take the three other spots.

As noted by Cassavell, a spot going to Lockridge will have domino effects for the six other players left in camp: Luis Campusano, Connor Joe, Mason McCoy, Oscar Gonzalez, Tyler Wade and Eguy Rosario. The first three of that group have options and seem likely to be sent to Triple-A. Gonzalez is on a minor league deal and can also be sent to the minors, though Cassavell notes that he does have an opt-out at some point during the season.

As for Wade and Rosario, they cannot be optioned and seem likely to be either traded or designated for assignment in the coming days. That would open up two of the three spots needed on the 40-man for Gurriel, Iglesias and Maldonado.

Lockridge, 28, made his major league debut last year. He only got sent up to the plate 12 times and produced a rough line of .167/.167/.417 in that small sample. Naturally, his minor league production has been better, with a combined line of .278/.357/.417 in the minors over the past four years. He also stole 122 bases in that stretch, including 46 in just 104 games last year. Defensively, he has plenty of experience in all three outfield spots. That makes him a solid guy for the bench, as he can serve as a pinch runner and defensive substitution. As a right-handed hitter, he could perhaps platoon with Jason Heyward in left field at times.

Wade, 30, has generally served as a light-hitting utility player during his career. He has a .217/.291/.289 batting line over eight seasons, production which translates to a 64 wRC+. But he has been able to steal some bases and bounce around the diamond, lining up at every position except first base and the battery.

He has just over five years of major league service time. The Padres tendered him a contract at the end of last year, avoiding arbitration with a deal that includes a $900K salary this year and a club option for 2026. The club presumably planned on having him back a multi-positional bench guy but they pivoted to Iglesias when he was unsigned in the beginning of March, so Wade will apparently be nudged out.

Assuming the club designates him for assignment and puts him on waivers, any club could claim if they were willing to take on that salary. However, since he has at least five years of service, he has the right to elect free agency and keep that money if he clears waivers. At that point, clubs would be free to sign him for the prorated league minimum for any time spent on the roster, with the Padres still on the hook for the rest.

Rosario, 25, has appeared in the past three major league seasons but has received a total of just 100 plate appearances with the Padres in those. His .245/.283/.500 line is pretty good but top heavy, as he has five home runs but a 4% walk rate and 34% strikeout rate.

That hasn’t really been a problem in the minors. Over the past four years, he has drawn walks in 10.9% of his plate appearances on the farm while getting punched out just 20.9% of the time. He has a combined .279/.363/.493 line in that time for a 115 wRC+. Defensively, he has played all four infield positions in addition to some corner outfield work.

It’s a decent profile overall. FanGraphs had him ranked as the #11 prospect in the system as of July. Baseball America gave him the #19 spot going into this season. Though he’s out of options, he will probably hold appeal for other clubs. He has between one and two years of service time, meaning he could be retained through the 2029 season if he sticks somewhere else.

Photo courtesy of Rick Scuteri, Imagn Images

White Sox Release Omar Narváez, Reassign Chase Meidroth

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The White Sox today informed catcher Omar Narváez and infielder Chase Meidroth that they would not be making the Opening Day roster. The news was relayed by James Fegan of Sox Machine. Meidroth, a prospect not on the 40-man roster, will start the season at Triple-A Charlotte. Narváez is a veteran who was in camp on a minor league deal. He had an opt-out in that deal and has now been released, though Fegan suggests it’s possible he re-signs on a new minor league deal.

Narváez, 33, has had some good seasons but is coming off a rough two-year stretch. He signed a two-year, $15MM deal with the Mets going into 2023 but that pact went south quickly. He suffered a significant left calf strain in the first season of the deal. He only got into 49 games and hit just .211/.283/.297. To start 2024, he put up a line .154/.191/.185 and was released in early June. A minor league deal with the Astros didn’t get him back on track, as he hit .196/.325/.304 for their Triple-A club down the stretch.

For what it’s worth, his numbers have been more respectable in camp with the White Sox. He had a .250/.400/.333 line in 30 spring plate appearances. However, the Sox are going to roll with Korey Lee and Matt Thaiss as their catching duo, which squeezed out Narváez.

He’ll now have a chance to see what opportunities are available to him in the next few days. He had a solid track record prior to that ill-fated Mets deal, with a .251/.334/.374 career batting line and 96 wRC+ through the end of the 2022 season. His defense wasn’t well regarded when he first made the big leagues but became stronger as his career progressed. Several clubs in the league are dealing with catcher injuries, so he might get a few calls, but it also seems possible he returns to the Sox to give them some non-roster depth.

As for Meidroth, he was just acquired from the Red Sox as part of the Garrett Crochet deal. He spent last year at Triple-A and hit .293/.437/.400 over 122 games. That perhaps gave him a chance to crack the big league roster out of camp but he hit just .154/.313/.179 here in the spring.

That will get him sent back to the Triple-A level to start the year but a midseason promotion should be attainable with a good stretch of play. He has spent a lot of time at the three infield spots to the left of first base and the Sox don’t have a lot of certainty in their middle infield right now, with guys like Jacob Amaya and Lenyn Sosa seemingly slated for a lot of playing time.

Photo courtesy of Jayne Kamin-Oncea, Imagn Images

Latest On Jordan Montgomery

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Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery has been a logical trade candidate for a while but remains on the club with Opening Day just around the corner. It was reported last week that talks were still ongoing, perhaps make a late spring deal seem possible. However, Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reports today that the Snakes have asked at least one team to take on $13MM of the lefty’s salary this year.

Perhaps that is just an aggressive bargaining position, but if that’s what the Diamondbacks are looking to unload, they are unlikely to line something up. The starting pitching market was quite aggressive early in the winter but has cooled off in recent weeks. Since the middle of February, Andrew Heaney, Jose Quintana and Kyle Gibson have all signed one-year deals with guarantees between $4.25 and $5.25MM.

Montgomery theoretically has a higher ceiling than anyone in that group. From 2021 to 2023, he made 94 starts and logged 524 1/3 innings. He had a 3.48 earned run average, 22.5% strikeout rate, 6.2% walk rate and 44.5% ground ball rate. FanGraphs considered him to be worth 10.3 wins above replacement for that span. He was a key part of the 2023 Rangers team that won the World Series.

Quintana had some stretches like that earlier in his career but has been more of a back-end guy in recent years. Heaney has shown some occasional flashes but never been at that level for long. Gibson has been a back-end type for most of his career.

But the reason Montgomery is available is because his 2024 season was so awful. He lingered unsigned until very late and never really got into a good groove. His results were poor enough that he eventually got bumped to the bullpen. He finished the year with a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings. Owner Ken Kendrick publicly slammed the signing, pointing the finger at himself since he encouraged the front office to pursue Montgomery.

The one-year, $25MM agreement came with a vesting player option for 2025. If the southpaw made just ten starts last year, he would unlock a $20MM player option and could bump the value to $22.5MM at 18 starts, which he did. After his rough season, he made the obvious choice to trigger the player option.

There are several clubs around the league with pitching needs after some recent injuries but it would be a shock to see any club take on $13MM of the deal. Most teams are low on remaining payroll space at this point and that $13MM figure would be more than double the Heaney/Gibson/Quintana guarantees.

As mentioned, that could have just been an opening bid and maybe the Diamondbacks are willing to budge, but it also seems possible Montgomery will start the season in long relief. They have a rotation of Zac Gallen, Corbin Burnes, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodríguez and Brandon Pfaadt. An injury could open up an opportunity for Montgomery but Ryne Nelson will also be in the mix after he posted a 3.23 ERA in the second half of last year. That will make it hard for Montgomery to get back into the rotation and in a good swing of things, which will subsequently make it difficult for him to build value as a trade candidate this summer or as a free agent this coming winter.

Photo courtesy of Rob Schumacher, Imagn Images

Buddy Kennedy Will Not Make Phillies’ Roster

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The Phillies have made a decision on their final bench spot. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski informed reporters, including Matt Gelb of The Athletic, that Kody Clemens made the team. This means that Buddy Kennedy, who is out of options, will not. Dombrowski says that there’s a bit of trade interest for Kennedy and they will try to work out a swap, but he’ll be designated for assignment on Thursday if they can’t work something out.

Like essentially all clubs, the Phils are expected to carry 13 pitchers on their roster, the maximum allowed. That means there are 13 spots for position players, leaving a four-man bench behind the nine regulars. One of those spots will go to backup catcher Rafael Marchán. With the Phils expected to platoon Brandon Marsh and Johan Rojas in center, one of them will take another spot. Edmundo Sosa had another locked down by his ability to provide strong defense around the infield, while also kicking in some roughly average offense. Marchán and Sosa are both out of options.

That left Clemens and Kennedy battling for the final spot. Since both of them are out of options as well, whoever didn’t get picked would end up off the roster entirely. Neither player has hit much in the big leagues thus far. Clemens has a .200/.246/.373 batting line and Kennedy has hit .203/.295/.313. Those leads to respective wRC+ numbers of 68 and 72. Both have hit better in the minors but neither is a guarantee to produce in the bigs.

Defensively, the two have fairly similar skill sets. Both have played all around the infield but neither is really considered a viable shortstop. Both have significant second base innings in the minors, with Kennedy playing a bit more third and Clemens a bit more at first.

That put them on roughly even footing coming into camp, but Clemens has had the better showing in recent weeks. Spring stats are always to be taken with a grain of salt but Clemens has a line of .308/.357/.500, compared to Kennedy’s .162/.347/.432 showing. Kennedy also hits right-handed, the same as Sosa, while Clemens gives the club another left-handed bat.

Though Kennedy is getting squeezed off the Philly roster, he could find interest elsewhere. Dombrowski says they’ve been getting some calls, which lines up with Kennedy’s popularity on the waiver wire. In late 2023 and early 2024, he went from the Diamondbacks to the Athletics, Cardinals and Tigers via waiver claims. He got nudged off Detroit’s roster in June and flipped to the Phillies for cash.

As mentioned, he can bounce around to various different positions. While his bat still hasn’t clicked in the majors, he put up a line of .290/.404/.456 in the minors over the past two years, with that production translating to a 121 wRC+. He has less than a year of service time. Though he’s out of options, any club willing to give him a roster spot would therefore gain six potential years of control.

Photo courtesy of Chris Tilley, Imagn Images

Ryan Yarbrough Opts Out Of Minors Deal With Blue Jays

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TODAY: Yarbrough has now become a free agent, after being told he wasn’t making the Jays’ Opening Day roster, Davidi reports.

MARCH 21: Left-hander Ryan Yarbrough is going to trigger his upcoming opt-out in his minor league deal with the Blue Jays, reports Shi Davidi of Sportsnet. The team has until 1pm Central on Sunday to decide whether or not to add him to the roster. If they don’t give him a spot, he will become a free agent.

Yarbrough is an Article XX(b) free agent, which is any player with at least six years of service who finished the previous season on a major league roster or injured list. Such players have guaranteed opt-out dates on minor league deals signed at least ten days prior to Opening Day. The first of those opt-out dates is five days prior to Opening Day, which will be tomorrow. The others are May 1 and June 1. When a player triggers an opt-out, the club has 48 hours to decide how to respond.

The lefty has carved out a nice career for himself despite a lack of velo or punchouts. He has 768 big league innings under his belt so far, having allowed 4.21 earned runs per nine. His 18.7% strikeout rate is a few ticks below par but his 5.5% walk rate is quite good and his Statcast page shows that his average exit velocity and hard hit rate are regularly among the best in the league. Some of that work has come as a starter, some as a bulk guy behind an opener and some as a more traditional long reliever.

The Jays got a close-up look at him late last year, acquiring him from the Dodgers in a deadline swap for Kevin Kiermaier. Yarbrough tossed 31 1/3 innings over 12 relief appearances with a 2.01 ERA. He lingered on the market unsigned until the middle of February, when the Jays brought him back via a minor league deal. That deal reportedly pays him $2MM if he cracks the big leagues. In Grapefruit League action, he has tossed 6 2/3 innings, allowed three earned runs, with eight strikeouts and one walk.

The Jays project to have a rotation of José Berríos, Kevin Gausman, Chris Bassitt and Bowden Francis. If healthy, Max Scherzer would have a spot as well. He’s been dealing with some thumb soreness lately. That doesn’t sound too serious but thumb soreness seemed to be a symptom of a larger nerve problem in his arm last year.

Earlier today, manager John Schneider relayed to reporters that Scherzer will pitch for the Jays against the Twins in Fort Myers tomorrow. Arden Zwelling of Sportsnet was among those to relay the news. The skipper said that Scherzer wanted to make the two-hour bus ride in order to face real major league hitters. His aim is to throw 60 to 65 pitches and be on the roster to start the season if all goes well.

If Scherzer is healthy, then Yariel Rodríguez is likely in the bullpen as the long reliever. If not, then Rodríguez perhaps jumps into that fifth spot. It’s also possible that the Jays would prefer to have Yarbrough as a long man, but with Rodríguez pitching in a more traditional single-inning relief role. He posted a 1.15 ERA in that kind of role in Japan in 2022 but started for the Jays last year, posting a 4.47 ERA.

Perhaps the Jays will hold off making a decision on Yarbrough until they see how Scherzer pitches tomorrow and how he feels the day after. If they decide to add Yarbrough, they will have to make a corresponding move to get him onto the 40-man.

Photo courtesy of Nathan Ray Seebeck, Imagn Images

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