Rangers Designate Zak Kent For Assignment
The Rangers announced Friday that they’ve designated right-hander Zak Kent for assignment. His spot on the 40-man roster goes to left-hander Jordan Montgomery, whose one-year deal to return to Texas is now official.
The 27-year-old Kent was just claimed off waivers last month, but he’s no stranger to the organization. Texas selected him in the ninth round of the 2019 draft, and the right-hander pitched in their system all the way through 2023 before being traded to Cleveland just prior to Opening Day 2024.
Kent made his big league debut with the Guards in 2025, tossing 17 2/3 innings with a 4.58 ERA, 21.1% strikeout rate and 10.5% walk rate in that small sample. He spent the bulk of the season in Triple-A Columbus, where he logged a tidy 2.84 earned run average with a huge 31.4% strikeout rate … and also a huge 13.2% walk rate. He sat 93.1 mph with his four-seamer, complementing the pitch with an 85.7 mph slider and an 81.3 mph curveball.
Since the 2025 season ended, Kent has bounced from the Guardians, to the Cardinals, to the Rangers via waivers. He’ll now very likely find himself on waivers once again, though the Rangers could also spend the next five days searching for a trade partner as well. Kent has exhausted his three minor league option years, but Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported in December that he’s eligible for a fourth option year (which are typically granted for players who miss significant minor league time with injury or exhaust their first three option years within their first five professional seasons).
Rangers To Sign Jordan Montgomery
The Rangers are bringing back old friend Jordan Montgomery, according to a report from Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News. Montgomery will make $1.25MM on a one-year, MLB deal. The deal also includes performance bonuses. Montgomery is represented by Wasserman. Texas will need to create a 40-man roster spot to accommodate Montgomery once the signing becomes official.
Montgomery, 33, missed the entire 2025 season after undergoing Tommy John surgery last March. He’ll open the season on the 60-day injured list, according to Grant, but the lefty figures to factor into the team’s rotation later this year once he’s finished his rehab process. Grant suggests that could come at some point in the second half, though it’s at least plausible the lefty could return before that if he avoids any setbacks in his rehab. Nathan Eovaldi, Jacob deGrom, MacKenzie Gore, and Jack Leiter all appear to be more or less locked into rotation spots for Texas to open the year, with Jacob Latz and Kumar Rocker among the options to kick off the season in that fifth rotation spot.
As pitching injuries become more and more common around the league, it’s impossible to say what the state of the Rangers rotation will look like once Montgomery is healthy enough to rejoin the staff. If everyone is healthy, Montgomery take over that fifth starter job if Latz and/or Rocker has struggled, or could simply expand the Rangers’ rotation to six men depending on the needs of the club at the time. Of course, both Eovaldi and Gore missed significant time due to injuries last year and deGrom has a lengthy injury history of his own. A fully healthy rotation all year long can’t be assumed, and that could leave Montgomery to serve in a pivotal role for the Rangers by providing reinforcements at some point.
Whenever Montgomery does wind up returning to the big league mound, the quality of his performance will be a source of considerable intrigue. It wasn’t all that long ago that Montgomery was a World Series hero in Texas who hit the open market coming off a stretch of seasons with the Rangers, Cardinals, and Yankees where he looked like a high-end #2 starter. It seemed likely he’d get a free agent contract to match that pedigree, but he lingered on the market during the 2023-24 offseason and became one of the oft-discussed “Boras Four” alongside Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger, and Matt Chapman. All four wound up signing pillow contracts late in the year, and while the other three all went on to have success and sign much larger deals in the years afterwards, the same did not happen for Montgomery.
The lefty’s career has taken a tumble since signing that pillow contract with the Diamondbacks. He struggled badly in 2024 with a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings for the Snakes. He changed his representation and accused Boras of having “butchered” his free agency, while Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick publicly expressed frustration with having signed Montgomery, calling it a “horrible decision.” That acrimonious relationship came to an end at the trade deadline last year, when the Diamondbacks dumped what little remained of Montgomery’s contract on the Brewers in a trade that also sent righty Shelby Miller to Milwaukee. Montgomery, of course, did not pitch for the Brew Crew as he rehabbed and found himself back in free agency this offseason.
Given Montgomery’s disastrous 2024 campaign and lost season in 2025, it would be fair to consider the fact that the Rangers offered him a big league contract a notable vote of confidence in his ability to get back to being an above-average starter, even in spite of the relatively small base salary that the deal comes with. Signing a player like Montgomery who won’t be ready to contribute on Opening Day doesn’t necessarily prevent the Rangers from adding more to their rotation, especially if injuries crop up early in the season. With that being said, however, choosing to add a player like Montgomery rather than someone who could be ready to start games when the season begins could signal that the team is comfortable having Latz or Rocker open the season in the rotation and doesn’t feel much pressure to put additional competition into the mix for that particular camp battle.
Brewers Acquire Shelby Miller
The Brewers acquired injured pitchers Shelby Miller and Jordan Montgomery from the Diamondbacks for a player to be named later or cash. Steve Gilbert of MLB.com reports that Milwaukee is absorbing $2MM of the approximate $7.1MM remaining on Montgomery’s $22.5MM salary. The D-Backs are seemingly kicking in a little over $5MM.
It’s a pure salary dump for Arizona. Montgomery underwent Tommy John surgery in Spring Training. He’ll be a free agent at season’s end. He’s on the 60-day injured list and won’t have any impact on the Brewers’ season. They’re letting the D-Backs off the hook for a small portion of the remaining salary to effectively purchase Miller without needing to give up any young talent.
Miller is on the injured list himself after sustaining a forearm strain a few weeks ago. He avoided surgery and is expected back this season. GM Matt Arnold told reporters (including Todd Rosiak of The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel) that he’d spoken to Miller about his recovery. Arnold said the righty has had sharp stuff in bullpen sessions and might not be far away from a rehab assignment.
Before the injury, the 34-year-old Miller looked like one of the best rental relievers available. He’d taken over Arizona’s closer role and had fired 36 1/3 innings of 1.98 ERA ball. There’s obviously no guarantee that he’ll maintain that form after an arm injury, but Milwaukee is only spending a few million dollars to find out. Miller himself is playing on a $1MM salary after signing an offseason minor league deal; the only somewhat significant money that the Brewers are taking is the cash they’re eating on Montgomery.
The Brewers already have one of the game’s deepest bullpens. Miller could add another weapon for the stretch run and into the postseason. Milwaukee can feel pretty well assured that they’re going to make the playoffs in some capacity. Miller has a shot to play a big role in October if he comes back strong.
Robert Murray of FanSided reported the Brewers were acquiring Miller. Will Sammon and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic had Montgomery’s inclusion.
The Diamondbacks’ Surprisingly Middling Rotation
Few teams have more aggressively added veteran rotation help over the past two years than the Diamondbacks. As shown on MLBTR's Contract Tracker, 15 free agent starting pitchers have signed for at least a $20MM average annual value since the start of the 2023-24 offseason. The D-Backs have been responsible for three of them.
If we exclude Shohei Ohtani, who was obviously signed more for his bat, Arizona is the only team to sign three such contracts over the past two winters. The Dodgers (Yoshinobu Yamamoto and Blake Snell) are the only other club that has signed more than one.
Arizona began with a four-year, $80MM contract for Eduardo Rodriguez. That was a sizable investment for their market size but not one that took too many people by surprise. They finally snapped Jordan Montgomery's extended free agent stay with a one-year, $25MM guarantee and an easily achievable vesting option that pushed their investment close to $50MM over two seasons.
The true shocker came last winter, when they emerged out of nowhere as the landing spot for Corbin Burnes, who wanted to pitch close to his Arizona home. He probably left some earnings upside on the table, but it still took a six-year commitment worth $210MM (with a net present value closer to $194MM after adjusting for deferred money).
They've added those big-name arms to an in-house starting pitching group that included Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Brandon Pfaadt. Maybe they didn't match the depth of some other clubs, but their top six to seven starters look exceptionally formidable. This should be one of the best rotations in MLB.
And yet, for two years running, it hasn't been particularly close to that.
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Diamondbacks Designate Rene Pinto, Select Shelby Miller
The Diamondbacks announced that catcher Rene Pinto was designated for assignment. The move opens up a 40-man roster spot for Shelby Miller, as the team confirmed reports from over the weekend that the right-hander’s contract was being selected to the active roster. Arizona also officially announced its one-year deal with Jalen Beeks, and placed Jordan Montgomery (who is undergoing Tommy John surgery) to the 60-day injured list in the corresponding roster move.
The Pinto move was expected, as Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic wrote on Sunday that the catcher was “saying his goodbyes in the clubhouse” to teammates after not making the Diamondbacks’ Opening Day roster. The D’Backs now have seven days to work out a trade for Pinto during the DFA period, or another team in need of catching depth could simply claim Pinto off waivers. Pinto has already changed teams twice via the waiver wire in the last five months — after the Orioles claimed the backstop from the Rays in early November, the D’Backs claimed Pinto in January after Baltimore had DFA’ed him to make roster space for Charlie Morton.
A veteran of three big league seasons, Pinto has spent his entire MLB tenure with the Rays, hitting .231/.263/.404 over 237 career plate appearances in the Show. As part of the ongoing revolving door that is the Rays’ catching position, Pinto was actually Tampa Bay’s Opening Day backstop last year, but he didn’t hit enough to earn much more regular playing time. The D’Backs brought Pinto aboard to compete for the backup catching job, but Arizona will instead go with Jose Herrera as the secondary option behind starter Gabriel Moreno.
Pinto is out of minor league options, so the Diamondbacks had to first expose him to the waiver wire in order to move him down to Triple-A. This out-of-options status could mean Pinto has more trips through the DFA process in his future, if teams continually see him as the proverbial last man on the roster, and just as a pure depth piece.
Jordan Montgomery To Undergo Tommy John Surgery
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.
Latest On Jordan Montgomery
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
D-Backs Have Received Recent Trade Interest In Jordan Montgomery
The Diamondbacks have received recent trade interest from a couple teams in Jordan Montgomery, reports John Gambadoro of 98.7 FM in Phoenix. There’s no indication that a pre-Opening Day deal is likely, but it’s notable those conversations have continued with the regular season eight days away.
As has been the case all offseason, the contract is the big impediment. Montgomery will play this year on a $22.5MM salary. That’s a sum no team was going to take in full. It’s especially difficult to offload a significant portion of the money at this point. Most teams have neared or reached the payroll at which they’re willing to spend before the season.
That’s reflected in the comparatively low costs of free agent starting pitching. Jose Quintana and Andrew Heaney — both of whom are coming off better seasons than Montgomery just had — signed one-year deals worth less than $6MM after camp opened. Kyle Gibson, Spencer Turnbull and Lance Lynn remain unsigned and are presumably looking at even lesser guarantees. It makes a Spring Training deal difficult to pull off. Other teams would presumably want Arizona to pay Montgomery’s contract down to a few million dollars while accepting a middling return.
The Diamondbacks haven’t shown that level of desperation to deal the veteran lefty, though they’d clearly welcome an opportunity to make a move. Montgomery pitched his way out of last year’s rotation. He finished the year with a 6.23 earned run average over 117 innings. His strikeout rate fell from roughly league average to a career-worst 15.6% clip.
Things weren’t quite so bleak on a per-pitch basis. Montgomery got whiffs on 12.3% of his offerings, which is in line with his career average. He’d posted three consecutive sub-4.00 ERA showings with solid peripherals between 2021-23. Montgomery didn’t sign until Opening Day last year after a frustrating free agent sequence, presumably leading to some level of rust. The context provides hope he can at least recapture back-of-the-rotation form, but he won’t have a path to the Opening Day rotation in the desert.
Arizona added Corbin Burnes to a staff that already included Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez and Brandon Pfaadt. Righty Ryne Nelson might be pushed to Triple-A to begin the season. Nelson had a 3.23 ERA in the second half last season. The Snakes stuck with him in the rotation down the stretch while pushing Montgomery to the bullpen. Even if he begins the season in the minors, Nelson will probably be the first choice if any of Arizona’s top five starters suffer an injury. Montgomery has more than enough service time to refuse a minor league assignment, so he’s likely to work in long relief if he begins the season with the Diamondbacks.
The 32-year-old southpaw would presumably welcome a trade that gives him a clearer path back to rotation work. Montgomery will be a free agent next offseason. His future earning power will be greater if he pitches well as a starter rather than spending most or all of the season in low-leverage relief. Arizona owner Ken Kendrick was also publicly critical of the signing last fall, saying it was “a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did.” (Kendrick directed the criticism for the move at himself rather than the front office, saying he pushed GM Mike Hazen to pursue the deal.)
Montgomery has only taken the ball twice this spring. His first start couldn’t have gone much worse. The Reds blitzed him for five runs on two hits, two walks and a hit batter. He recorded only one out. Montgomery pitched much more effectively this afternoon, working 2 2/3 scoreless frames with a couple strikeouts against the Rockies.
D-backs Sticking To Five-Man Rotation
The Diamondbacks’ surprise signing of Corbin Burnes further crowded a rotation that had at least six starters in the mix. While there’s been talk of a possible six-man rotation in Arizona since that Burnes deal, manager Torey Lovullo said at D-backs camp this week that team is not considering that at this point (link via Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic).
That leaves the Diamondbacks with seven starters for five spots: Burnes, Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Brandon Pfaadt, Jordan Montgomery and Ryne Nelson. The first four are largely locked into place. Burnes and Gallen are Cy Young-caliber arms when healthy. Kelly has been a steady midrotation arm for the Snakes since signing out of the KBO in the 2018-19 offseason. Rodriguez’s first year in Arizona was marred by injury, but he’s signed three more years and has a lengthy track record.
Montgomery’s status in Arizona has been a talking point throughout the winter. The Diamondbacks signed him to a one-year, $25MM contract with a vesting $20MM player option for the 2025 season. The left-hander pitched enough to trigger that option but nowhere near well enough to decline it in favor of a return to the open market. Signing just days before Opening Day last season, Montgomery missed spring training, rushed through an accelerated ramp-up in Triple-A and never appeared to be himself. He pitched 117 innings but was rocked for a 6.23 earned run average with career-worst walk and strikeout rates.
D-backs owner Ken Kendrick called Montgomery’s performance out late in the season, publicly lamenting the role that he’d played in bringing the left-hander to his organization. “I brought it to (the front office’s) attention. I pushed for it,” Kendrick said in September. “They agreed to it. It wasn’t in our game plan. … And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did.”
Pfaadt, 26, would give the D-backs an upside arm at the back of the staff. The former top prospect hasn’t yet found his stride over a full big league season but has shown glimpses of the potential that made him so well regarded. He looked to have found his stride last year, logging a 3.98 ERA, 23% strikeout rate and 4.9% walk rate through his first 24 starts, but Pfaadt was hit hard in late August and for much of September. He mixed in one late-season gem — seven innings, one run, 12 strikeouts in Milwaukee — but even with that showing still posted an ERA north of 7.00 over his final eight starts. He finished the year at a 4.71 mark but did pile up 181 2/3 innings.
Nelson, who turned 27 in December, made 27 appearances this past season — 25 of them starts — and recorded 150 2/3 innings of 4.24 ERA ball. His 20% strikeout rate and 8.4% swinging-strike rate were below average (well below, with regard to the latter), but Nelson’s 5.4% walk rate was outstanding.
There are other options on the 40-man roster, but they’re likely to be viewed as depth candidates, barring a spring breakout. Yilber Diaz, Cristian Mena, Tommy Henry and Blake Walston are all on the 40-man roster and have all made their big league debuts, but they’d likely only be called upon in the event of multiple injuries — at least with the current roster construction.
Kendrick’s comments on Montgomery led to plenty of speculation about a potential trade of this winter, but no such deal has come to fruition. It’s still possible the D-backs could find a taker for a portion of the contract or swap him out for a comparably priced veteran on an underwater deal (e.g. Rhys Hoskins, Starling Marte), but for now, Montgomery will get a full spring buildup and look to bounce back from a dismal 2024 season.
If the D-backs can find some kind of trade that sheds a portion of the Montgomery money, any savings could be reallocated to other needs. Most notably, they’ve been in the market for a closer throughout the winter but have yet to add an established ninth-inning arm. Arizona’s payroll is projected for a franchise-record $195MM, per RosterResource. It’s not clear whether Kendrick is willing to push things further after already ponying up to sign Burnes (six years, $210MM), acquire Josh Naylor in a trade (one year, $10.9MM) and re-sign Randal Grichuk (one year, $5MM). Barring the signing of a veteran like David Robertson or Kyle Finnegan, the D-backs will look inward and lean on A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez and Kevin Ginkel as their top late-inning arms.
Looking For A Match In A Jordan Montgomery Trade
When the Diamondbacks shocked the baseball world by landing right-hander Corbin Burnes in free agency, the move gave them nearly unparalleled depth in the rotation: the righty is joined by Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jordan Montgomery, Brandon Pfaadt, and Ryne Nelson among the club’s starting options headed into 2025. That sort of depth will cause plenty of speculation regarding the possibility of a trade, and Arizona’s rotation has been no exception to that. While the club reportedly wasn’t close to dealing any of its pitchers last week, they’ve has garnered interest on their rotation throughout the winter.
Of that group, Montgomery has long seemed to be the most likely player to move. The lefty was a late-spring signing by the Diamondbacks last year, and the deal hasn’t gone well for anyone. Montgomery struggled badly in his first season in the desert, pitching to a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings of work. His 4.48 FIP was substantially better than that top-level run prevention figure, though even that was below average. Diamondbacks ownership went as far as to publicly criticize Montgomery shortly after the 2024 season came to a close, so it’s no surprise that the Snakes have long appeared motivated to move the southpaw ahead of his age-32 season. The addition of Burnes could at least theoretically open the door to Arizona feeling comfortable enough with its rotation depth to more seriously consider dealing one of its other arms, but it stands to reason that the club would still prefer to move Montgomery all else equal.
After such a disastrous 2024 campaign, it’s hard to imagine the Diamondbacks getting much of significance for the lefty’s services beyond some salary relief. Montgomery is slated to earn $22.5MM in 2025, a hefty sum that it seems unlikely that the club will be able to fully get off of its books. With that being said, the ever-increasing price of starting pitching makes the deal at least a little bit more palatable than it might seem at first glance. After all, the Red Sox guaranteed right-hander Walker Buehler $21.05MM for the 2025 season on the heels of a lackluster campaign where he posted a 5.38 ERA in 16 starts. The Tigers, meanwhile, guaranteed 37-year-old veteran Alex Cobb $15MM on the heels of a 2024 campaign where he made just three regular season starts.
Both of those players have substantial previous success to lean on, but so does Montgomery. The lefty won the World Series with the Rangers in 2023, and in doing so capped off a three-season stretch where he pitched to a strong 3.48 ERA (120 ERA+) with a 3.62 FIP across 94 starts. So long as the Diamondbacks aren’t looking to get anything of particular significance back in return, it’s relatively easy to imagine them being able to offload at least $15MM or so of Montgomery’s salary. Which teams could be best positioned to take a one-year roll of the dice on the lefty’s services? A look at nine potential suitors, listed alphabetically within tiers:
Best Fits
- Athletics: The A’s have been quite aggressive in looking to upgrade their club this winter, in part as they attempt to avoid a grievance with the MLBPA regarding their use of revenue sharing dollars. They’ve already added Luis Severino and Jeffrey Springs to their rotation this winter, but club brass left the door open for a third starting pitching acquisition this winter if the opportunity presented itself. Enter Montgomery, the acquisition of whom could push the club’s luxury tax payroll up to $105MM range they’re reportedly targeting even if Arizona ate some of the money. If Montgomery manages to bounce back in 2025, he’d join Severino, Springs, JP Sears, and Mitch Spence in a surprisingly formidable rotation for the club’s first season in West Sacramento.
- Braves: Atlanta has a clear need for rotation help after losing both Max Fried and Charlie Morton in free agency this winter, but the club has been uncharacteristically slow to get to work this winter. With that being said, Alex Anthopoulos’s front office has long shown a fondness for one-year additions coming off down seasons like Josh Donaldson and Marcell Ozuna. Arguably, that list also includes reigning NL Cy Young award winner Chris Sale as the lefty was entering the final guaranteed year of his deal with Boston when the Braves traded for him. A trade for Montgomery surely wouldn’t go quite as well as the one for Sale did, but it’s easy to imagine the lefty bouncing back in the Braves rotation alongside Sale, Spencer Strider, Reynaldo López, and Spencer Schwellenbach in 2025.
- White Sox: Chicago may seem like an odd fit for Montgomery, given the fact that they’re coming off the worst season in MLB history with virtually no hope of making noise in the AL Central race during this coming season. The fact that they’re one of the only clearly rebuilding clubs in the game right now could make them a unique potential suitor for Montgomery’s services, however. Their rotation mix is filled to the brim with young arms who could prove to be interesting but offer little certainty, so adding a veteran arm like Montgomery could make sense for all sides. It’s possible the White Sox, with a payroll that RosterResource projects at just $78MM in 2025, could actually absorb the entirety of Montgomery’s salary in exchange for a prospect from Arizona. If Montgomery pitches well in the first half, Chicago could then flip the lefty at the deadline for additional young talent to keep their rebuild chugging along.
Next Tier Down
- Astros: It’s possible to imagine the Astros being content with their current starting depth after adding Hayden Wesneski to the mix in the Kyle Tucker trade and likely welcoming right-hander Luis Garcia back into the fold in time for Opening Day after he missed the 2024 season due to injury. With that being said, the club did lose both Justin Verlander and Jose Urquidy from its rotation depth this winter and is known to be shopping right-hander Ryan Pressly on the trade market this winter while searching for left-handed hitting outfielders. Arizona has a surplus of left-handed hitting outfielders and is known to be on the hunt of late-inning relief help, so perhaps there’s a fit here involving some combination of Montgomery, Pressly, and young Diamondbacks outfielder like Alek Thomas.
- Mariners: Seattle may seem like a somewhat unusual fit for Montgomery’s services given the club’s strong rotation, but there seems to be at least some possibility that the club will trade right-hander Luis Castillo this winter. Doing so would leave the club with little rotation depth, however. Theoretically, it’s easy enough to imagine the Mariners dealing Castillo to another club in exchange for infield help, and then using the saved money from the deal in order to pivot towards acquiring Montgomery to restock the rotation. Mariners president of baseball operations Jerry Dipoto has certainly shown a willingness to get similarly creative in the past, and Mike Hazen’s front office in Arizona has been one of his most frequent trade partners over the years.
- Mets: The Mets aren’t in a position where they need to add another starter, with a rotation mix that currently runs eight players deep. With that being said, Montgomery’s salary would hardly be excessively cumbersome for the big-spending Mets, and David Stearns has shown a fondness for reclamation projects in the rotation. Given the Mets’ success in rehabilitating the careers of Luis Severino and Sean Manaea last winter, it would hardly be a surprise if the club found similar success in doing so with Montgomery.
Longer Shots
- Cubs: The White Sox aren’t the only Chicago team Montgomery could at least theoretically make sense for. The Cubs are known to be in the market for another starting pitcher, and their pursuit of lefty Jesús Luzardo earlier this winter indicate a willingness on the club’s part to roll the dice on a hurler coming off a down season like Montgomery. With that being said, the club reportedly turned down a trade involving Montgomery and Cody Bellinger earlier this winter. Given the fact that the Cubs ended up trading Bellinger for little more than salary relief last month, it stands to reason that Jed Hoyer’s front office either has little interest in Montgomery’s services or at the very least preferred to open up that payroll space for other pursuits.
- Orioles: Baltimore would’ve seemed like one of the better on-paper fits for Montgomery’s services just a week ago, but they recently inked right-hander Charlie Morton to a one-year deal for 2025. That won’t necessarily take them out of the rotation market entirely, but it seems as though Baltimore would only add to its rotation in order to bring in a clear upgrade over its internal options. Given Montgomery’s down season, it’s hard to imagine the club feeling that way about him at this point. After all, fifth starter Dean Kremer posted a higher ERA+ than Montgomery in two of the last three seasons.
- Rangers: Montgomery was a key piece in the Rangers’ 2023 World Series championship, and the club seemingly had plenty of interest in bringing the lefty back last winter. Much like Montgomery himself, the Rangers had a down year in 2024 and missed the postseason. With Max Scherzer and Andrew Heaney now free agents, there could potentially be room for a reunion in the Texas rotation. With that being said, the club appears determined to remain under the first luxury tax threshold and has a number of young starters who they could opt to lean on in 2025 instead, like Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker.