Rangers Would Like To Work With Jordan Montgomery Again.

Jordan Montgomery, a left-hander, is expected to be one of the most sought-after free agents available in the starting pitching market this offseason. Only right-hander Yoshinobu Yamamoto and the current NL Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell compare rank ahead of Montgomery on MLBTR’s Top 50 free agents list in terms of starting pitching options for 2024, with righty Aaron Nola having already returned to the Phillies on a seven-year deal earlier this week.

Although the southpaw has already drawn interest from the Yankees, Cardinals, and Red Sox this offseason, Montgomery is also drawing interest from the team he recently won the World Series with. This offseason, the Rangers “hope” to be able to get Montgomery back into the fold, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post.

That shouldn’t come as a surprise considering his stellar play since St. Louis shipped him to Texas in the summer. After that trade deadline, Montgomery recorded 11 starts with a 3.27 FIP and a stellar 2.79 ERA, which was 60% better than the league average by ERA+. Even though his strikeout percentage of 21.4% in 2023 was merely average, he still had an excellent 6.2% walk rate this season, which he elevated to an incredible 4.9% in the final stretch of his Rangers tenure.

In addition to his ability to restrict free passes, Montgomery had a groundball rate of 43.2% this season, which put him just outside the top 20 among qualified starters. Montgomery’s six postseason appearances for Texas this October were all the same; in 31 innings of work, he recorded a 2.90 ERA.

With a strong 2023, Montgomery completes a string of three seasons in which he has established himself as a capable front-end starter for a team capable of making the playoffs. Montgomery split his time between the Rangers, Yankees, and Cardinals from 2021–2023, and in each of those seasons, he made at least 30 starts and recorded a 3.48 ERA and 3.62 FIP. Montgomery has established himself as one of the premier workhorses in the game at this point in his career by being one of just 20 pitchers to record at least 500 innings of work over the past three seasons.

Montgomery is at least a likely fit for many clubs, given his recent success and the quantity of teams known to be looking for starting pitchers this offseason. Of course, the Rangers are a part of that. Max Scherzer, Nathan Eovaldi, Jon Gray, Dane Dunning, and Andrew Heaney are at least a plausible starting five for the club on Opening Day; however, in addition to their time in the rotation, Dunning and Heaney also saw action in the bullpen for Texas in 2023. Not to mention that Heaney has a lengthy history of injuries of his own, and Scherzer, Eovaldi, and Gray all spent a significant amount of time on the injured list during the previous season.

Even though star righty Jacob deGrom may make a comeback from his second Tommy John surgery of the year, he has only worked 186 2/3 innings in the previous three seasons of his career, so he won’t exactly be a reliable innings source. Reuniting with Montgomery would be a wise move to add some stability to a front-of-the-rotation picture that otherwise features two often injured veterans in Scherzer and Eovaldi and could add a third arm befitting that description in deGrom later in the season, especially considering the significant injury risk in the Rangers’ currently projected rotation.

Naturally, despite Texas’s obvious interest and fit, a deal is by no means a done deal. After all, Montgomery has been connected to three other teams already this offseason, and many teams are in need of starting pitching assistance and may pursue Montgomery as the offseason goes on. Furthermore, following a horrendous 4.77 ERA from the club’s relief corps in 2023, the Rangers are anticipated to prioritize strengthening the bullpen during the offseason.

Even though the club could move Heaney or Dunning into a multi-inning relief role with Montgomery, the bullpen would probably gain far more from the addition of a late-inning arm like Josh Hader or NPB lefty Yuki Matsui.

Montgomery could still be added by the Rangers despite this signing, as they haven’t hesitated to add several big players in recent offseasons. Nevertheless, in light of recent reports that Diamond Sports Group is thinking of discontinuing Rangers broadcasts ahead of the 2024 season, it’s reasonable to at least wonder how much the team plans to increase its payroll (which currently stands at $214MM for next year according to RosterResource). Should Diamond take that action, the Rangers would be without a local broadcast distribution partner, a situation that has already prompted the Twins to reduce payroll this offseason.