Jordan Montgomery, fresh off his October heroics with the Texas Rangers, seemed poised to become a free agent. The left-hander has been compared to former Cy Young Award winner Blake Snell. The athletics Tim Britton predicted a five-year, $105 million contract for Montgomery.
It didn’t work that way.
And months later, Montgomery isn’t mincing his words when it comes to who he believes is to blame: his former agent, Scott Boras.
“Obviously Boras kind of messed it up, so I’m just trying to put the offseason behind me and forget about it,” Montgomery told the Boston Herald.
The comment was blunt, but not entirely surprising. Montgomery had fired the super agent earlier this year and hired Joel Wolfe and Nick Chanok from Wasserman less than a month after signing with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Montgomery agreed to a one-year, $25 million deal on March 26. He has a 2025 player option for $25 million that he could decline. Of course, if he does that, Montgomery would re-enter a free-agent market that will be dominated by his ex-agent. That’s because Boras clients are among the top free agents, meaning their deals will likely have an impact on the rest of the market.
The 31-year-old starter’s performance this season could also hurt his chances of a bigger payday if he decides to opt out. Montgomery has a 6.44 ERA and 1.67 WHIP for Arizona, with the lowest strikeout rate of his career. After two successful starts in late April to begin his tenure with the Diamondbacks — four earned runs allowed in 13 innings — Montgomery’s ERA has been higher than six in each of the last four months.
Montgomery finished the 2023 season with a 3.20 ERA in 32 starts with the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas, going 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA in 31 postseason innings for the Rangers, who won the World Series in five games over the Diamondbacks.
GO DEEPER
Rosenthal: Why the D-Backs had a better chance of signing Jordan Montgomery than the Rangers
(Photo: Christian Petersen / Getty Images)
