Red Sox May Have Dodged a Bullet on Coveted Free Agent

This offseason, Red Sox nation heard almost ad nauseam about southpaw free agent Jordan Montgomery. Montgomery had enhanced his stock with a strong 2023 postseason showing with the Texas Rangers and was consistently linked to Boston throughout free agency.

Once it came out that Montgomery was spending his offseason in the city, Boston's status as a frontrunner to acquire his services only grew.

Montgomery was slotted into the second tier of a pitching-heavy free agency class, where he was deemed a more practical pickup and affordable alternative than the likes of Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, and Blake Snell. Reports emerged that Montgomery's asking price (he eventually signed for one year and $25 million) was out of Boston's budget.

Ultimately, Montgomery finally landed in the desert, inking a one-year deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks - whom he had pitched against in the 2023 Fall Classic. The 31-year-old signed on March 29, after the Red Sox had already begun their season in Seattle. Montgomery himself was clearly upset with how his free agency unfolded, as he canned super-agent Scott Boras days later.

Well, it doesn't appear that the start to Montgomery's season has gone much better. The pitcher was booed off the field in Phoenix on Wednesday night, after surrendering six earned runs across two innings and ballooning his ERA to 6.80.

Montgomery's struggles to start his Diamondbacks career could be somewhat attributed to his lack of spring training. To ramp up their new signing, Arizona's front office optioned Montgomery to Triple-A Reno for two games, where the veteran would struggle against minor league hitting to the tune of a 10.57 ERA.

Meanwhile, back in Boston, the Red Sox have the fifth-best ERA in baseball (3.33) and Tanner Houck has separated himself as a legitimate Cy Young candidate through 62 games. Boston's rotation has consistently separated itself as one of the best in baseball, and their tendency to hover around .500 is mostly due to their lineup production.

There's no argument to be made (for the time being), that Jordan Montgomery would be making this team better. In fact, things could be much, much worse. As Montgomery himself said last night: "I feel like every time I go out there, we lose". No team needs that, especially at $25 million.

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