It seems that the Boston Red Sox are finally deciding to address their starting pitching deficiency, as the team is pursing pitcher Jordan Montgomery.
Baseball media legend Peter Gammons informed the world via an X post yesterday that, 'One NL executive yesterday said "we hear the Red Sox and Scott Boras had a good meeting recently and may get some deal eventually done on Jordan Montgomery."'
One NL executive yesterday said "we hear the Red Sox and Scott Boras had a good meeting recently and may get some deal eventually done on Jordan Montgomery."
— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) February 26, 2024
ESPN insider Buster Olney also added that the Red Sox met with Montgomery via Zoom recently.
The Red Sox had a zoom meeting with Jordan Montgomery recently. He?d represent an upgrade for their ?24 rotation, and if signed to a long-term deal, could be part of the staff rotation. They certainly have the payroll flexibility to make it happen.
— Buster Olney (@Buster_ESPN) February 26, 2024
While these reports don't denote that a deal is guaranteed, Red Sox fans — and players, considering how Red Sox star Rafael Devers called out team owners last week — must love hearing that ownership is done shuffling their feet and are actively trying to procure their team some top of the rotation type pitchers.
Perhaps Devers' comments last week made Boston brass realize how desperate their team and fanbase was to acquire an ace — especially after Red Sox starters finished 22nd in the MLB with a collective 4.68 ERA, and 27th in the league with 774.1 innings pitched last year.
Signing the former Yankee makes a lot of sense for Boston — and not just because it will irk their arch rivals. In addition to Montgomery having five seasons of experience pitching in the AL East, the 2023 World Series champion has already been getting acclimated to Boston.
According to masslive.com, Montgomery has been living in Boston this offseason, while his wife began her dermatology residency at a hospital in the area. Gammons also scooped last month that Montgomery has been throwing at Boston College during the offseason, in order to prepare for spring training.
Any team that ends up signing Montgomery will likely be doing so at a greatly discounted price from the reported six year, $150 million contract that Montgomery was hoping for at the start of this offseason; considering Montgomery's market hasn't shaped up like he and agent Scott Boras imagined.
While we know there are at least three other teams alongside the Red Sox who are still keen to sign Montgomery, it sounds like Boston is turning up the heat, after their best player called them out publicly last week.
It seems Devers knew what he was doing.
