Rangers on the Verge of Fumbling Montgomery Extension

The Texas Rangers seem to be dragging their feet when it comes to Jordan Montgomery.

The 30-year-old left-hander is making his rounds and patiently waiting as his free agency stock is higher than ever and continues to rise. As more time passes, the potential x-factory for the Rangers' offseason and the saving grace from their World Series run is only going to get more and more difficult to acquire.

Texas Rangers Must Act Soon on Jordan Montgomery

The longer Jordan Montgomery stays on the market, the more the Rangers’ chances of signing him fall.

The Rangers were clear favorites to land Montgomery when free agency opened (as reported by both Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal), but new reports from Bob Nightengale claim the uncertainty looming around the Rangers' TV deal could mean his price-tag is too steep. That's the same TV deal (or lack thereof) that potentially forced Texas out of the Shohei Ohtani sweepstakes.

The Rangers were clear favorites to land Montgomery when free agency opened (as reported by both Jon Heyman and Ken Rosenthal), but new reports from Bob Nightengale claim the uncertainty looming around the Rangers' TV deal could mean his price-tag is too steep.

The more pitchers that sign deals this offseason, the more the market for top-end talent climbs. The floor for a potential competitive offer for Montgomery is probably something like Patrick Corbin's 6-year $140 million deal, but the asking price could even go as high as Aaron Nola's (7 years, $172 million with the Phillies). If this TV deal drama is real and setting the Ranger's spending back that much, approaching $175 million for Jordan Montgomery could be problematic.

Montgomery is a Necessary Piece in Texas' Rotation

A birds-eye view of the rotation going into 2024 shows one guy under the age of 30 (Dane Dunning, 29) who may not even be in the opening day rotation if his services are needed in the bullpen.

It also shows four guys who spent time on the IR last season and an old Max Scherzer coming off of surgery who is going to miss significant time. That's two guys at best you can somewhat count on in Eovaldi and Gray.

This screams shaky and unreliable. But the starting rotation's complexion completely changes if Jordan Montgomery is added back into the fold.

Montgomery leads the Rangers in innings pitched, ERA (2.72) and FIP (3.27) since joining the organization. He only allowed 13 walks while adding 58 strikeouts and only pitching fewer than 6 innings in one of his 11 starts. He was (and still is) someone you can count on for a quality start every five days. That's something this Ranger team needed desperately after the All-Star break with injuries scattered all over the place. It's also exactly what they do not have going into 2024 outside of Nathan Eovaldi.

Being 30 years old and on the verge of his first (and maybe only) opportunity to cash in with a massive free-agent deal, it was expected Montgomery would weigh all possible options.

For the Rangers to extend his contract right away was always going to be highly unlikely, but as more dominos begin to fall re-signing the lefty at all is becoming worrisome.

Ohtani to the Dodgers, Sonny Gray to the Cardinals, the aforementioned Nola move with the Snell and Yamamoto dominoes soon to fall. All these moves are setting the market and the time to sign Monty is dwindling.

He has multiple suitors and presents a dream fall-back option for the Yankees, Red Sox, Dodgers, and others who fail to sign Yamamoto. All of which are clubs the Rangers may have trouble, or may simply not want to compete with financially.

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