A pitcher who fired Scott Boras after signing late in spring training, then getting off to a rough start in the regular season, blasted the superagent Friday.
Arizona Diamondbacks right-hander Jordan Montgomery spoke openly about his dalliance with the Boston Red Sox last winter, which ultimately got nowhere. Montgomery signed a one-year, $25 million contract on March 29, the eve of the regular season.
More news: Jordan Montgomery Reportedly Didn’t Want to Go to Specific AL East Team
Montgomery was the last of the major free agents to sign a contract, and he, like the other major Scott Boras clients, took short-term, high AAV deals as opposed to the long-term deals they were seeking to start free agency.
He fired Boras shortly afterward, opting to switch representation to Wasserman, a rival agency.
LHP Jordan Montgomery has hired Wasserman’s Joel Wolfe & Nick Chanock as his agents, per sources.
Montgomery was one of the Boras Four, who were unsigned late into free agency.
I projected he would get 5 yrs, $106M and he eventually signed for 1 yr, $25M w/Arizona on March 26.
— Kiley McDaniel (@kileymcd) April 11, 2024
In April, the New York Post reported Montgomery did not want to sign with Boston and felt his chances of pitching into the postseason were better in Arizona, where the Diamondbacks reached the World Series for the second time in franchise history last fall.
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Not true, Montgomery told the Boston Herald.
“Me and my wife loved it here,” the pitcher said Friday. “She was at Beth Israel for a year, love the area, love the fans,” Montgomery said. “It would have been awesome if it had worked out that way, but it didn’t.”
Reading between the lines, one wonders if someone from Boras’ camp misinterpreted Montgomery’s preferences in free agency, which led to the false report in the Post.
“I had a Zoom call with (the Red Sox), that’s really all I know. It went good,” Montgomery told the Herald. “I don’t know, obviously Boras kind of butchered it, so I’m just trying to move on from the offseason and try to forget it.”
Montgomery allowed six runs in 5.2 innings Wednesday in the Diamondbacks’ 10-8 win over the Miami Marlins. That start saw his ERA for the season balloon to 6.44 through 19 starts.
Montgomery is ostensibly healthy — just pitching nowhere near the caliber he demonstrated in 16 starts last season with the Texas Rangers, including five in the postseason, which culminated in the first championship in Rangers/Senators franchise history.
Friday, Diamondbacks manager Torey Lovullo announced Montgomery would be moving to the bullpen.
Arizona is four games behind the first-place Dodgers in the National League West, and a half-game ahead of the San Diego Padres in the race for the top Wild Card spot in the NL.
