With the recent signing of former Cy Young award winner Corbin Burnes, the Arizona Diamondbacks could look to trade one of their starting pitchers like Jordan Montgomery and the Chicago White Sox should look to acquire him.
The Arizona Diamondbacks were the winners of the Corbin Burnes sweepstakes with inking him to a six-year $210 million deal per the New York Post Jon Heyman. Now that the Arizona Diamondbacks have signed Corbin Burnes, they now appear to have a backlog of starting pitching clogging up their roster. Currently after this season the Arizona Diamondbacks will have three of their starting pitchers hitting free agency, they are Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, and Jordan Montgomery. Of those three pitchers the Chicago White Sox should look to target Jordan Montgomery as sort of “reclamation” project to not only help him bounce back but help the rebuild.
Jordan Montgomery in 2024
The 32-year-old Montgomery has been a solid left-handed pitcher over the course of his career accumulating a record of 46-41 with a respectable 4.03 ERA, and amassing 788 strikeouts in 872 career innings pitched. Montgomery joined the Arizona Diamondbacks late into Spring Training singing the left-hander on March 29th, 2024, to a one-year $25 million deal, with a $22.5 million option for 2025 which Montgomery chose to exercise.
Since joining the Arizona Diamondbacks so late and not getting a full Spring Training to stretch himself out, face big league competition, and get the necessary work in to get ready for the grueling 162 game schedule Montgomery suffered as a result. Making 21 starts (25 total games) before being regulated to the bullpen Montgomery had a 8-7 record with a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings, a 1.650 WHIP, 83 strikeouts, and an ERA+ of 67 making it an absolutely miserable season for Jordan Montgomery. This was a stark contrast to the season he had in 2023 in which he went 10-11 with a 3.20 ERA 188.2 innings, 1.193 WHIP, 166 strikeouts, and 136 ERA+.
Even though Montgomery’s overall numbers weren’t great there are still some good things to note that boded well for him to bounce back in 2025. According to his Baseball Savant Montgomery ranked in the 91st percentile for chase percentage at 33.2%, as well as being ranked in the 81st percentile for barrel percentage 6%.
Why trading for Jordan Montgomery Makes Sense for the Chicago White Sox
The Chicago White Sox would really be buying low on Jordan Montgomery and wouldn’t have to really give anything of value up to get him. The Arizona Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick made it clear with his comments that he wants to move on from Jordan Montgomery saying:
“Let me say it the best way I can say it: If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed because I brought it to their attention,” Kendrick said.
“I pushed for it. They agreed to it. It wasn’t in our game plan when he was signed right at the end of spring training, and looking back in hindsight, (it was) a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint, and I’m the perpetrator of that.”
Very strong words that you never really hear come from an owner about one of their players on their roster, but nonetheless Kendricks comments make it clear that he wants to move on from Montgomery’s salary and he’d do whatever it takes to do so. That’s why the Chicago White Sox should step in and take on Montgomery’s $22.5 million for this season as a part of a salary dump for the Arizona Diamondbacks and hopefully add on a prospect of some value to do so.
So far General Manager Christopher Getz has been superb in his efforts to acquire the necessary talent in order to rebuild this roster into a winner. It has yet to be seen how well he has done with his recent dealing away of Garrett Crochet, that will come once all the prospect he acquired make the Major Leagues, but his savviness and shrewdness so far have boded well for him. That’s why I have faith he could get a deal like this done and be able to flip Jordan Montgomery at next year’s trade deadline for a decent prospect or Major League ready talent.
In 2025 the Chicago White Sox are projected to have one of the lowest payrolls in all of Major League Baseball with Spotrac estimating them to have a payroll at around $66.32 million. So, adding Montgomery’s $22.5 million would be no problem for them to take on being the only other “high-priced” contracts they have are Luis Robet Jr. ($15 million) and Andrew Benintendi ($17.1 million). In the deal for Jordan Montgomery the White Sox could throw in Andrew Benintendi who is under team control for the next three season including this year for a total of $49.3 million.
The Deal
Chicago White Sox receive: left-hander Jordan Montgomery, third basemen Gino Groover (Arizona Diamondbacks #9 prospect) and right-hander Yilber Diaz (Diamondbacks #6 prospect).
Arizona Diamondbacks receive outfielder Andrew Benintendi
I believe this deal gets the job done for both teams. The Arizona Diamondbacks could use another outfielder in their rotation with Alek Thomas currently holding the fourth outfield spot and they get to shed themselves of Montgomery’s salary. Adding Benintendi wouldn’t be bad for them to do being as I said gives them another outfielder with control who can hopefully bounce back for Arizona and boost his value for them to trade.
Gino Groover
As for the White Sox they would not just be adding Jordan Montgomery who could take down a lot of innings for them, but adding a possibly future corner infield piece in Gino Groover. Ranked as the 9th overall prospect in Arizona’s system Groover according to MLB.com has his best ability being his hit tool graded at 60/80 as well as having a 50/80 grade for his power.
Between three levels last season (Rookie ball, High-A, and Double-A) Groover played in 61 games collecting 64 hits, 12 doubles, 1 triple, 10 HRs, 35 RBI, for a slash line of .281/.364/.474 for an OPS of .841. Groover appears like he has the ability to hit at the Major League level it’s just according to MLB.com if his defense can catch up to his bat.
Yilber Diaz
As for Diaz he already has some Major League experience debuting with the Arizona Diamondbacks on July 8th of this season. During his time up in the big leagues Diaz made four starts appearing in seven games overall, accumulating a record of 1-1 with an ERA of 3.81, 19 strikeouts, in 28.1 innings pitched. According to MLB.com Diaz pitch mix grades out to be elite with two of his pitches his fastball and slider grading above 60 with his fastball having a grade of 65/80 and his slider slightly behind at 60/80. Diaz knuckle-curve isn’t that far behind grading out at 55/80. Diaz could be a possible future #2 or #3 starter for the Chicago White Sox if acquired.
Acquiring Jordan Montgomery as well as the prospects in trade may be a longshot for the White Sox to pull off, but it can be done. With the White Sox still needing to find someone to take down necessary innings and adding more prospects for the rebuild doing a deal like this is one of the best options the White Sox have at getting better.
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