Red Sox should just do the obvious thing and sign Jordan Montgomery
There’s still time for the Red Sox to salvage their offseason. The solution is literally sitting in Boston.
Free agent left-hander Jordan Montgomery has spent the winter here while his wife conducts her residency at a Boston hospital. He is everything the Red Sox claimed to need when the offseason began – a proven starter who would immediately slot atop the rotation and give the team a fighting chance in baseball’s toughest division.
Instead of grabbing this obvious lifeline, the Red Sox dither with the likes of former Rookie of the Year Michael Fulmer, signing him to what has been described as a “creative” contract, which is just another way of saying they’re paying him to sit around for a year while he heals from surgery. It’s the ultimate Chaim Bloom move (see James Paxton, Adalberto Mondesi) for a team that had supposedly had enough of Chaim Bloom.
The Red Sox are thinking so small, they might as well inhabit the quantum realm of many an uninspiring Marvel movie. But they can change the narrative with one stroke of John Henry’s pen.
It’s not too late to admit they’ve screwed up this winter, stubbornly highlighting their future prospects over any semblance of an attempt to compete in 2024. Because it is mathematically impossible to reach the playoffs from last place, the first order of business must be giving yourself a chance in the division.
It won’t be easy. The 100-win Orioles just acquired former Cy Young winner Corbin Burnes from the Brewers. The Yankees added generational slugger Juan Soto. The Blue Jays struck out on their biggest targets, but old friend Justin Turner is a sneaky great addition to their clubhouse, and they return the division’s best rotation. As for the Rays, let’s just assume they’ll continue conjuring 100 mph relievers and win another 90 games through witchcraft and devilry.
That leaves the Red Sox looking up at everyone else, and even if Montgomery doesn’t single-handedly overcome that gap, he at least narrows it. For the Red Sox to intimate they’re not one player away from reaching the World Series and therefore there’s no point in trying is so defeatist, it’s infuriating.
Lest anyone forget, they hit the All-Star break just a game out of the playoffs last year, badly needing reinforcements. Whereas an unusual spate of off days allowed manager Alex Cora to finesse his incomplete rotation through July, once the schedule turned unforgiving, the Red Sox wilted.
They know this, and yet they’ve subtracted from last year’s rotation, replacing Paxton and Chris Sale with Lucas Giolito. They’re a team begging for another arm, and it just so happens two really good ones remain available in Montgomery and reigning NL Cy Young winner Blake Snell.
Rather than exploiting their good fortune, the Red Sox seem content to drift into spring training with no buzz and no real hope of contending, even though JORDAN MONTGOMERY IS JUST SITTING THERE.
We’ve made the case before, but we’ll say it again: Giving Montgomery six years and $150 million serves the dual purposes of providing some life in the present while adding a valuable piece for the future.
