Diamondbacks pitcher switches agencies

Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery has changed representatives, per Kiley McDaniel of ESPN. The southpaw had previously been with the Boras Corporation but will now be repped by Joel Wolfe and Nick Chanock of Wasserman.

Montgomery, 31, was just a free agent for the first time in the most recent offseason. He was coming off a strong three-year run between the Yankees, Cardinals and Rangers, posting a 3.48 earned run average over 524 1/3 innings. He also added 31 innings in last year’s postseason with a 2.90 ERA, helping the Rangers win their first World Series in franchise history.

Coming into the offseason, MLBTR predicted the lefty for a contract worth $150M over six years while other outlets were in a similar range. 

But the offseason free-agent market ended up being weaker than projected. The latter half of the winter was defined by the various players who remained unsigned, with the so-called “Boras Four” being the headliners.

Montgomery, Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman, all repped by Scott Boras, were projected for nine-figure deals at the outset of the offseason. But the four of them lingered on the market past the start of spring training and each one eventually pivoted to some form of short-term deal. 

In Montgomery’s case, he signed a one-year pact with the Diamondbacks with a $25M guarantee. There’s also a $20M vesting player option for 2025, which is available to Montgomery as long as he makes 10 starts this year. He can also add $5M more to the value of that option, $2.5M at 18 starts and $2.5M at 23 starts.

The southpaw is highly likely to return to free agency again this winter. Even if he unlocks that player option, he probably won’t trigger it unless he’s facing some injury absence since finding $20-25M again shouldn’t be tough to do if he has a fairly normal season. 

He hasn’t yet made his debut with the Diamondbacks since he didn’t agree to terms with them until the end of March and is still getting himself in game shape. He tossed four innings in a Triple-A game on Sunday.

For his second go at free agency, it seems he’s looking for a different approach, hiring Wolfe and Chanock to handle his negotiations. 

While losing a notable client like Montgomery is tough for Boras, he still figures to play a prominent role in the coming offseason. 

Each of Bellinger, Snell and Chapman could be free agents again while Boras also represents star players heading into free agency for the first time such as Juan Soto, Corbin Burnes, Alex Bregman and Pete Alonso.