Analyst Urges Yankees to Re-Acquire $47.5 Million Starter to Bolster Rotation

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Yankees urged to trade for Jordan Montgomery

The New York Yankees have a surplus of starting pitching but one MLB analyst believes the team should trade for another.

MLB analyst Jeremy Nielsen of PinstripeAlley of SB Nation believes the Yankees should try to re-acquire Jordan Montgomery from the Arizona Diamondbacks. Nielsen believes Montgomery is a good buy-low candidate for the Yankees and could help bolster the bottom of the rotation.

“If the Yankees traded for Montgomery, he’d escape a toxic situation in Arizona and return to the organization which drafted and developed him,” Nielsen wrote. “He’d also get a full spring training this time around. Instead of missing camp entirely while holding out for a better deal that never came.

“However, we must address the elephant in the room. The Yankees’ rotation looks to be just about set heading into 2025,” Nielsen added. “Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodón, Clarke Schmidt, and AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil will now be joined by Max Fried. Giving Montgomery an outside shot at best of making the rotation… The most likely scenario in which Montgomery would return to the Bronx is as a break-glass-in-case-of-long-term-injury option. If one of the projected starters goes down for an extended period, bringing Gumby aboard would make more sense.”

As Nielsen writes, the Yankees have a surplus of starters, but the left-hander would be a good experienced option as the fifth starter. But, whether or not the Yankees want a reunion with the left-hander is to be seen.

Montgomery signed a two-year $47.5 million deal with the Diamondbacks last off-season.

Diamondbacks Owner Calls Montgomery a Horrible Signing

Arizona tried to bolster its rotation with the signing of Montgomery.

However, Montgomery struggled mightily in 2024, and Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick says it was a horrible signing.

“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” Kendrick told Arizona Sports. “Because I brought it to [the front office’s] attention. I pushed for it. They agreed to it — it wasn’t in our game plan. You know when he was signed — right at the end of spring training. And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to invest that money in a guy who performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”

Montgomery went 8-7 with a 6.23 ERA in 21 starts with the Diamondbacks. The left-hander was selected by the Yankees in the 2014 MLB draft. He played in New York from 2017 until 2022.

Yankees Could Trade Marcus Stroman

New York has bolstered its rotation with signing Max Fried but did trade Nestor Cortes this offseason.

The Yankees still have a rotation of Cole, Fried, Rodon, Schmidt, and Gil, so there isn’t a need for Montgomery. New York also has Marcus Stroman, but according to MLB insider Robert Murray, the Yankees are looking to trade the right-hander.

“I also would imagine a Marcus Stroman trade would appear more likely than not,” Murray said on The Baseball Insiders.

Stroman signed a two-year $37 million deal with the Yankees ahead of the 2024 MLB season. However, the right-hander was left off the playoff roster as he went 10-9 with a 4.31 ERA in 30 games.

Cole Shelton Cole Shelton covers the NHL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has covered pro and college sports since 2016, including bylines at BJ Penn, USA Today, SB Nation, Rotowire, Canadian Baseball Network and more. More about Cole Shelton