Red Sox
“It turns out Montgomery preferred not to go there, anyway,” the New York Post’s Jon Heyman said.
Despite being linked to the Red Sox the entire offseason, this free-agent pitcher reportedly wasn’t interested in playing in Boston.
According to the New York Post’s Jon Heyman, Jordan Montgomery desired to land elsewhere ahead of the 2024 season because of his interest in winning.
“Jordan Montgomery and the Red Sox had their famous Zoom call about six weeks ago, and while the Red Sox aren’t known to have made a concrete offer, it turns out Montgomery preferred not to go there, anyway,” Heyman reported.
“There had been speculation that he might like Boston since his wife was training as a doctor at Beth Israel in affiliation with Harvard. But his wife is transferring to Vanderbilt, and word is, Montgomery didn’t love the Red Sox because he wants to win.”
The report came shortly after Montgomery signed a one-year, $25 million contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Following an offseason filled with rumors connecting him to the Red Sox, the left-handed starter agreed to a short-term contract just two days before MLB’s Opening Day.
As Heyman said, Montgomery was reportedly living in Boston this past winter while his wife was completing her residency at a Boston hospital. The pitcher was also working out at nearby Boston College during the offseason, according to MassLive.
Yet, despite Boston’s need for starting pitching and Montgomery being in the city over the winter, the 31-year-old wasn’t interested in joining the Red Sox.
Montgomery and Boston’s front office did meet via Zoom, as Heyman said and manager Alex Cora confirmed, earlier this winter.
“We Zoomed with [Jordan Montgomery]. But we’ve been Zooming with a lot of people throughout the offseason,” Cora said on Feb. 26 in Fort Myers. “I’m not going to get into specifics but yeah, it’s part of the process. It was a while ago, too. I was in South Beach for that one. I was in Miami.”
Cora’s willingness to explicitly talk about a free-agent meeting before the player signed may have foreshadowed the unlikelihood of Montgomery landing with the Red Sox.
Nonetheless, reports from various MLB insiders kept Boston and Montgomery linked until he signed with the Diamondbacks.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that MLB executives predicted Montgomery would eventually sign with the Red Sox on March 3. One week later, when it was announced Boston’s free-agent starting pitcher pickup Lucas Giolito’s season would end before it started due to an elbow injury, the Red Sox’s front office said they would be open to replacing him with an external player.
In the end, Boston reportedly may not have made a “concrete offer” to Montgomery at all during the offseason, and the player may not have accepted one, anyway.
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