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Kiley McDaniel, ESPN MLB Insider
Jordan Montgomery, who was signed by the Arizona Diamondbacks in late March amid a soft free agent market, has fired Scott Boras as his agent and signed with Wasserman’s Joel Wolfe and Nick Chanock, sources told ESPN on Thursday.
Montgomery was one of the “Boras Four,” along with Matt Chapman, Cody Bellinger, and Blake Snell, who waited late into the offseason to sign. All four wound up with deals below pre-free agency projections.
The left-hander finalized a $25 million, one-year deal with the Diamondbacks on March 28. It includes a 2025 vesting player option for $20 million, which vests at 10 starts and can escalate to $25 million if he starts 23 games. Montgomery, 31, entered free agency amid expectations that he could get a multiyear deal worth more than $20 million per season.
There’s a strong chance that Montgomery will hit free agency again next winter. His expected contract was in the low nine figures this past winter because of a career year in 2023: 10-11 with a 3.20 ERA over 188⅔ innings with the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers. In addition, he had a sterling postseason (31 innings, 2.90 ERA, 3-1 record) that ended in a World Series championship with the Rangers.
Boras attributed the slow pace of free agency to a few factors, including normal market fluctuation and the uncertainty of team revenue from regional sports networks.
“We’ve had a dramatic difference in the competitiveness and aggressiveness of owners to win,” Boras said after Montgomery had signed with Arizona.
Bellinger re-signed with the Chicago Cubs on an $80 million, three-year deal in late February. Chapman, a four-time Gold Glove third baseman, signed a $54 million, three-year deal with the San Francisco Giants on March 3. Snell, a two-time Cy Young Award winner, inked a $62 million, two-year deal with the Giants on March 19.
Along with potential opt-outs from Chapman, Bellinger and Snell, Boras still has a strong group of potential free agents for next winter, including New York Yankees outfielder Juan Soto, New York Mets first baseman Pete Alonso and Baltimore Orioles right-hander Corbin Burnes.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.