Cardinals rumors: Giving up on new player, a trade target, and more

Jordan Montgomery could be a quick stop in STL

After the St. Louis Cardinals made a trade for Jordan Montgomery at 2022’s trade deadline (sending outfielder Harrison Bader out in the process), he could be gone without making it to this year’s trade deadline on his new team.

Jon Heyman of the New York Post pointed him out as a possible departure at the deadline thanks to the fact that Montgomery is a free agent after this season. For now, this feels like informed speculation from Heyman.

Part of it could depend on just how competitive the Cardinals are by that point, but even if the Cardinals are winning, Montgomery could be the odd man out, especially if the Cardinals can backfill his role in the rotation with a stronger arm, such as Giolito discussed on the prior slide.

He performed credibly after becoming a Cardinal last year but has struggled mightily this season as well. His 1.428 WHIP this year is his worst since becoming a full-time starter.

On the surface, Montgomery is not delivering much different than he has in previous years. His sinker is being thrown more frequently but is about as successfully as it was last year as his best pitch.

The biggest blemish is his changeup, which is getting absolutely bombed, barrelled 20.6% of the time compared to 5.5% last year.

Montgomery has been the subject of bad defense backing him up at times, though. Here’s some analysis from Ryan Loren:

"“While he’s been far from perfect, the defense behind him has done little to help. Overall, the Cardinals have rated well defensively this season (as they usually do), but not so much when Montgomery is on the mound. With a 3.83 FIP, it’s clear that Montgomery has deserved a little better than he’s getting from the field. That also stands out in his BABIP, which is up to an unlucky .321 this season. Last year, his BABIP was .275 which probably was a bit on the lucky side. The truth, as always, is somewhere in between.”"

That theme has shades of his 2022 with New York. Monty — or perhaps more accurately, the Yankees — struggled in New York before being traded to the Cardinals last year. Montgomery would typically pitch well but get little run support from his team leading to a 3-3 record with New York despite putting forth ostensibly positive pitching. In his first seven starts with the Yankees in 2022 he received 16 runs of support from the Yankees offense.

That’s some incredibly bad luck for Monty in back-to-back seasons in New York and Missouri.