MLB rumors: 3 pitchers the Braves have to avoid trading for
By Josh Wilson
Pitchers the Braves shouldn’t trade for: Jordan Montgomery, St. Louis Cardinals
Jordan Montgomery has been a relative disappointment for the St. Louis Cardinals since they traded the speedy outfielder Harrison Bader for him last season. Montgomery was fine down the stretch in 2022 but has ballooned to a 4.48 ERA with a 1.442 WHIP this season.
A free agent this summer, the Cardinals will probably look to offload him since he hasn’t panned out in St. Louis as expected, especially if they can find a replacement of their own in the trade market.
The problem for the Braves is this is unlikely to be an upgrade at all.
Sure, a change of scenery might do Montgomery well, but this would be his third team in the last 13 months or so. The likelihood that he is troubled by instability feels higher than a sudden change in play due to a new home city and ball club.
There’s much made about Montgomery’s bad luck, and I think the people pushing those claims (I, at times, have done so, too) are probably right to some degree. Montgomery got virtually no run support in 2022 in his starts from the Yankees and he gets worse defensive backing from the Cardinals than his other pitchers do.
Maybe it has something to do with that, but Montgomery just hasn’t always inspired as a starter over the last two years. If the Braves make a move, it needs to be for a guaranteed winner on the bump, like I said on the last slide.
Then, consider the fact that the Cardinals are probably going to be looking to add pitching themselves this trade deadline. If Montgomery is, in fact, on the block, it’s not exactly inspiring to see that the Cardinals are moving him to probably immediately replace him with someone else.
The Braves have to be sure to ask the question, “why is this guy available?” when looking to deal.
Lastly, since he’s a free agent, this would be a short-sighted move. That may be the case with all pitchers available at the deadline, but combined with the other cons here, it just has me souring on the fit for Atlanta.