MLB Rumors: Cubs-Cease chatter, Cards lose out, Red Sox punt on Montgomery
MLB Rumors: Red Sox won't pay the price to land Jordan Montgomery
Coming into the offseason with new Chief Baseball Officer Craig Breslow, who replaced the oft-maligned Chaim Bloom, the Boston Red Sox were perceived to be an aggressive player in the offseason. That notion was only furthered with comments from Breslow and, more notably, team chairman Tom Werner, who said that the organization would be going "full throttle" this offseason.
To this point, however, we just haven't seen that. Yes, they've made some moves, most notably shipping out Alex Verdugo to the rival Yankees (sacrificing his beard in the process) in addition to landing outfielder Tyler O'Neill in a trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. They were also reportedly in the mix for Yoshinobu Yamamoto before he joined the Dodgers, though how strongly remains to be seen.
Fans, of course, are still hoping that the franchise will return to their aggressive ways that helped pave the way to four World Series wins since breaking the drought in 2004. But the writing on the wall might be telling us something entirely different.
MassLive.com Red Sox insider Sean McAdam reported on Christmas Eve that, when he talked to sources about Boston potentially shifting their attention to another top free agent starting pitcher, Jordan Montgomery, he was essentially told that the Red Sox wouldn't be willing to meet the price that the World Series champion with the Rangers is going to demand.
"In the aftermath of the Yamamoto news, one industry official was speculating on how the Red Sox might pivot to find the necessary starting pitching. When I suggested free agent Jordan Montgomery as a good fall-back option, the official scoffed and offered that even Montgomery would be too expensive for the Red Sox’s current budget plans."
The "even Montgomery" part of the final sentence there is particularly worrying, implying that all of the top free agents like Blake Snell in addition to Montgomery, are out of the Red Sox price range. To further back that up is another recent report that Boston is interested in bringing back veteran James Paxton after an uneven and overall disappointing 2023 season with the club.
Maybe the Red Sox will surprise some people and pull off a big splash. Or, perhaps the team is a bigger player for a blockbuster starting pitcher trade for the likes Dylan Cease, Shane Bieber, Corbin Burnes, or an unknown candidate. Given all that's being rumored right now, though, the hopes of a splashy offseason right now in Boston might be far-fetched at best.