MLB Rumors: Red Sox prioritize signing Jordan Montgomery, but with a catch

Teams have kicked off Spring Training games, and several of MLB agent Scott Boras's clients remain on the table to be signed as free agents. Concerns about the lack of preparation these players might suffer from due to their signings remaining incomplete have been raised, but Boras maintains that his own private training facility is enough to stage a "Boras Spring Training."

While that may keep players in shape, it doesn't make up for the bespoke preparation players would get from working with the teams they'll be playing for.

Jordan Montgomery, fresh off a 2023 World Series win, is among those five. Montgomery had plenty of hypothetical suitors at the open of free agency, including his smattering of former teams from the last several years: The Yankees, Cardinals, and Rangers. But now, those teams, and many others, considering free agency is unofficially "over" (to everyone but Boras clients) have filled their need for starting pitching, limiting who may have a spot for Montgomery.

A former division rival for Monty, the Boston Red Sox, has remained a good possible destination for him. They have been slower to the punch in free agency so haven't quite filled out their roster. So, they could default to one another.

The Boras strategy may wind up working. The few remaining teams with a need for his last few clients and the skillsets they bring could get desperate and shell out massive 11th-hour money. But it could also limit the destinations for his clients and put them with a team on a contract they don't like or a location they aren't thrilled with.

Red Sox waiting for price to come down on Jordan Montgomery

Of course, as is the case with all of these remaining Boras clients, price is the primary issue.

Rob Bradford of WEEI notes that according to his sources, Montgomery is the preferred free agent for the Red Sox, but that the price Boras is trying to get him signed at remains prohibitive.

Will the price come down? For the Red Sox, connecting the dots, that seems unlikely. Boras knows the Sox still have needs at the starting pitching position.

Notably, it's been pointed out that Montgomery's wife is fulfilling a medical residency in the Boston area, so there's a world in which, if Montgomery prefers the location for family reasons, his price could come down. But then again, it feels as if the signing would have happened months ago if that were Montgomery's primary consideration in his new contract.

We are inching wildly close to opening day with Montgomery yet to even spark a particularly close courtship with any one team.