Jordan Montgomery
The Arizona Diamondbacks signed Jordan Montgomery to a one-year $25 million deal after he played a big part in the Texas Rangers' championship berth. Before that, Montgomery pitched for the Cardinals between the 2022 and 2023 trade deadlines, netting a 3.31 ERA with St. Louis and a 2.79 ERA with Texas.
2024 has been rocky for Montgomery: He's pitched to a 5.71 ERA and struck out only 44 batters in 63 innings, which is a career-low 15.8%. He also holds an elevated walk rate of 7.9%. His fastball velocity, never elite, has decreased by 1.5 mph, from 93.4 to 91.9, and his sinker has been bombarded to the tune of a .359 batting average, compared with a .255 average in 2023.
When the Cardinals dealt Montgomery to the Rangers, they received Tekoah Roby, Thomas Saggese and John King. King has pitched impressively since arriving in St. Louis, and Roby and Saggese remain hopes for the future. Montgomery was a popular choice among Cardinals fans for the team to aggressively attempt to re-sign before 2024, but it appears now that the Cardinals might have dodged a bullet.