Rangers Acquire Jordan Montgomery, Chris Stratton From Cardinals in Another All-In Move
The Texas Rangers have made yet another notable trade ahead of Tuesday’s MLB trade deadline to address their biggest roster concern: pitching.
One day after acquiring Max Scherzer from the New York Mets, the Rangers added two more arms to the mix on Sunday, landing left-hander Jordan Montgomery and right-hander Chris Stratton in a five-player deal with the St. Louis Cardinals. The team also received international signing bonus money.
Texas is sending prospects Tekoah Roby, Thomas Saggese and 28-year-old lefty John King back to St. Louis. Thus, the organization surrenders its Nos. 11 and 14 top prospects, per MLB Pipeline.
The move also coincides with Nathan Eovaldi hitting the 15-day IL due to a right forearm strain, which isn’t expected to sideline the Rangers’ ace for longer than two weeks. Upon his return, the team could have seven viable starting pitchers with only five rotation spots available.
That likely means at least two of the group involving Dane Dunning, Andrew Heaney and Martín Pérez may be required to shift to the bullpen, where they’d provide length as multi-inning relievers.
For now, Montgomery joins a talented pitching staff that includes Scherzer, Jon Gray, Dunning and Pérez – possibly making Heaney the odd man out. Even so, it adds another layer of protection in case of any injuries or underperformances down the stretch.
As for Stratton, the 32-year-old becomes the latest addition to a Rangers bullpen that welcomed Aroldis Chapman via trade from the Kansas City Royals in June. His arrival should further improve an area that has greatly hindered the club in 2023.
“We had an opportunity to acquire another starting pitcher and a veteran reliever that we think will both help us,” Rangers GM Chris Young told reporters on Sunday, including MLB.com’s Kennedi Landry. “Jordan Montgomery is having a tremendous year. We felt like he was one of the better starters on the market. And given where we are, that we needed to continue to upgrade our rotation. We addressed that.
“Chris Stratton is going to slide right into the bullpen, and I think that it’s going to take a little pressure off some of the young guys that we’ve been depending on. We’re excited to get them both.”
Montgomery, a free agent after this season, has been dealt in consecutive years leading up to the trade deadline after the New York Yankees sent the left-hander to St. Louis in a swap with outfielder Harrison Bader last season.
The 30-year-old pitched to a 3.11 ERA with 61 strikeouts over 11 starts in 63.2 innings post-trade with the Cardinals in 2022. This season, he impressed over 21 starts with the Red Birds, posting a 3.42 ERA and 3.75 FIP with 108 punchouts across 121 innings.
If the need arises, Montgomery could move to the bullpen during the playoffs, just as he did in 2022, where he tossed 2.2 scoreless innings while striking out three in Game 2 of the wild-card series versus the Philadelphia Phillies.
Stratton was also performing well prior to his departure from St. Louis, as evidenced by his 4.36 ERA, 3.06 FIP and 19 percent strikeout-to-walk rate difference over 42 relief appearances, worth a career-high 1.0 fWAR. He, like Montgomery, can enter free agency this winter.
Young and the Rangers may still look to make further additions to the roster before 6 pm ET Tuesday, especially considering how aggressive the front office has been thus far. If they do, it’ll likely be another bullpen upgrade, preferably at the back end.
Amid a wide-scale sell-off, St. Louis’ front office will aim to continue to stockpile future assets even after beefing up the farm system with Roby and Saggese as well as Sem Robberse and Adam Kloffenstein – acquired in the Jordan Hicks’ trade.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @ThomasHall85
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