Making the case for Pirates to target spurned Diamondbacks rebound candidate in trade

The best overall group on the Pirates in 2024 was the starting rotation, but there is still room for improvement in 2025. With that in mind, a veteran southpaw is on the trade block after a poor year in 2024.

That veteran is Jordan Montgomery, who helped push the Rangers to a World Series victory in 2023. In quest for a for a big contract, Montgomery waited until the end of March to sign with Arizona and he got a lot of money in $25 million, but it was for one year with a player option for 2025. He exercised his player option and the Diamondbacks reportedly want to move on from him.

That's what often tends to happen when a team's owner goes on the record calling a player a "horrible decision," prior to said player spitefully opting back into the 2025 portion of his deal.

Jeff Passan recently confirmed that Arizona is looking to move on from Montgomery and are willing to add some money to get a deal done. Although the Pirates' starting pitching staff is very strong, adding a southpaw that has a great history like Montgomery could help caretake a very young pitching staff in Pittsburgh.

On top of that, pitching coach Oscar Marin has a great history of reviving careers, especially in non-velocity-driven lefty arms like Jose Quintana and Tyler Anderson. Both are comparable to where Montgomery is now.

Pirates should target Diamondbacks newest trade block addition Jordan Montgomery

Last season, Montgomery struggled badly, posting an earned run average of 6.23 across 117 innings thrown and striking out 83 batters. Opposing hitters had a batting average of .307 against him, along with a WHIP of 1.65 and a FIP of 4.48.

Although these numbers were far from productive, his expected earned run average sat at 5.10, indicating that he did get unlucky. His pitching run value was among the worst in the league at -27. Two positives were his chase rate of 33.2% and his ability to miss barrels at 6%. Both ranked inside the top 25% of the league.

What the Pirates should look to bank on are his numbers from 2023. In that season, Montgomery had an earned run average of 3.20 with a WHIP of 1.19 and an FIP of 3.56. Opponents hit just .244 against him and he struck out 166 batters.

His pitching run value in that year was at 19, which was in the 93rd percentile. The rest of his numbers were slightly above average, but he was able to get things done and finished with a great season. That was just one year ago. It has to still be in there somewhere.

What would a Pirates trade package for Jordan Montgomery look like?

A possible deal between the two teams could look like this. In this mock trade, Arizona would be sending $9 million with Montgomery, which is 40% of his contract for 2025. Pittsburgh would send two players in this deal, including a former first overall pick that has underperformed in his short MLB career.

The first player in this deal would be Henry Davis. In his MLB tenure thus far, Davis has a .191 batting average with eight home runs and an OPS of .590. His wRC+ sits at 61 with a strikeout percentage of 30.2% and an fWAR of -1.6. Although this looks bad, he is 25 years old and is a player with raw power that could thrive in a new system. After all, he was selected atop the draft just three summers ago.

The other player in this hypothetical deal is 19-year-old southpaw Michael Kennedy. A young prospect ranked as the Pirates' 15th-best prospect had a solid year in 2024, posting an earned run average of 3.66 with 95 strikeouts and a WHIP of 1.09. Opposing hitters also hit .232 against him.

Overall, this addition to the Pirates rotation could benefit them on the field and off the field. Montgomery's voice would be very beneficial over the young arms in Pittsburgh at a not-so-expensive price.