Why Mike Hazen went out and got Jordan Montgomery
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Perhaps there is a sense of relief for Red Sox fans.
While the exhaust from the "full throttle" comment early in the offseason had left followers of John Henry's team feeling nauseous for the last few months, there was always some hope that the end result would be cruising into the 2024 season riding the left arm of Jordan Montgomery.
Maybe, just maybe, Craig Breslow was playing the market perfectly and all this talk of needing to pay the free agent pitcher like a No. 1 starter was the kind of smokescreen the new chief baseball officer saw right through.
And it wasn't like those following along from the outside the media gates were alone in envisioning this end-game. Plenty of people who are supposed to have an idea of what's what when it comes to the inner-workings of deal-making truly believed Montgomery would ultimately land in Boston.
Spoiler: He didn't.
It turns out that the executive who played the market like a fiddle was Diamondbacks president of baseball operations Mike Hazen, who reeled in Montgomery Tuesday night on the kind of deal that many previously would have thought would fit the Red Sox' current way of doing business like a glove. One year, $25 million with a vesting option that also allows Montgomery to opt-out if he makes 10 starts in 2024.
Again, perhaps it was a sense of relief for Red Sox fans. At least now we know.
There is no way around looking at where this landed and viewed the end result as something that would have been perfect for the 2024 Red Sox. There isn't a semblance of mortgaging your future while getting a pitcher who can offer some semblance of certainty while watching the evolution of the likes of Brayan Bello, Nick Pivetta, Kutter Crawford, Tanner Houck and Garrett Whitlock.
Perfect.
But now we know. Would they have paid money for Yoshinobu Yamamoto? Yes. How about the idea Jordan Hicks? They seemed interested in that, as well. But once we got to this point, for better or worse, Breslow and Co. seemed dug in on riding with what they already had.
There were no offers to free agent options Michael Lorenzen or Mike Clevinger. Instead, the mantra was rooted in something a former free agent outfielder told me. "Yes, they were interested ... They checked in for five months."
The clouds have parted and we can now see the Red Sox' true view of things. Their priority in recent weeks was finding some sort of safety net for depth after Cooper Criswell. That was evident in paying Chase Anderson $1.25 million. But when it came to the actual one-through-five starting rotation, in the Red Sox' eyes, at this point and time no significant investment was going to be needed.
By spring training's end, the Sox's decision-makers were legitimately seduced by what they saw from the current five. Each and every one, through a tweak here and an adjustment there, has given the impression leaving camp that they are about to present the best versions of themselves. Maybe.
The results - both through eye-tests and analytics - present a picture where this group could actually work. But, in baseball, leaning so heavily the unknown is more times than not a dangerous game. That's why Chaim Bloom got the likes of Chris Martin and Kenley Jansen a year ago. And that would also be the reasoning behind investing in Montgomery.
When sitting down with the 'Baseball Isn't Boring' podcast earlier this month, Hazen talked candidly about the sting of falling short when it came to starting pitcher in late October. He was not going to let that happen again, which was the impetus behind signing free agent starter Eduardo Rodriguez. And now, he is doubling down on protecting against such uneasiness.
"When you're running bullpen games in the World Series and Game 4 of the NLCS, that's not great," Hazen said. "Our job is to be in front of stuff happening. That's our job. That's literally what we're here to do. Otherwise, whatever. I will leave now and go on vacation. Can I just shut it down? I will take it to the house, I will see you in November and let me know how it shakes out."
Make no mistake about it, the Diamondbacks and Red Sox are in different places of their existence. The hopes and dreams of Breslow are already a reality for Hazen thanks to the existence of Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly and Rodriguez.
Now that Montgomery is no longer that carrot at the end of the stick for those hoping the Red Sox were viewing themselves in a different way than they were letting on, the path and motivation for the next four months is very clear.
The goal is to find out which of this current bunch can evolve into legitimate pieces of the foundation, hope to win enough games to make the trade deadline interesting and then perhaps legitimately enter into the world of no-doubt-about-it talent acquisition.
It's not the plan or place Red Sox followers were envisioning four months ago after Breslow presented his press conference. vision of how this version of the Sox might be different. It is, however, what it is.
At least now you know.