{"id":567392,"date":"2026-02-12T03:00:50","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T03:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/567392\/"},"modified":"2026-02-12T03:00:50","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T03:00:50","slug":"texas-rangers-bringing-back-2023-world-series-hero-jordan-montgomery-on-one-year-deal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/567392\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Rangers bringing back 2023 World Series hero Jordan Montgomery on one-year deal"},"content":{"rendered":"

SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 It worked pretty well once before, so here they go again: The Rangers<\/a> are acquiring left-hander Jordan Montgomery with the idea he\u2019ll be a useful second-half member of the pitching staff.<\/p>\n

Only difference: In 2023, they traded for Montgomery at the deadline<\/a>. This time around: They have agreed to a one-year, major league deal with the still-rehabbing Montgomery, a person with direct knowledge of the deal told The Dallas Morning News Wednesday. The deal was still pending a physical, but if all goes well, Montgomery could be in camp by the end of the week.<\/p>\n

Montgomery, 33, is expected to earn $1.25 million in base salary with the ability to add more via performance bonuses. But he first must get on a mound. Montgomery hasn\u2019t pitched since an awful 2024 season with Arizona<\/a> in which he posted a 6.23 ERA and fell out of the starting rotation at times. In late March last year, he underwent hybrid elbow ligament reconstruction in a procedure conducted by Rangers medical director Dr. Keith Meister. <\/p>\n

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\u201cJust haven\u2019t been recovering very well,\u201d Montgomery told reporters last March in announcing the decision to undergo the procedure. \u201cKind of day after that last game [March 19], I came back sore, took a day off like I normally do. Next day was still a little achy, so we pushed my bullpen back. Felt decent the next day, kind of just threw through it. Threw a pretty good bullpen, but something was wrong. They told me we were just going to get some imaging on it \u2014 we thought it was just kind of a joint thing, would get a shot in there, clean it up and I\u2019d be good. And that just wasn\u2019t the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montgomery was later traded to Milwaukee as part of a salary-dump move, though he never pitched for the Brewers. <\/p>\n

\"Texas<\/p>\n

Texas Rangers starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery reacts after striking out Tampa Bay Rays pinch hitter Junior Caminero to end the seventh inning of an American League Wild Card playoff baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field on Tuesday, Oct. 3, in St. Petersburg, Fla. <\/p>\n

Smiley N. Pool \/ Staff Photographer<\/p>\n

The combination of having their own team doctor perform the surgery, overseeing his rehab, the way he performed with the Rangers down the stretch in 2023<\/a> and his minimal salary demands made it almost impossible for Texas to ignore. He gives the Rangers a potential option for second-half rotation depth, providing his recovery doesn\u2019t hit any impediments. <\/p>\n

In addition, Montgomery also has a relationship with new manager Skip Schumaker. The duo were together in St. Louis in 2022 when Montgomery was acquired from the New York Yankees and Schumaker was on the coaching staff. <\/p>\n

While not confirming the agreement, Schumaker did acknowledge the relationship and praised Montgomery\u2019s contributions to both the Cardinals and the Rangers.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was phenomenal,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cI didn\u2019t really know much about him, when he came over from New York, but he dominated for us and helped lead that second-half push that got us to the playoffs. And I\u2019m aware of what he did when he came over here in 2023. Everybody loved him on our staff in St. Louis. And we are all aware of what he did over here in Texas.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though Montgomery will go on the 60\u2013day injured list immediately after signing, he must first be placed on the active roster as a procedural move. That will force the Rangers to either place a player currently on the 40-man roster on the IL (and there don\u2019t appear to be any obvious candidates) or designate one for assignment, leaving open the possibility the player could be claimed off waivers.<\/p>\n

Adding Montgomery, however, gives the Rangers more layers of depth. Lefty Cody Bradford is expected back from internal brace surgery in May<\/a>. Montgomery could be ready around the All-Star break. With elite starters Nathan Eovaldi and Jacob deGrom having long injury histories, the more contingencies the Rangers can add, the better positioned they may be. The Rangers also have major league veterans Austin Gomber and Cal Quantrill in camp on minor league deals.<\/p>\n

\u201cWho we have in camp right now is who we\u2019re trying to get better and to help them make the roster,\u201d Schumaker said. \u201cBut, yes, pitching depth is real. You need, typically, nine or 10 to get through a season. You need depth. There\u2019s no doubt that our front office is doing everything they can to help us create that. But right now, my focus is all the guys in the clubhouse.<\/p>\n

By the weekend, he may have one more guy in that clubhouse. <\/p>\n

Back to work: See spring training photos of the Texas Rangers ramping up for 2026<\/p>\n

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Find more Rangers coverage from The Dallas Morning News here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Click or tap here to sign up for our Rangers newsletter.<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SURPRISE, Ariz. \u2014 It worked pretty well once before, so here they go again: The Rangers are acquiring…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567393,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2393],"tags":[5,3417,4,149,185,1567,69,3240,17170],"class_list":{"0":"post-567392","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas-rangers","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-brief","10":"tag-mlb","11":"tag-rangers","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-texas","14":"tag-texas-rangers","15":"tag-texasrangers","16":"tag-world-series-2023"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116055435293883188","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567392","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567392"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567392\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567392"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567392"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567392"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}