Rangers still in on Montgomery, per Heyman

Jon Heyman’s latest column includes talk on Jordan Montgomery and the Rangers’ TV deal

• By
  
  Adam J. Morris
  
• on January 4, 2024 8:57 pm

The Texas Rangers have had a quiet offseason so far, and there has been talk that payroll limitations would make it unlikely that they would make a serious run at bringing back starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery. Jon Heyman’s latest column, however, says the Rangers “seem likely to be back in play” for Montgomery.

Why? Well, according to Heyman, there’s been “progress made” regarding the ongoing Bally Sports dispute, and he references a potential $90 million payment to the Rangers as part of a resolution. That’s shy of the $110 million that reports have indicated Texas would have been due prior to the Bally bankruptcy, but its better than nothing, right?

The unknown, however, is to what extent the payroll pressure is driven by the Bally bankruptcy, and the related lack of clarity in regards to how much local TV revenue the Rangers will be getting in 2024, and to what extent it is driven by a desire to stay under the luxury tax. The Rangers are currently projected by Cots to be just $6.6 million under luxury tax line, and if staying under the tax is a priority, well, Texas isn’t re-signing Montgomery.

Heyman also mentions Josh Hader as making sense for the Rangers. Texas has, however, not tended to splurge on relievers, and after going without second and third round picks in each of the last two years, one would think that they’d be leery of forfeiting yet another second rounder in order to pay retail for a reliever.

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