Jordan Montgomery contract details show Scott Boras ripped off Yankees with Rodón

Jordan Montgomery contract details show Scott Boras ripped off Yankees with Rodón

Take out Carlos Rodón’s 2023 showing. Pretend it doesn’t exist. Even with his previous body of work, the New York Yankees, despite making a move the fanbase largely supported, vastly overpaid for the left-hander.

Earlier this offseason, it was reported the Yankees were remaining wary of Scott Boras clients because Hal Steinbrenner felt “burned” by the Rodón deal, which will pay the veteran $162 million over the course of six seasons.

A year after Rodón got his deal, Boras got exactly zero (0) of his clients long-term contracts. Cody Bellinger, Matt Chapman, JD Martinez, Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery — none of those players has a year guaranteed beyond 2024. Insane.

And when you look at the cases for Monty and Snell, it’s even more apparent the Yankees were hosed in the Rodón negotiations, which, yes, is ultimately their fault. They probably should’ve stood their ground a bit more because they had factors working in their favor. There was virtually no market for Rodón last offseason because few teams were willing to take such a gamble. Plus, guys like Jacob deGrom, Chris Bassitt and Justin Verlander had already signed deals, limiting the pickings on the pitching market. And all of those guys are better than Rodón, statistically!

To think the Yankees could’ve had Nathan Eovaldi, who signed a week after Rodón, for a fraction of the price is legitimately sickening.

Inside Wednesday’s Yahoo Sports AM ☀️🧵

Jordan Montgomery agreed to a one-year, $25M deal with the Diamondbacks, but his is the latest in an offseason filled with underwhelming deals brokered by his agent, Scott Boras. pic.twitter.com/eY28wxBYjJ

— Yahoo Sports (@YahooSports) March 27, 2024

Jordan Montgomery contract details show Scott Boras ripped off Yankees with Rodón

As for this year’s Boras clients, Snell and Monty couldn’t have gotten a worse shake. Snell was coming off his second career Cy Young award and couldn’t get a contract that secured him beyond a year. Montgomery was coming off a career season and legacy-defining World Series run, but also couldn’t get anything better than a one-year pact.

Yet Rodón, who had neither of those seasons in San Francisco back in 2022, somehow broke the bank. He led the league in FIP (2.25) and K/9 (12) that season and also notched back-to-back All-Star nods, but his body of work up until that point was defined by injuries and lack of availability.

Let us present to you the three pitchers’ career numbers and you can guess who is who:

Survey says … Player 1 is Snell, Player 2 is Rodón and Player 3 is Monty. Snell has eight years of MLB experience, Rodón nine and Montgomery seven. There’s not too wide of a gap in performance here, which makes it all the more baffling that there’s over $125 million separating Rodón from Snell and Monty.

But that’s how the market goes, we guess. Teams were probably hesitant because they saw how Rodón’s contract blew up in the Yankees’ face after just one year and they didn’t want to get snaked by Boras with Snell or Monty, both of whom are great pitchers, but, like Rodón, very much have flaws and concerns

Boras preyed on the Yankees’ desperation after a 2022 season that fell flat down the stretch and in the postseason. Other teams took note and didn’t let it happen this time around. But what’s done is done. This isn’t to say Rodóns deal will end up being bad, but it’s at least worth wondering how someone with such an incomplete body of work was able to secure the money two similar pitchers desired despite coming off a less impressive contract year