Cardinals trade pitchers Montgomery, Stratton to Texas Rangers for three players
ST. LOUIS – Continuing their progress down the path of trading pending free agents, the Cardinals agreed Sunday to send left-handed starter Jordan Montgomery and righty reliever Chris Stratton to the Texas Rangers, the teams announced.
In return, the Cardinals receive minor league infielder Thomas Saggese, right-handed minor league starter Tekoah Roby, and left-handed reliever John King.
“The way I would look at so far in what we’ve been able to get in our returns are people that are going to be pitching at our upper levels,” president of baseball operations John Mozeliak said. “We feel like we’ve added some depth that will have an immediate impact in 2024, but there are also some longer range plans so far in that, and the trading deadline hasn’t come up.”
That deadline arrives Tuesday at 5 PM.
Earlier Sunday, the Cardinals announced they were sending reliever Jordan Hicks to the Blue Jays for two minor league starting pitchers.
Montgomery, 30, was acquired last summer from the New York Yankees in exchange for Harrison Bader. As a Cardinal, he recorded 12 wins in 32 starts and posted a 3.31 ERA. Attempts to sign him to a contract extension in spring were not fruitful.
Stratton, 32, was also acquired last summer from the Pirates in the same trade that saw José Quintana come to St. Louis. He recorded a 4.36 ERA in 42 games from the bullpen this season.
Both Montgomery and Stratton are due to be free agents at the end of the season.
“Sort of ready for it, so I wasn’t going to get the carpet pulled out from under me this time,” Montgomery said, referring to his shock at being traded last summer.
“Stratton’s one of my best friends here,” he added. “It’s great having that friendship go along with me, but I’ve heard great things about the guys in Texas. And having Mad Dog there is going to be great too.”
“Mad Dog,” former Cardinals pitching coach Mike Maddux, currently holds the same role with the Rangers.
King, 28, is the only player in the return with Major League experience. He has a 4.27 ERA in 87 career appearances, all for Texas and from the bullpen. He will report to the Cardinals.
Roby, 21, is currently on the injured list at Double-A Frisco with a shoulder ailment. He was the Rangers’ third round pick in the 2020 draft and ranked by FanGraphs as Texas’s fifth best prospect. He will report to the team’s complex in Jupiter, Florida, to continue to his injury rehabilitation, but the Cardinals intend for him to pitch in games for an upper level affiliate before the end of the season.
“I actually just hung up with him before I walked in [to the press conference],” Mozeliak said. “He was asking for permission to go play catch. It was a lift day.”
“We’ll know a lot more [about his health] once we get our hands on him,” he added, “but based on our medical reports, we obviously believed in them, or felt like he was in a good position to start throwing, and so we do hope we see him this year.”
Saggese, 21, is an infielder also at Double-A. He was previously Texas’s 17th ranked prospect and has 15 home runs and an .894 OPS for Frisco. He will report to Double-A Springfield.
“We think he’s just a good baseball player,” Mozeliak said. “As I stated, we were going ‘pitching, pitching, pitching,’ but when we were trying to accomplish that deal, to really get the most talent, to optimize talent in that deal, then we had to think outside the pitching box.”
Between the trade with Texas and the day’s earlier trade with the Toronto Blue Jays, the Cardinals acquired three starting pitching prospects who will have an opportunity to contribute to the Major League club as soon as 2024. That, Mozeliak explained two weeks ago, was the goal, and it is fair to say it’s been achieved.
Still remaining in St. Louis for the moment are starter Jack Flaherty, reliever Drew VerHagen, and shortstop Paul DeJong, each of whom can reach free agency this winter. Flaherty is all but certain to be moved, and will continue to draw attention from teams seeking pitching as the deadline inches closer.
“We understand there’s still 48 hours left in this deadline, so it’s not today,” Mozeliak said. “We’ll take our time, we’ll reassess where we are, and we’ll plan accordingly.
“But, you know, sometimes it doesn’t matter what I want to do. It’s what other people want to do. So I think we just have to be realistic about that, but as I mentioned earlier, I don’t think we’re done today.”
