The St. Louis Cardinals and left-handed pitcher Jordan Montgomery have agreed to a $10 million deal for 2023 to avoid arbitration in MLB free agency, MLB.com Executive Reporter Mark Feinsand wrote in a Friday tweet.
The 30-year-old pitcher went 6-3 in 32 starts for the Cardinals last season, according to Baseball Reference. He earned a 3.48 Earned Run Average, 158 strikeouts and just over one walk or hit per inning pitched in 178.1 innings. The former New York Yankee is projected to go 8-7 in 2023 with 153 hits, 73 runs and 155 strikeouts.
The Cardinals pitcher has dodged arbitration since the 2020 season, according to Spotrac. He signed three one-year pre-arbitration contracts with the Yankees for no more than $596,600 before earning his first million-dollar deal with a one-year, $2,130,000 contract to avoid arbitration in 2021.
Jordan Montgomery admitted to feeling nervous before a Cardinals start against his former team in early August, a game he earned five scoreless in despite having a cramp in his hamstring due to dehydration, according to an August report from ESPN.
“It’s not exactly what you want to do for your first time being in a new organization,” Montgomery said following the 1-0 victory in Busch Stadium. “But I’m a competitor. I was pretty nervous, especially with how hot it was. The humidity is definitely different from New York. My body started cramping up. I gave the team five innings.”
The six-year Yankee made a brutally-honest comment on his New York tenure when he made an appearance on the R2C2 Podcast with Ryan Ruocco and CC Sabathia in September.
“I was always worried about getting booed off the mound in New York,” Jordan Montgomery said. “The pinstripes are heavy. Not everyone can handle it. I feel like I handled it okay, I could have been better but there was a lot of things going into that. But here, I’m just being myself and pitching the way I want to.”
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