The New York Yankees and Jordan Montgomery are in a peculiar spot. Monty could be used as a starter or a reliever in 2020, and it’s not all that clear which role he will be in. It’s all dependent on the status of one other player: JA Happ.
The Yankees have four set in stone starters for the 2020 season: Luis Severino, James Paxton, Gerrit Cole, and Masahiro Tanaka. However, the fifth starter would be either Happ or Montgomery.
There were rumors about Happ being traded, but those have died down a bit as of late. He has one year and $17 million left on his deal, and it could be a risk worth taking for some teams in the trade market.
Maybe the Yankees could convince the Brewers to take his contract in some sort of trade for Josh Hader.
But if they choose to not move Happ, he will likely be the fifth starter. If they do move him, it will be Montgomery as the fifth starter.
Montgomery has missed the better part of two seasons with Tommy John surgery. In his 2017 rookie campaign, he was 9-7 with a 3.88 ERA over 155.1 innings.
The now 27-year-old lefty will look to come back from his Tommy John surgery better than ever. He made two appearances at the end of 2019 to shake off the rust, and also made minor league rehab starts.
In my opinion, Brian Cashman needs to try as hard as he can to move JA Happ. Montgomery has proven to be a solid fifth starter, and the team already has a long reliever in Luis Cessa.
(Note: It’s also Montgomery’s birthday today, December 27th)