Blue Jays have a painfully obvious buy-low trade opportunity they must pursue

With only a couple of weeks remaining before Major League Baseball gathers in Dallas for the annual Winter Meetings, the offseason has been developing slowly on the free agent and trade market fronts. Everyone around baseball seems to be waiting for Juan Soto to make a decision before jumping in with both feet, and the Toronto Blue Jays are no exception.

With an offseason wish list as long as general manager Ross Atkins' arm, the Blue Jays have many needs to fill this winter. From the depleted bullpen ranks to a limp offense to the starting rotation, they simply won't be able to take care of everything in free agency. Atkins is going to need to put on his best poker face, put in some calls to rival general managers and do some wheeling and dealing to get the job done.

Left-hander Jordan Montgomery is an obvious buy-low trade candidate the Blue Jays must pursue

One obvious buy-low trade option staring the Blue Jays in the face is veteran Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery. Coming off what can only be described as a disastrous 2024 season, the 2023 World Series champion won't be any cheaper on the trade market than he is right now.

After winning it all with the Texas Rangers, the former New York Yankees fourth-round pick waited until a day after the 2024 season started to sign with the Diamondbacks for $25M. After making his long-anticipated debut on April 19 with a one-run, six-inning effort, things went downhill for the 31-year-old left-hander.

He finished the year with an 8-7 record, with a 6.23 ERA and 1.65 WHIP. He even spent a four-game stretch pitching out of the bullpen at the end of the season, appearing in a total of 25 games (21 starts) with 83 strikeouts in 117 innings. It's hard to see how his year could have gone any worse — he also missed close to a month of action with knee inflammation.

The debacle of a season has to be an outlier. Montgomery went into 2024 with a career 3.68 ERA and 1.21 WHIP in 141 games over parts of seven MLB seasons with the Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals and Rangers.

Pair the dreadful season with the fact that his current employer is likely peeved that he exercised his $22.5M option for the 2025 season, and he's a trade target ripe for the picking. Diamondbacks owner Tom Kendrick made headlines after the season, claiming responsibility for the decision to sign Montgomery.

“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” Kendrick said. “Because I brought it to (the front office’s) attention. I pushed for it. They agreed to it -- it wasn’t in our game plan. You know when he was signed -- right at the end of spring training. And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to invest that money in a guy who performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”

With Arizona's general manager Mike Hazen not the decision-maker on this move that backfired spectacularly, prying Montgomery from the desert might be an easy task for Atkins and the Blue Jays. Known to be looking for rotation help this offseason, another trade with the D-backs might not be a bad idea.

More from Jays Journal