Sources: D-backs, lefty Montgomery agree on deal
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
Left-hander Jordan Montgomery and the Arizona Diamondbacks are in agreement on a one-year, $25 million contract that includes a vesting player option for a second season, sources told ESPN on Tuesday night, bolstering the National League champions’ rotation with the postseason standout from the team that beat them in the World Series.
The deal, which is pending a physical, ends Montgomery’s free agency two days before Opening Day and could include a second-year player option at $20 million if Montgomery makes 10 starts. The option would be for $22.5 million if Montgomery reaches 18 starts and $25 million at 23 starts, sources said.
After entering the winter with hopes of a nine-figure deal, the 31-year-old Montgomery signed for a fraction of that, a coup for a Diamondbacks team whose big offseason acquisition, Eduardo Rodriguez, hit the injured list this week with a lat strain. Montgomery will join a rotation that includes top starters Zac Gallen and Merrill Kelly, along with 25-year-old Brandon Pfaadt.
Montgomery’s market figured to be robust after a tremendous season in which he posted a career-best 3.20 ERA over 188⅔ innings, the final 67⅔ of which came with the Texas Rangers following a deadline trade from St. Louis. He continued his excellence in the postseason, tossing seven shutout innings in the wild-card round against Tampa Bay and chasing that with 14 brilliant innings in the American League Championship Series.
Instead, Montgomery’s fortunes mirrored those of three other top-end clients of his agent, Scott Boras. Outfielder/first baseman Cody Bellinger, who sought in excess of $150 million, signed with the Chicago Cubs for $80 million over three years. National League Cy Young winner Blake Snell received a two-year, $62 million deal from San Francisco after targeting $150 million-plus. He joined third baseman Matt Chapman, who wanted nine figures but got three years and $54 million, in San Francisco.
Like all three of them, who received opt-outs after the first year of their deals, Montgomery will control whether he hits free agency in a loaded class of 2024-25. The disappointment of the guarantee is buttressed by joining a Diamondbacks team that heads into 2024 in far better shape than last year as it prepares to take on the much-improved Los Angeles Dodgers and Giants, plus the San Diego Padres.
Montgomery is the latest acquisition in a busy winter for Arizona, whose payroll will balloon to a franchise-record $168 million. In addition to Montgomery and Rodriguez, the Diamondbacks re-signed left fielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. and outfielders Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk. They also traded for third baseman Eugenio Suarez.
The best player of them all is Montgomery, who is joining his fourth team since the New York Yankees — with whom he spent the first six seasons of his career — dealt him to St. Louis at the 2022 deadline. A reliable innings-eater who has topped 30 starts in three consecutive seasons, Montgomery has a career 38-34 record with a 3.68 ERA and 705 strikeouts in 755 innings after New York chose him out of the University of South Carolina in the fourth round of the 2014 draft.
Featuring a sinking fastball and a hard curve nicknamed the Death Ball, Montgomery carved through the Houston Astros in the ALCS before allowing four runs in six innings in a Game 2 loss to the Diamondbacks. It was the only game the Rangers dropped en route to their first World Series win, and there was mutual interest in a return.
But Texas’ uncertainty over its local television rights tightened the Rangers’ purse strings, forcing Montgomery to explore other options. Discussions with the Boston Red Sox never advanced past the early stages, nor did talks with the Yankees. The Giants at one point were a suitor but dropped out after signing Snell. Only recently did the Diamondbacks emerge as a possible landing spot.
It’s an ideal landing spot for Montgomery, whose data-driven approach aligns with that of Diamondbacks pitching coach Brent Strom and pitching strategist Dan Haren. And if he can help Arizona in October the same way he did the Rangers last season, the Diamondbacks could once again surprise an NL in which the Dodgers and Atlanta Braves are favorites to win the pennant.
Seven-time NASCAR champion Jimmie Johnson is now the majority owner of Legacy Motor Club under a restructuring in which investment adviser Knighthead Capital Management bought into the Cup Series team.
Knighthead manages $9 billion of assets with a portfolio that includes investments in Hertz, World Endurance Championship sports car team JOTA Racing, Singer Vehicle Design, Revology Cars and a controlling stake of English soccer team Birmingham.
Johnson told The Associated Press that the deal announced Monday makes Knighthead “a significant minority partner” in that the private equity firm bought much of the ownership stake held by Legacy co-owner Maury Gallagher.
Gallagher retained some shares in the NASCAR team but will step down from day-to-day operations and join Hall of Famer Richard Petty as an ambassador for Legacy.
Johnson, who has been living in England for more than a year, will return to Charlotte to be hands-on in his larger role with Legacy. His wife and two daughters will follow at the end of the school year.
“I thought I was going to have three more years to understand ownership more,” Johnson told the AP of his original plan when he bought into the NASCAR team ahead of the 2023 season.
Legacy is essentially the rebuild of Petty Enterprises, one of NASCAR’s oldest and winningest race teams. Gallagher, the chairman of Allegiant Air, owned GMS Racing and, in 2021, acquired Richard Petty Motorsports, rebranding it as Petty GMS Racing.
Johnson signed on at the end of 2022, and the team was again rebranded into Legacy as it expanded to two full-time Cup cars ahead of the 2023 season. The plan was to allow Johnson to grow into his role as NASCAR team owner over five seasons, but the timeline changed when he developed a relationship with Knighthead and Gallagher decided to step back.
“I’ve had an open eye to the private equity world and trying to understand what’s out there,” Johnson said. “I know that there are some other teams with PE involvement, and I just started to get to know people. I had a head start and a few friendships out there, but ultimately the opportunity and access to Knighthead and the friendship I built was done socially, and when it was time to really engage in the PE world, we just clicked and got together to see where we could go.
“We wanted to move quick. And here we are, it’s only been a couple of months, it’s been very, very quick.”
The partnership begins immediately, and Knighthead will be part of Legacy when the NASCAR season begins this weekend with the preseason race at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem.
Tom Wagner, co-founder and co-managing member of Knighthead Capital, said the firm was drawn by “NASCAR’s rich history and Legacy MC’s ambition and innovation make it a unique opportunity.”
“We’re thrilled to collaborate … to drive the team forward, both on the track and within the wider racing community,” Wagner added.
Tom Brady has stakes in Knighthead but the deal with Legacy does not involve him at this time, Johnson said. But Johnson and Brady have discussed possibly partnering on an Indianapolis 500 entry for driver Sebastian Bourdais with Chip Ganassi Racing. Ganassi told the AP he had only one preliminary conversation with Johnson about it and there has been no further discussion.
Legacy this season will field two full-time cars: the No. 43 Toyota for Erik Jones and the No. 42 Toyota for John Hunter Nemechek. Johnson will attempt to qualify next month for the season-opening Daytona 500 and also the Coca-Cola 600 in May.
Johnson, who turns 50 in September, ran nine races last year but said he realized at the season-finale in Phoenix that Legacy needs him more in his executive role than as a driver.
He thanked Gallagher for the opportunity to become a NASCAR team owner and is eager to help Legacy improve its on-track performance while working with Knighthead to expand the brand.
“He has been an outstanding partner, mentor and friend, and I’m grateful we had the opportunity to work together,” Johnson said of Gallagher. “I’ve learned so much from him, and as his professional career takes a different path, he can worry less about being an owner and more about focusing on family and enjoying life.”
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Jesse Rogers
CHICAGO — The Cubs are finalizing a trade to acquire closer Ryan Pressly from the Houston Astros, pending medical review, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Passan on Sunday.
Pressly will waive his no-trade clause to facilitate the move, and Houston will send money to help cover his $14 million salary, the sources said.
The Astros will receive a low-level Cubs prospect who is not on Chicago’s 40-man roster, according to a source.
Pressly, 36, is likely to become the Cubs’ closer, a role he held with Houston from 2021 to 2023 before it signed Josh Hader to a long-term contract. The veteran righty has 112 saves with a 3.27 ERA during his 12-year career, which includes six seasons in Minnesota.
Pressly will join a bullpen that blew 26 saves last season, as the Cubs are looking to make a playoff push in 2025. Chicago hasn’t been to the postseason since 2020, working without an established closer over the past few years.
Righty Adbert Alzolay was ineffective last season, then he suffered a forearm injury and eventually needed Tommy John surgery. Porter Hodge, 23, finished the season as the closer, but the team wanted more experience and depth in the back end of the bullpen.
The Cubs pursued lefty Tanner Scott before he signed with the Los Angeles Dodgers last weekend, according to league sources. Chicago was less interested in the other free agent closers, instead settling for Pressly, who has one year left on a three-year, $42 million contract signed before the 2023 season.
Pressly will join newcomers Eli Morgan, Cody Poteet, Matt Festa, Caleb Thielbar and Rob Zastryzny in the Cubs’ bullpen.
The trade likely will conclude the bulk of the team’s winter moves.
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