Baltimore Orioles Positioned to Trade for Rebounding Starting Pitcher

The Baltimore Orioles could make an interesting trade in the starting rotation.

Sep 22, 2024; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery (52) pitches in the first inning against the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images / Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

The Baltimore Orioles have been linked to numerous starting pitchers since the departure of their superstar ace Corbin Burnes.

Whether it be via free agency - though the options are beginning to become extremely limited - or the trade market, the Orioles need to add to a still very thin starting rotation. Signing Charlie Morton and Tomoyuki Sugano is nice, but both righties are not going to be true aces. They will, however, add to Baltimore's stable of good but not great pitchers.

Replacing Burnes was never going to be a one for one type of deal barring a blockbuster for San Diego Padres star Dylan Cease, something which still could happen.

But if the Orioles are going to continue to try to replace Burnes by committee as it seems, perhaps there's a more outside-the-box trade candidate who has not been considered by many.

In a recent mailbag article, Mark Feinsand of MLB.com was asked whether Baltimore will pull the trigger and trade for a starter, and after running through the widely reported possibilities of guys like Cease and Luis Castillo, he named Arizona Diamondbacks left-hander Jordan Montgomery as a possibility as well.

"One other thought: It’s tough to think the D-backs wouldn’t pay down Jordan Montgomery’s salary without asking for much in return, so why not take a chance on the lefty bouncing back from his poor 2024 season," Feinsand wrote.

After signing a one-year deal worth $25 million with the Diamondbacks last year coming off a World Series with the Texas Rangers, Montgomery elected to opt into the second-year option for 2025 after what was the worst season of his eight-year MLB career to this point.

In 25 appearances and 21 starts, Montgomery had an ERA of 6.23 with the lowest strikeout rate of his career, battling through injuries during the season as well.

Despite the rough go of it this past season, there's reason to believe Montgomery can have a bounce back season. In the previous three seasons before 2024, Montgomery made a full slate of starts and had an ERA of 3.48 over his 94 starts with a record of 25-24 and 486 strikeouts in 524.1 innings pitched.

If Arizona was actually willing to take on some of the salary like Feinsand believes could be the case, Montgomery could be a very viable buy-low type of candidate to add to the Orioles rotation.

Not to mention the fact of being a lefty who could help to balance out the extremely righty-heavy rotation, something which could make Montgomery a more attractive option than Castillo or even Cease.

If the price is right and Baltimore can land Montgomery on a reasonable return with some of the money taken on by the Diamondbacks, the fit here between the two sides could be ideal.