What's the latest on Jordan Montgomery? Pitcher's chance for Rangers reunion remains fuzzy
Sure, reports are that Montgomery would love to return to Texas. Who wouldn’t want to return to a world champ? Where there is no state income tax? And pitch in beautiful, air-conditioned splendor?
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Sure, the TV mess with the parent company of Bally Sports Southwest is going to eventually be resolved. The Rangers will probably get less money than they contracted for, but it appears less and less likely that they will walk away empty-handed.
If anything, the deals done last week only make the situation — what’s the word we used earlier? — um, fuzzier. More fuzzy?
On one hand, the Rangers unlocked a door that might create a pathway to a creative deal with agent Scott Boras for Montgomery. They deferred some money in the Robertson deal, a tactic owner Ray Davis has been reluctant to use. It’s only a $5 million deferral, but it’s the principle that matters. Deferred money is once again in vogue thanks to Shohei Ohtani deferring $68 million annually as part of his deal with the Dodgers.
Don’t want to pay Montgomery $25 million a year for five years? No problem. Just put half of it off a decade or so. Let it be somebody else’s issue. It’s a tool for digging around in the free agent garden. Not sure it’s a great tool, but a tool, nonetheless.
Well, let’s also account for the other hand: the competitive balance tax, or CBT. If there is one thing that galls owners more than paying real players market rates, it’s paying tax, too. They paid a tax last year. They will pay one again this year. And if the Rangers sign Montgomery, they are going to pay a tax on a tax. The Robertson and Jankowski deals push the Rangers’ payroll for CBT purposes to more than $240 million.
Which means their tax bracket is going up. As a first-time taxpayer last year, they paid 20% on their overage, which came out to about $2 million. The tax works on what amounts to a three-year cycle, and it gets heavier with each year. This year, they will pay 30% on their overage, but only on the first $20 million by which they exceed the threshold. Go higher than that and there is a surtax. It goes up by another 12.5% to 42.5% with an overage between $20 million to $40 million. Go more than $40 million above: It’s 75%. And your top draft pick gets moved back 10 spots. Don’t ask what happens at $60 million.
It also means the Rangers would be in position to have to pay a minimum of 50% tax on anything above $241 million (next year’s threshold) in 2025. The tax rates would remain at 50% or higher until such time the Rangers brought their payroll under the threshold.
The good news for Davis: The Rangers are currently only on the hook for $140 million in 2025. But, then again, they also only have four experienced starting pitchers under control for 2025, too. They could be back here again. Which brings us back to our main point. No, it’s not: When is the Montgomery presser? But rather: When is the club going to develop some starting pitching?
If you could nitpick a world championship season, it would be that the Rangers didn’t advance any of their high-profile starters to a position where they could be counted on for 2024. Oh, they think they’ll have guys ready by next year. But it’s the same spot in which the team found itself a year ago. And years before that, too.
General manager Chris Young is persuasive. Scott Boras is creative. And, most importantly, Montgomery remains unsigned. Signing him might well solve the remaining roster issue for 2024, but it doesn’t address the lingering long-term issue.