"Yes, they have to come up with a rotation both for this year and for 2025" probably should have been a caveat.
They have a rotation for this year, and how good it is, we'll see. Next year they may lose Giolitto and Pivetta, but that's it.
Breslow grabbed some high minors pitchers like Fitts, so they're probably in the mix for 2025/6, as the lower minors arms begin to percolate up. But we have our "usual suspects" of sub 30 guys over whom we have some control left:
Whitlock - FA after the 2026 season.
Houck - FA after 27.
Crawford - FA after 28.
Bello - FA after 28.
Winckowski - FA after 28.
Coming up with rotation potential are (maybe):
Fitts - late 2024.
Wikelman - 2025.
Dobbins - 2025.
Perales - 2026.
Sandlin - 2026?
And there are a bunch of guys further out or who seem more ticketed towards the pen, but also some randos like Song, Murphy, Walter, and Criswell.
A lot of the signing strategies for the club will turn on how solid they think these arms are. Can they get 3 ML starters out of the gang of 5? Are any of the 24/25 guys actually a shot to contribute? Do Breslow and Bailey come with enough pixie dust to give us one redeemed dark-horse pitcher?
(Frankly, it looks thin to me. Not deathly thin, but thin. We'll see how the minors are doing mid and end season though.)
***
So the question is really "Given the state of things, what does Montgomery do for us, starting this year in his age 31 season?" Having a lefty who can go deep into games at his 2023 level of effectiveness would be good, obviously. But what about his age 32 season? Age 33? That's an assessment the front office has to value, and they shouldn't roll the dice on a panic signing for a player they would then not be able to easily move.
I like him as a sort of "middle rotation bridge" pitcher for 2-3 years, even on steeper money.
I don't like him as a sort of "decent but fills our elite pitcher contract slot" pitcher for the next 5 years.