Former Yankee Jordan Montgomery's season hit startling new low in latest start

For all those Yankees fans who wished the team would've swallowed their pride and reunited with jilted ex-Bomber Jordan Montgomery in late March, let this article serve as a reminder: every time he starts in 2024, it looks like Carlos Rodón Day.

Montgomery's World Series surge in 2023 cemented that the Yankees were foolish to believe, as they publicly projected, that he didn't belong in their 2022 postseason rotation and was expendable. Trading the guy is one thing; Harrison Bader was a key piece of the puzzle that October. But trading him and loudly announcing that you'd misevaluated him in the process? That takes gumption.

But 2022 is gone, and so is 2023. Adding Montgomery in desperation, without a spring training to his name, just before the curtain rose on 2024 would've been foolish (and expensive) for a Yankees rotation that needed fewer costly long-term question marks.

It still seems likely that Montgomery will be a stalwart lefty again someday; perhaps as soon as the second half of 2024. With every start that looks like Thursday, though, he moves closer and closer to packing it in until next season, when he'll be afforded a full offseason of conditioning.

2 2/3 innings. Nine hits. Four earned runs. A 1.98 WHIP in his last seven starts. A 6.03 ERA on the season. 45 strikeouts in 65 2/3 innings pitched. One pitchcom device hucked with his left arm, at full velocity, at the dugout wall.

Former Yankees fan favorite Jordan Montgomery loses cool after Thursday disaster vs. Minnesota

And, just like that, we've reached a new low.

Rodón's Thursday dud didn't exactly stand in contrast to Montgomery's mess, but the fewer issues the Yankees can pile onto their rotation plans, the better. Add in the bloated cost of Montgomery's contract, and it's safe to say Brian Cashman was correct to steer clear here. It's also safe to say that any Boston fan who threatened to boycott their season like a spoiled child because ownership wouldn't deliver them Montgomery is missing a pretty fun Red Sox season.

Regardless, Monty's in the desert, both physically and emotionally right about now.