Out of options with RHP Erasmo Ramirez, who was destined for the waiver wire, the Mariners instead traded him Tuesday to Tampa Bay for LHP Mike Montgomery, 25, who has the last of his three 2015 options left. He has never pitched an inning in the big leagues.
Montgomery was on Tampa’s 40-man roster this spring after a 2014 season when he won a career-high 10 games with AAA Durham, ranking second in the International League in wins.
A native of Santa Clarita, CA., Montgomery had 150 career starts with the Royals (2008-12) and Rays (2013-14). He was Kansas City’s supplemental first-round pick in the 2008 June draft (36th overall). He was acquired by the Rays prior to the 2013 season as part of a seven-player trade involving RHP James Shields, RHP Wade Davis and OF Wil Myers.
This spring, he had six relief appearances, posting a 2.38 ERA (3 ER, 11.1 IP) with nine strikeouts and two walks. Montgomery was rated by Baseball America and MLB.com as one of the top 50 prospects in baseball as recently as the 2012 season. He has been voted by Baseball America as having the best change-up in his organization in each of the last four seasons (2013-14 with TB, 2011-12 with KC).
Ramirez, a native of Nicaragua, made 35 starts in the past three seasons for Seattle. In 18 spring innings, he gave up 18 hits and nine earned runs (6.23 ERA), and pitched himself out of contention for the No. 5 spot in the starting rotation.
5 Comments
Seems like a pretty good return to get a left hander with major league potential for a guy that we would have had to release since he was out of options.
Am I the only one confused:
>>> LHP Mike Montgomery, 25, who has the last of his three 2015 options left., … has never pitched an inning in the big leagues.
A native of Santa Clarita, CA., Montgomery had 150 career starts with the Royals (2008-12) and Rays (2013-14).
Those are career minor league starts. He’s never pitched above AAA, and for good reason. Montgomery was lights-out in Rookie and A ball, but has gotten shelled in AA and AAA. Once upon a time he was Baseball America’s 19th-ranked prospect, but that was before KC moved him up to Omaha in 2011. He hasn’t had an ERA below 4.29 since.
Basically this is a trade of one guy out of options who’s had his moments in MLB (but not nearly enough of them) for a another guy who’ll be pitching in Tacoma because even PCL teams need a lefty in their rotation. Don’t expect much more.
I’m confused, too. Pretty sure the Royals and Rays are big league clubs. Are these suposed to be minor league starts in the Royal’s and Ray’s systems?
I’m thinking this is a good trade for both. The pitchers in front of Ramirez are better. The Rays need starting pitching. He did have a no-hitter in the minors so maybe he’ll be a long reliever, spot starting as needed.