The move was something of a stunner. On March 26, the Arizona Diamondbacks reached agreement with a free-agent pitcher the Texas Rangers wanted but were not willing to pay: left-hander Jordan Montgomery.
The Rangers and Diamondbacks were opponents in the 2023 World Series. Both enjoyed a boost in revenues from their deep playoff runs. Both had their regional television futures disrupted because of their agreements with the bankrupt Diamond Sports Group. But to hear the teams’ respective owners tell it, the Diamondbacks were in better position to sign Montgomery, even though the Rangers generally carry higher payrolls.
Montgomery, 31, agreed on March 26 to a one-year, $25 million contract with a vesting player option for 2025, the value of which could escalate to $25 million. He will begin his season at Triple A and make his first start on Sunday. His deal stipulates he will be in the majors no later than April 19.
Rangers owner Ray Davis, in a recent interview with the Dallas Morning News, cited potential competitive-balance tax penalties and the team’s uncertain local television future as deterrents to signing Montgomery, who played a major role last October in helping the franchise win its first World Series.
Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick, on the other hand, cited three main factors, all stemming from the team’s unexpected success in 2023, in explaining his decision to authorize the Montgomery contract:
Increased revenues from the Diamondbacks’ 17-game playoff run
Kendrick would not share an exact figure, but the Diamondbacks likely received in the range of $30 million, based on the amount distributed to players from 60 percent of the gate receipts for specified playoff games.
“Those revenue streams were not planned for in our budget,” Kendrick said. “They were found money.”
Increased season-ticket sales
Kendrick said the Diamondbacks’ season-ticket base is up about 30 percent from last season, the number rising from around 10,000 to around 13,000. The team also raised ticket prices across the board, contributing to higher per-game revenues.
“When you have a winning team, people will pay a little more to see it,’ Kendrick said. “We didn’t go crazy, but we did have some price increases.”
Though the Rangers’ exact season-ticket numbers are unavailable, Kendrick said they started from a higher base, in part because they opened a new ballpark in 2020. In theory, they had less room to grow. But the Rangers also are hosting this year’s All-Star Game, an event that generally spurs season-ticket purchases.
Increased single-game sales
Teams generally begin selling tickets for individual games around Feb. 1. Tracking those sales through February and March, Kendrick said the Diamondbacks knew their numbers would be “way, way greater than they were a year ago.”
The attendance from the team’s first seven home games against the Colorado Rockies and New York Yankees reflected the greater enthusiasm. The Diamondbacks’ average crowd was 35,137, a figure they exceeded at the same point only once in franchise history — in 1998, their first year of existence.
“We could reasonably forecast where the year might go,” Kendrick said. “Some of it is speculative, to be fair. Most of it isn’t. And we determined, well, we can spend more on this team.”
Even before signing Montgomery, the Diamondbacks invested a combined $136.5 million in free-agent left-hander Eduardo Rodriguez and outfielders Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk. They also added $11.3 million in 2024 salary by trading for third baseman Eugenio Suárez.
The team’s $168 million cash payroll ranks only 15th in the league, but is a franchise record by more than $36 million and an increase of $44 million from the end of last season. The Diamondbacks, however, are still an estimated $21 million under the $237 million luxury-tax threshold. (Luxury-tax payrolls are calculated from the average annual values of each player’s…
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