MESA, Ariz. -- You’ll have to excuse Mike Montgomery if he wasn’t exactly celebrating the recent signing of Yu Darvish. Although Darvish is taking his spot in the rotation, Montgomery can’t fault the Cubs for grabbing the right-hander when they had the chance.
“I knew we were in the market,” Montgomery said as Cubs camp opened this week. “I wasn’t surprised. He makes our team a lot better. I’m excited.”
Montgomery might be decidedly less excited to return to his job as a long reliever/spot starter. He handled the split role well during the 2017 regular season before running out of gas in the playoffs, when he posted an ERA over 16.