The Houston Astros designated reliever Rafael Montero for assignment on Wednesday, admitting defeat on a contract that seemed doomed from the start.
Montero was in the second season of a three-year, $34.5 million contract he received in 2022 from Houston owner Jim Crane, who ran the team’s baseball operations department in the absence of a general manager.
Signing Montero represented Crane’s first substantial move after firing James Click following the Astros’ World Series victory in 2022.
Montero received the deal despite having a career 4.64 ERA in 356 2/3 innings.
According to Baseball-Reference, Montero accrued minus-0.4 wins above replacement after signing the contract. He had morphed into nothing more than a mop-up reliever in a Houston bullpen that needed more veteran depth.
The Astros attempted to offload Montero’s contract before the trade deadline, multiple people familiar with their thinking said. Unsurprisingly, they could not.
Designating Montero means the Astros have rid themselves of all contracts Crane handed out during his ill-fated cameo as a baseball operations executive. Houston released struggling first baseman José Abreu last month, not even two years into the three-year, $58.5 million deal Crane gave him.
(Photo of Rafael Montero: Stan Szeto / USA Today)
