NEW YORK — The offseason has a way of scattering former Yankees across the baseball map. Some land softly. Others land loudly. And every now and then, one of them grabs a microphone and reminds everyone exactly how they feel about the Bronx.
This week delivered all three. Two familiar faces signed deals to return to previous clubs. A third opened his mouth at spring training and set the Yankees universe on fire all over again.
For Yankees fans trying to enjoy the calm before Opening Day, the noise arrived early.
Montgomery heads back to Texas for another shot at glory
Ex-Yankees star Jordan Montgomery is a Texas Ranger again.
The left-hander agreed to a one-year deal worth $1.25 million on Wednesday to rejoin the club where he became a postseason legend in 2023. Multiple outlets confirmed the deal, with the Dallas Morning News first reporting the agreement.
Montgomery, 33, spent six seasons with the Yankees from 2017 to 2022 before being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals at the deadline in a one-for-one swap for outfielder Harrison Bader. He later landed in Texas at the 2023 trade deadline and turned into an October hero. He went 3-1 with a 2.90 ERA across six postseason appearances that fall, helping the Rangers win their first World Series title.
His career took a hard turn after that. Montgomery lingered on the free agent market during the 2023-24 offseason as part of the infamous “Boras Four” alongside Blake Snell, Cody Bellinger and Matt Chapman. The former Yankees pitcher eventually signed a pillow deal with the Arizona Diamondbacks but posted a brutal 6.23 ERA in 2024. Tommy John surgery in March 2025 wiped out his entire season.
The Rangers had their own team physician, Dr. Keith Meister, perform the procedure. That connection, along with Montgomery’s postseason pedigree and minimal salary, made the reunion a natural fit.
New manager Skip Schumaker, who was with Montgomery in St. Louis in 2022, praised his former teammate.
“He was phenomenal,” Schumaker said. “I didn’t really know much about him, when he came over from New York, but he dominated for us and helped lead that second-half push that got us to the playoffs.”
Montgomery will start the season on the 60-day injured list. He is expected to return around the All-Star break. The Rangers already have Jacob deGrom, Nathan Eovaldi, MacKenzie Gore and Jack Leiter in their rotation.
Sonny Gray takes another swing at his old team from Boston
If Montgomery’s move was quiet, Sonny Gray’s latest comments were anything but.
The 36-year-old right-hander, acquired by the Boston Red Sox from the St. Louis Cardinals this offseason, wasted no time addressing his feelings about the Yankees during his first spring training media session. Gray pitched in the Bronx during parts of the 2017 and 2018 seasons. It did not go well. He had a 4.51 ERA in 195.2 innings and was eventually dropped from the rotation.
Wearing a Red Sox uniform, Gray immediately lit up social media with “easy to hate the Yankees” remark.
“New York, it just wasn’t a good situation for me. It wasn’t a great setup for me and my family. I never wanted to go there in the first place,” Gray said, as cited by The Athletic’s Jen McCaffrey. “What did factor into my decision to come to Boston, it feels good to me to go to a place now where, you know what, it’s easy to hate the Yankees, right?” Gray said. “It’s easy to go out and have that rivalry and go into it with full force, full steam ahead. I like the challenge.”
But now comes a renewed noise, maybe he had a realization.
“I’ve also learned that no matter what I say and no matter what I do, people are going to take it and use it however they want to use it,” Gray said on Thursday in response to his earlier ant-Yankees tirade. “And I’m okay with that at this point. Like I learned a lot by going through all of the years that I’ve gone through this and I’ve learned to stay away from it to be quite frank and honest with you. I’ve learned to be myself, be open and not try to shy away from anything.”
He added: “But also don’t follow it after that. I don’t have the Twitter and I don’t have the apps that I have learned are just not genuinely healthy for me. There may be times in my career where I maybe got caught up in that too much … It’s not good for me. I don’t feel like it’s good or beneficial for my well-being just as a human being. I just stay away from it. … Ever since I left New York, I’ve done a good job staying away from that stuff.”
Since leaving the Yankees, Gray has been a different pitcher. He has posted a 3.51 ERA with 1,136 strikeouts over 1,017.1 innings across seven seasons with the Reds, Twins and Cardinals. He is a three-time All-Star. He will slot in behind Garrett Crochet in Boston’s revamped rotation alongside Ranger Suarez and Brayan Bello.
Urshela returns to Minnesota on a minor league deal
The quietest of the three moves belonged to Gio Urshela, the ex-Yankees beloved.
The 34-year-old infielder agreed to a minor league deal with the Minnesota Twins, as first reported by Daniel Alvarez Montes of El Extra Base. He will attend spring training as a non-roster invitee.
Urshela was a Yankees fan favorite at Yankee Stadium from 2019 to 2021, when he established himself as a steady third baseman with a reliable bat. He was traded to the Twins before the 2022 season alongside Gary Sanchez in the deal that sent Josh Donaldson’s contract to New York.
His one season in Minnesota was strong. He hit .285/.338/.429 with 13 home runs and 27 doubles. But the Twins flipped him to the Angels that offseason to make room for their young infielders.
Urshela’s career has been rocky since. A pelvic fracture ended his 2023 season with the Angels. Over the last two years, he has batted just .246/.287/.351 in 658 plate appearances.
Still, Minnesota has an infield full of question marks. Third baseman Royce Lewis has battled injuries throughout his career. Urshela offers veteran depth and a familiar face in the clubhouse.
Three former Yankees. Three different stories. One quiet return. One loud mouth. And one former World Series hero betting on himself in a Rangers uniform for the second time.
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