Astros rid themselves of wildly problematic contract in surprise trade with Braves

The Houston Astros have officially waited out one of Jim Crane's weirdest contracts to the point where it became palatable enough to trade again.

Coming off the high of their 2022 World Series victory (admittedly, a pretty satisfying high), Astros owner Jim Crane leveraged a personal feud with GM James Click into the decison-maker's dismissal, as well a number of somewhat haphazard and ill-advised contracts.

GM Crane added Montero during the nine-week period where the Astros operated without a true personnel head, before the arrival of Dana Brown. During that time, he also asked Jeff Bagwell to ask Jose Abreu if he (pretty please) wanted to come to Houston, and also brought back Michael Brantley, more of an idea than a baseball player by then, on a one-year, $12 million deal.

Montero was DFA'd last summer in Year 2 of a three-year, $34.5 million contract, but cleared waivers (naturally) and ended up in Houston's high minors. Now, another half-year later, that contract has finally been whittled down to the point where another team was willing to take a chance on him at his dollars owed.

Montero was dealt to the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday, a team in dire straits for pitching help in all its forms. Atlanta will reportedly be sending an as-year-unnamed sum of money to Houston in exchange for Montero's services.

Astros trade Rafael Montero contract to Braves after summer 2024 DFA

Since the DFA, Montero has struck out five men in four big-league innings after making the team this spring. At least he got to pitch in those cool City Connects before he departed.

Bennett Sousa has been recalled in Montero's place, though he will not join the Astros in time to cover tonight's game. In the interim, they'll play a man short in the bullpen, as they often seemed to while Montero was still here.

Before Montero was a punch line and stand-in for "foolish contract," he was a core piece of the 2022 bullpen that racked up a history-making 0.83 ERA during a remarkable postseason run. Crane, not content with the gold he'd spun from straw when his team uncovered Montero the year prior, took things one step too far. The era ends tonight.