As of the morning of Friday, Mar. 8, just 20 days away from MLB Opening Day, Jordan Montgomery remains unsigned. Never mind that he has been one of the most reliable arms in baseball the last several seasons across multiple teams, circumstances and situations. Never mind the fact that he just played a major role in winning a World Series title for the Texas Rangers.

His availability may project on the surface level as a lack of desire from MLB teams, but it’s likely more a mix of large demands from him and his agent — Scott Boras — and teams having already filled out their starting rotations.

Yet, his availability still, even with reasonable explanations, remains perplexing. The latest detail on why he’s still available could project one of his former teams, the New York Yankees, as a great reunion spot.

Not long ago, the dream for the Yankees adding Blake Snell — also a Scott Boras client — appeared to die because Snell wants a contract similar to Cody Bellinger. Bellinger reunited with the Cubs on a contract that pays him high average annual value on a short-term deal with several opt-outs. It’s a three-year deal that Bellinger may only wind up playing one year of.

For most teams that want Snell, that would be a great deal. Get his services without the commitment. But for New York, a team that is in the penalty area of the league’s payroll, it would be incredibly costly. The tax on his addition would be 110% of the contract value, meaning the “discount” of a short-term deal with later-year cap flexibility isn’t much of a discount at all.

But, we now know that while Snell is comfortable with a short-term bridge deal, Montgomery wants the opposite. Jon Heyman suggests that Montgomery wants a long-term deal. Here’s what he reported

That might work out nicely for New York. They could sign Monty to a five-to-seven year deal that is structured with a small salary in the first year (to avoid untenably massive tax penalties) and an escalating amount in later years. While it handcuffs the Yankees to him, they could always trade him, just as they did to land Harrison Bader at the deadline years ago in a deal with the St. Louis Cardinals.

The contract might work, but whether or not Monty wants to actually play in the Bronx again might be another story.