Jordan Montgomery exercised his $22.5MM player option with the Diamondbacks, reports Mark Feinsand of MLB.com (X link). There was never much doubt on this decision, though Montgomery stands as one of the top trade candidates of the winter.
Montgomery’s first season in the desert was a nightmare. The veteran southpaw signed late on a $25MM pillow contract after his market failed to materialize. He changed his representation shortly into the season and has publicly expressed dissatisfaction with how former agent Scott Boras handled negotiations. Montgomery surely hoped to retest the market after one season, but he didn’t pitch well enough to give himself that opportunity.
Opponents teed off for a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings. Arizona pushed him out of the rotation after 21 starts, the first time in his career that he lost a starting job. The only silver lining was that Montgomery made enough starts to vest the option that he eventually pushed to a $22.5MM value.
Owner Ken Kendrick pulled no punches after the season. “If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” the owner said after the team narrowly missed the playoffs. “Because I brought it to (the front office’s) attention. I pushed for it. They agreed to it. It wasn’t in our game plan. … And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”
There was some chatter that Kendrick went public hoping to alienate Montgomery so the pitcher would pass on the option. If that was the intent, it never stood much chance. Montgomery would have been leaving millions on the table if he returned to free agency. He’d likely have been looking at a one-year contract in the $8-12MM range in that case. Even if Montgomery wants a fresh start, that’s too much to bypass. Arizona will probably look for ways to offload a portion of the deal in an offseason trade, though they wouldn’t be able to shed the entire salary without taking back an undesirable contract in their own right.
This is kinda funny
Agree…the owner has probably trashed his own office and is now out on a 2 day bender.
I was gonna post the exact same thing, trade rumors doesn’t give a lot of laughs but I found this actually hilarious
No surprise
I’m shocked
Why? As surprising as sunrise
Sarcasm?
Prudent move, considering he pooped the futon this past season.
I love it. F the clown owner.
Trade him to me for round two of “how to get stomped”
I mean….he was objectively correct in his assessment, if Montgomery is tough he will bounce back. Many players have unbelievably selfish egos and usually can’t take any criticism but perhaps it will light a fire under Montgomery.
He may be the best bounce back candidate in the league.
He’s a .500 pitcher with middling stuff that is declining. I think a bounce back for him looks like a 5 and fly 5th starter.
We shall see. Even league average will be a bounce back from last year. I expect him to be above average.
I do too… i think much of what happened is due to signing too late and not doing a normal ST ramp up routine
Well it seems your opinion is a popular one. I feel he peaked for his walk year and is on the decline. As you said we will find out soon.
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Ouch. Don’t know how he ever got a contract like that,maybe 2 good seasons?
Career FIP of 3.85 even after the disaster last year isn’t bad.
Some team is gonna get him for 6-8 mil because the Dbacks owner couldn’t keep his mouth shut. They’re gonna have to eat more than half that deal to move him, and they’ll end up getting a prospect outside the top 20 of some organization.
AA would send Canning straight up for Montgomery.
But for that salary… no to braves
Canning could be a safety net for a year in case the braves don’t resign fried and morton and then in 2026 smith-shawver and waldrep are permanent starters
The Braves aren’t resigning either of them. They could definitely use a lefty. Montgomery and $15m for David Fletcher. Go get him AA.
Fletcher has $8 million owed with the buyout. I could see Fletcher for Montgomery and $5 million. But, I think a lot of teams would be bidding for a buy low one year deal on a starter. So Fletcher for Montgomery would be fine with me.
The dbacks don’t technically have to trade Monty (even though it probably will happen because owner)
@sad. Yeah…we are making rumors based on the article. Someone will eventually cite fartpocket for “calling it”. Then I’ll become an MLB GM.
To much cash. Fletcher and 5 million
Dbacks don’t need Fletcher. They have 2B, SS and 3B covered with Marte, Perdomo, Suarez, Alexander and Lawler. And they could re-sign Neuman.
If he’s gets shopped, AA will be on line 1 to have him fill Morton’s spot.
Sale worked out alright. I think Montgomery would be good in Atlanta. Especially if he ends up only costing like $4m.
Backs will find better deals so it will cost far more than $4m unless you’re willing to give up a decent prospect. Monte is not a one year flash in the pan. He’s a great number three or a very good number 2 being paid as a 1 or 1.5. Some team will take a shot for $18m net salary and a fringe player. Giving up better will lower that net cost for 25.
Tigers new #2 starter.
Maeda for Montgomery seems like a good framework.
The Tigers would give Maeda away at this point! I don’t think Maeda is as bad as he showed last year though. Still I’d much rather have Montgomery.
Reds will trade candelario for Montgomery.
And twice on Sunday!
Pittsburgh despite having depth at SP should take a stab here.
Deal from your rotation depth elsewhere for a hitter. Take a quarter or a third of his salary just to facilitate a trade or more and acquire prospects with it similarly to the Liriano trade a while back.
Best case you improve your hitting by dealing depth and Montgomery does well and you could even flip depending on record, worst case he sucks and you still improve hitting which is the main issue.
Wow. Pick up 30% of the contract and a box of Kristy Kremes for the office staff and he’s yours.
Sox-DBacks might both benefit from a Montgomery-Yoshida trade.
Sox have a dozen outfielders with more on the way. Yoshida has three years left on his contract. He looked pretty good after coming back from injury. and Montgomery is basically a one-year deal now, so if he’s good he helps and if he smells up the place Yoshida’s money is now in Arizona..
His role was going to be extremely reduced anyway.
The Sox would probably have to sweeten that deal. Yoshida is as redundant for the Snakes as he is for the Sox.
Bounce back is in the future. This would be a great get for the Rangers!
So, you guys think they’ll sign another Boras client this winter?
It’s hard to go 94 starts with a sub 3.50 ERA and then suddenly be over 6 in 21 starts. I think most of it with Jordan was the late start and the disappointment of how the offseason went. I bet he bounces back.
Montgomery for Mikolas! A man can dream
Maybe throw in Matz also to sweeten the deal. Would be glad to have Monty back over those two clowns.
Matz has almost no value, but will probably have value if he can stay healthy until the deadline. I don’t see him being moved now
This gave me a good chuckle
Last year he was heralded as a postseason hero. Just think if those whiney Red Sox fans had their way and signed him…
phils could send walker & a player soon to be knocked off the 40 man roster for montgomery
Rangers trade Jon Gray to Arizona for Montgomery plus $10M. Salaries are then even. Both pitchers need a change of scenery.
Maybe athletes are finally learning that Boras is 100% about Boras and could care less about what’s best for his clients
If Kendrick is willing to eat $10-12 million of Montgomery’s salary, I know of a NL West team that would be happy to take him for a year.
Maybe I missed some part of the conversation but I don’t understand why people are critical of the owner for his comments.
What exactly is inaccurate about saying “in hindsight, a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”
Kendrick got the team to pay Montgomery $25 million dollars for a 6.23 ERA in 117 innings and another $22.5 million next season when no other team would. If anyone should be embarrassed or ashamed, it’s Montgomery when he’s cashing his check (he certainly didn’t earn it in 2024). All Kendrick said is that he takes responsibility for a terrible decision. Maybe Montgomery should take similar responsibility.
You think Montgomery wore his World Series ring in the clubhouse
Ahhahahahaha
I’m hoping Montgomery has enough self-pride and self-respect to take Kendrick’s criticism as valid, and work his tail off this off-season and make the adjustments to perform a whole lot better for the Dbacks in 2025 than he did in 2024. The argument that Montgomery’s only or primary problem was that he missed out on ST is BS. Stop making excuses for the guy. He’s a professional. Kendrick’s comments were brutally honest and totally deserved. Now take some pride and do things differently this off-season.
Montgomery looked like an out of shape fata$$ when he finally took the mound for the Dbacks.. He needs to get in shape.
Also, the Dbacks are making a major change in the coaching staff. Pitching guru Strom is gone because the Dbacks pitchers as a whole performed close to the bottom of the league, both starters and closers. Maybe a new approach will help Montgomery and the rest of the staff perform closer to expectations. On paper, going into the season, the pitching looked like a Dbacks strength, but that certainly didn’t pan out on the field.
Wouldn’t mind Montgomery as a #4 behind Skenes Jones & Keller no need to rush pirates youngsters I’d open offers with Falter
The media way overinflated Montgomerys contract potential he was never getting that kind of money. Essentially a half a season of ace stuff and years of mid rotation stuff with albeit extreme durability he’s been blessed with amazing health. MLB teams dig much deeper than 15-20 starts when they hand out that kind of money and commit to 4-5+ years and it simply wasn’t there. The DBacks only signed him to a high aav short term deal because their owner got caught up in the hype and ignored the analytics thinking he could get him on what he probably expected to be a one year deal and a declined option. I think he’ll return to what his realistic career trajectory really always was but that run he went on with the Rangers was unicorn good for him. I don’t see a chance of that stretch happening again in his career and definitely can’t see him performing at that level over the course of an entire season it’s just not who he is. He’ll easily get 10m a year plus if he returns to mid rotation form and continues to be crazy durable but he’s not an ace caliber guy
Win/win for Montgomery; whether he’s traded or released he’ll get more money than as a free agent
Clubs are making a lot of bad moves these days. There’s a reason Montgomery wasn’t picked up during the offseason last year, and it’s because he wasn’t worth the money. And clearly it showed. I could count the number of players who are worth a lot on one hand. The rest are really not that good. Montgomery is laughing all the way to the bank. Not the first time he’s beat the D-backs.
I really kind of hate myself for saying this, but the Cubs should consider offering Bellinger for Monty. Hoyer talked about adding pitching. Swapping Belli for Monty would clear a logjam for the Cubs while adding starting depth with upside on a short-term contract. They would still have financial wiggle room to improve other areas.
Bellinger could slide right into 1B for the Snakes and it would also be a short-term commitment for them.
Seems to work pretty well for both sides.