The Diamondbacks came up just shy of the postseason. Arizona missed out on the final Wild Card spot via tiebreaker after the Mets and Braves split Monday’s doubleheader to each punch their ticket. In the immediate aftermath of that disappointment, the club’s owner provided a scathing criticism of one of the team’s biggest offseason moves.
Owner Ken Kendrick appeared on The Burns & Gambo Show on Monday afternoon. Asked about the team’s late free agent pickup of Jordan Montgomery, the owner both took responsibility for the signing while not holding back with an indictment of the southpaw’s performance.
“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” Kendrick said (starting around the 12:45 mark). “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.”
It’s the kind of public criticism that an owner rarely levels at a player who remains on the roster. Montgomery’s $25MM deal contained a vesting player option for the upcoming season. That was initially valued at $20MM and the veteran pushed that to $22.5MM by reaching 18 starts. He’s certainly not going to walk away from that sum after this season, so he’ll at least go into the offseason on the Arizona roster.
Montgomery’s 2024 campaign was very underwhelming. He allowed a 6.23 earned run average through 117 innings while striking out a career-low 15.6% of batters faced. Montgomery had an ERA above 5.00 in every month from May onward. He lost his spot in the rotation late in the year when Ryne Nelson outperformed him for the fifth starter job. Montgomery stepped back into the rotation with Nelson on the injured list in the season’s final couple weeks. He allowed three runs without completing five innings in either of his final two starts — games which Arizona dropped in Colorado and Milwaukee respectively.
Kendrick certainly isn’t alone in being frustrated with Montgomery’s performance. It’s nevertheless surprising to see an owner publicly call a free agent signing “a horrible decision” while that player is still on the team.
General manager Mike Hazen conducted his annual end-of-season press conference on Tuesday. As one would expect, the GM took a more diplomatic tone when asked about Kendrick’s statement. Hazen began by stating that as the leader of baseball operations, he is “ultimately responsible to say no … or yes to a lot of things” (relayed on X by Alex Weiner of Arizona Sports). The GM called the Montgomery signing “a group process” before stating that he expects better results in 2025. “Whatever myriad of factors went into this year … it didn’t work out. It didn’t work out, but I also think next year is going to look a lot different,” Hazen concluded.
The GM’s comments are far more typical in these kinds of situations. Even if the Montgomery signing was driven by ownership, Hazen isn’t likely to take a public jab at Kendrick. One can debate how sincerely Hazen expects Montgomery to rebound, though it’s hard to imagine he won’t improve to some extent. Before this season, the 6’6″ lefty had been one of the more consistent pitchers in MLB. He posted a sub-4.00 ERA with 30+ starts in each year from 2021-23. Montgomery’s late signing deprived him of a normal Spring Training.
In August, Montgomery opined that former agent Scott Boras “kind of butchered” his free agency. That’s presumably a reference both to the one-year guarantee that fell well shy of expectations and his late landing in the desert. Montgomery changed his representation within weeks of signing with Arizona.
Kendrick’s comments figure to further speculation that the D-Backs could try to trade Montgomery this offseason. That’d probably have a goal for the front office in either case. They’re not going to find anyone willing to take on his entire salary, but the Snakes could try to explore an undesirable contract swap of some kind. Arizona goes into the offseason with a projected rotation of Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Brandon Pfaadt, Eduardo Rodriguez and Nelson. That’s a talented group on paper, but only Gallen and Nelson performed up to expectations late in the year. Pfaadt posted an ERA near 6.00 after the All-Star Break, while Rodriguez and Kelly battled shoulder injuries and didn’t pitch at their typical level during the playoff push.
Put John Sterling in Sarco Pod ASAP
Really shows faith in Montgomery for next year.
“I never should have signed that loser”
-Kendrick
johnsilver
Pretty obvious why he went off on him like that.. Trying to embarrass him into putting forth some kind of effort in 25 and at the same time? hendricks get something of actual value for the (then) 45m chucked at Montgomery.
My 2c is 1st thing Monty needs to do and thhink he already sort of realizes it is dump the all for himself/ego agent he had hired previously and find 1 without a head 5 hat sizes too large than required.
stan lee the manly
He fired Boras weeks after signing with Arizona as it says in the article, he was not happy how his offseason to as handled. Not sure who represents him now, but it’s gotta be better than Boras.
saluelthpops
The agent works for the player. Yes, Boras gave him bad advice, but JM could have stepped in at any point and said, “that’s the deal I want. Take it.”
Fever Pitch Guy
sal – So you’re saying Monty should pay Boras for advice that he should ignore.
Doesn’t make much sense now does it?
Would you hire a lawyer, realtor or financial advisor and then ignore their recommendations?
bkbk
No he’s saying that if the agent does a good job it’s on the agent, but if he does a poor one, the player could have ignored it
Fever Pitch Guy
bk – And how is the player supposed to know before it’s too late whether his agent is doing a good job or bad job?
Boras is the one who is supposed to know the market, he’s the one who negotiates with the teams. If he tells Monty he can get a $150M contract, Monty must believe him because that’s the job of an agent.
I find it fascinating that some people here believe agents shouldn’t be held accountable for their bad performance.
Fever Pitch Guy
stan – Wasserman represents him now, it’s a much more respected agency.
saluelthpops
If Monty is more embarrassed by words than he is his performance, then he doesn’t have the mental toughness to pitch in the majors. Remember, this is the same guy who fired his agent because he didn’t get the total $ and years he thought he deserved. Can you imagine if he got 3 years and $75 million and pitched like he did?
johnsilver
–I don’t know Montgomery. But, almost universally embarrassing people isn’t the best way to motivate them.–
Definately disagree with that. Have seen it work wonders more than a few times over the years 1st hand, including while in the military.. BTW.. Ever in the military and if were.. Had to have gone thru basic training/boot camp etc.. 1st hand experience (everyone) at being embarrased on a group scale, so once again Dasha.. Tho is incorrect, or is posting of something knows little about me thinks.
RodBecksBurnerAccount
He may be just trying to piss him off so he leaves. Monty’s contract for next season is a player option. Monty could opt out now and become a free agent.
Fever Pitch Guy
sal – The reason Monty had such a bad season is BECAUSE of his agent.
Kinda funny if you think Monty wanted more than what Boras felt he was worth.
My interpreter would put money on Monty having a nice rebound season next year.
Fever Pitch Guy
john – I’m very familiar with the military and their belief in tearing people down and then building them back up. It does work with some, but unfortunately not with everyone.
I have fond memories of a former military boss who on his first day in a civilian job blasted all the employees, screaming at the top of his lungs. He turned out to be the nicest man and we became very good friends, but some employees immediately quit after his first day.
Fever Pitch Guy
Rod – Not likely. Obviously now is not the time to seek a new contract.
RodBecksBurnerAccount
He’d easily get $20 million on a one year deal by several teams (equivalent to what he has left with the DBacks).
Could he get a big multi-year contract, no. But Arizona is obviously a bad match for him. He could go back to the Rangers/Yanks or to the Giants, etc on a pillow contract and rebuild his value.
Plus now he has motivation to beat the DBacks. If I were him I’d sign with the Giants.
Fever Pitch Guy
Rod – I wouldn’t be sure about that. Even though Monty’s struggles were likely related to the missing ST, I think teams would still want proof this year was a failure because of that reason. And it would be $22.5M he’d be walking away from, which makes a matching offer with another team even less likely.
Jerry Hairston Jr's Toupee
Sure would be awkward for Montgomery to opt in….
avenger65
I think the problem is, Montgomery is a one-team P. The only place he pitched well is Texas. Maybe the Rangers should try and get him back if AZ eats some of that contract.
myaccount2
The military doesn’t operate even closely to any other profession. Something of the like that works in the military is almost assuredly going to fail in regular society. Studies show that embarrassing people does not often lead to later success. Google it.
Fever Pitch Guy
my – Certainly where I’ve worked, any type of criticism or corrections is done privately …. never in front of others, and never including others on emails.
inkstainedscribe
The beatings will continue until morale improves.
JoeBrady
avenger65
I think the problem is, Montgomery is a one-team P. The only place he pitched well is Texas.
======================
He an ERA+ of 109 with the NYY and 128 with the Cards.
Lets Go DBacks
Rod – That is exactly what KK is trying to achieve: to piss Montgomery off so he decides to opt out and save the club money.
johnsilver
Fever- I can 2nd that.. In HS, had a teacher who was an ex USMC and had also been a DI at 1 time in the marines.. Like u posted.. Starting out in his classes, was toughest… had ever met, but do as he wanted and nicest guy in the world.. Weeded out the dirt so to speak, got the problems out of his class right away, much like tough DI’s (army/usmc), or CC (navy) rode recruits early on, cause i can tell u i have really good memories.. to this day of my boot camp company commander.. an old CPO who commanded a river boat during ‘nam, but once got to know him? A kind soul after at 1st thinking would take ur head off.
Took that attitude later in life, many here think it probably stinks, but if can/could back the bark up i found it an outstanding way to approach things.
RodBecksBurnerAccount
Fever – On a one year deal, Monty easily gets $23+ million. Easily and would get multiple teams to offer that. The qualifying offer is $20 million right now. $23ish million a year isn’t what it used to be…that’s a #2/#3 starter money now. Aces are getting $30-43 million a year.
Teams don’t like to offer multi-year deals because of the risk in them. Almost no teams are afraid of a one year deal, especially with Monty’s career numbers in the playoffs and very solid regular season numbers.
Fever Pitch Guy
Rod – I certainly think he’s worth it, we shall see if other teams do as well (if he opts out).
Heck, my team last year gave $39M/2yrs to a guy who had a 5 ERA each of the prior two seasons …. so anything is possible.
ThatsIT?
Hopefully he learned his lesson by talking to boras
baseballpurist
You don’t make a statement like that unless you know for certain he will not be on your team starting next season.
FSF
If I were the Yanks, I’d do Stanton for Montgomery and pick up most of Stanton’s overage.
Put John Sterling in Sarco Pod ASAP
Isn’t that eating like $40 million for 1 year of Montgomery and 2 years of a 40 man slot?
Plus the no trade
CravenMoorehead
If there is any bad contract the Yankees should be trying to move it’s DJ LeMahieu but that’s obviously a long shot.
labial
That’s a solid fit
YankeesBleacherCreature
The Yankees have (presumably) Cole, Rodon, Stroman, Gil, Cortes, and Schmidt under contract for next season. I’m not sure Monty is an upgrade over any of them at this point. Then are Beeter, Poteet, and Warren waiting in the wings. Stanton has a full no-trade clause and likes NY.
Crash_n_burn
The best way for Montgomery to get revenge so to speak on the owner is to come into spring training next season ready to go and pitch to his usual self, then as a FA say bye bye to Az and move on unless they trade him for a salary dump or exchange of bad contracts.
Cleon Jones
Well said
SeanStL
The owner doesn’t deserve that. I hope he gets traded and then does amazing.
SweetBabyRayKingsThickThighs
Monty will be jettisoned off to some rebuilding club in a salary dump
stan lee the manly
Cardinals would probably trade Mikolas for him lol
Breezy
And then we’ll get the apology statement in a day or two for shootin off at the mouth, if it hasn’t happened already.
playhard9
Hope Jordan can get back on track next season for the Dbacks or elsewhere. He got mixed up with Boras who over-valued him and missed spring trading which kept him from getting on track all year. Owners comments seem unnecessarily personal and unwise. Jordan is a class act and he should be better next season.
yeasties
@DashaToushu maybe, but is he inherently wrong? Your response is exactly why so many owners, executives and players refuse to talk to the media in the first place.
I take a different view. The owner actually talked to the media, live! Provided a mea culpa and gave honest and blunt opinions! That stands out for its rarity these days. I would rather have more of that than fluff PR-speak press statements that we fans typically get.
njbirdsfan
Sounds more like a desperate attempt to deflect blame from himself onto someone else.
The only thing ownership should be doing when it comes to free agency is signing checks.
Sure, they can have input, but this went past input and was demanding the people he hired to run baseball ops sign who he wanted.
Blackouts are racist
@DashaToushu “talent” is synonymous with “personnel.” He’s not talking about the player’s skill level. He’s referencing the roster.
Ranger Danger19
I’d trade Jon Gray to the snakes right now to get him back. The track record is strong and I believe he’ll rebound with a normal offseason.
Melchez17
Tigers could send Maeda for Montgomery. I trust Fetter could bring Montgomery back. Maeda is washed up. Maeda is owed $10 mil… Montgomery $25 mil. Tigers would have to throw in a prospect or bullpen arm.
Ben Jamin
I like the trade but wouldn’t give up any real prospects if we have to pick up the difference in pay. It would still save the Snakes $15 million and give them a mop up guy to replace Montey who was used as a mop up guy a lot this season.
YankeesBleacherCreature
If Kendrick wants to trade Monty, why even say these things as if he’s incapable of turning things around and broadcasting to other teams that Monty can’t be a $25MM pitcher? Sheesh. Even Arte Moreno has exercised greater discretion regarding Anthony Rendon.
Joe says...
Brian Cashman has entered the chat.
CravenMoorehead
The last time I heard an owner slander a pitcher like this in public was in the late 90s when a certain perspn referred to Hideki Irabu as a ‘toad’ including 2 other adjectives.
Acoss1331
Cashman did say Stanton is guaranteed to get hurt during the season this past offseason. A little harsh, but I think Kendrick was more explicit in his assessment of Montgomery.
Joe says...
Cashman has a history of saying stupid things like that. Another example is Cashman and Sonny Gray. By the time all was said and done, Cincy got Gray for three years (the trade was conditional to Gray signing an extension) of 68 starts with an ERA of 3.49 and the Yankees got Andrew Benintendi for only 33 games with an OPS of .734.
Joe says...
I will add that if you dig deep enough into the various related trades, the Yankees did get Rougned Odor.
Acoss1331
Here’s another gem from Cashman:
“No offense to Gio Urshela, but he’s not Josh Donaldson.”
YankeesBleacherCreature
@Joe says… The whole ordeal between Gray and Cashman was that Gray didn’t want to buy in to the Yankees’ pitching philosophy of increasing spin rate and they wanted him to nix a specific pitch from his repertoire. Cashman was wrong in expecting results right away while Gray was frustrated with his transitional results and spoke publicly about it. Gray went back to what knew and performed well in Cincy. Gray was a bad fit through no fault of his own.
Joe says...
YBC no argument Gray wasn’t a good fit for the Yankees. Remember that was under Rothschild and he wasn’t a good fit either. LOL. But Cashman needed to just keep his mouth shut and make a trade. We’ll never know if Cashman’s public comments hurt the return but it certainly didn’t help.
YankeesBleacherCreature
No, it didn’t bc Cashman’s hand was forced when Gray demanded a trade. None of it should’ve gone public but it’s NYC so the media will keep probing.
Gmen777
This is one of the strangest things I’ve seen. Almost like the owner thinks his comments moght get Monty to decline the player option.
genre99
Kendrick falls just short of Ray Kroc, the original owner of the padres, who famously, after another padres loss, commandeered the Jack Murphy Stadium PA system and apologized for the pathetic padres’ performance.
davemlaw
This is one of the greatest comments by an owner ever.
Complete honesty and disgust at himself. It’s so funny.
I hope Monty returns to normal and everyone can laugh this one off. Otherwise, he’s going to have a miserable 2025 with those comments hanging over his head.
JoeBrady
I’m curious how you feel about Pierce calling out Jack Jones for his lack of effort, and then benching him for the 1st quarter of last week’s Raider game?
I was 100% in favor of it.
Rsox
Well, they just significantly tanked his trade value. Part of Montgomery’s bad performance was (like Snell) no spring training and giving him less than 8 innings in AAA to get ready. Perhaps with more time to ramp up the outcome may have been different, or not. Either way trash talking his performance publicly was probably not the most professional move
JoeBrady
Well, they just significantly tanked his trade value.
===================
I doubt it affected his trade value. If the RS, for example, were interested in Monty, I doubt they changed their overall evaluation of him.
ElitebFour3
I like it. It is usually a complete waste of time to watch any post game interviews or media days because everyone from the players, to the coaches, all the way up the ladder… They’ve all memorized a list of generic responses for any questions thrown their way. What’s the point then… Why would anyone want to hear a bunch of memorized BS designed to be vague and say nothing definitive. And these men are professionals and adults. If they have the luxury of getting paid multi millions of dollars to play a sport, then nobody should have to walk on egg shells around them. Jordan Montgomery knows what kind of year he had. He doesn’t need to be coddled or lied to. And he sure as hell isn’t owed some generic manufactured response to preserve his ego. He is a grown ass man. If he’s embarrassed… Good. Do better and this won’t be a problem. If you get paid 20 million dollars for one year, any kind of criticism that comes your way is part of it…I so tired of all this safe space, censorship, “my feelings were hurt”, BS. Jordan Montgomery is not owed an apology. If anything, he should be the one apologizing.
Trolling stops when Internet Anonymity stops.
Kim-Jong-Un requires you to meet your daily quota for the 5-year plan or else you’re heading to the camps, Comrade Elitebfour3! No complaining and no lesser output! Back to work!
ElitebFour3
Really? Because I expect professional athletes who are millionaires to not be a bunch of vajays?
sufferforsnakes
Eliteb, well said!
davemlaw
The owner’s true emotions came out, raw and unedited.
People aren’t robots. Sometimes they get mad and frustrated. When you get to see it manifest it’s entertaining. Funny! There’s no explaining why it’s amusing, it just is.
No one would care if the guy gave a vanilla response and there wouldn’t be anyone commenting about it.
If I’m a Dbacks fan, I’d be comforted by the owner’s comments, knowing we’re both feeling the same about the season. And I think Monty is going to have a much better season in part because of these comments but mainly he’s a competitor and will be twice as determined.
JoeBrady
I get where some people are coming from. But my own experience is that the biggest wastes of time are meetings where everyone goes out of their way to be polite. I like a collegial environment, but many times, brutal honesty helps people focus.
And these year-end interviews are a waste of time without some brutal honesty. As Stephanie Klein once wrote, honesty is the most interesting thing in the world.
ElitebFour3
The owner is the man who signs his paycheck. He paid for the right to say whatever he wants. Jordan Montgomery did all the poor playing on a public stage so why can’t the owner speak his mind about it on a public stage. And your venn diagram BS is just that… BS. The problem with this scenario is that for some reason everyone wants to view this situation from the players perspective. Step into the owners shoes for a second. I’m a business owner. A small business owner so not on the scale as the owner of a ball club. But I put blood, swear, tears, and countless sleepless nights into building my business from the ground up. I will never punch a clock for anyone else in my life. So when I hire an employee, I expect their performance to line up with my goals. I’m not paying them millions, but I’m still taking money out of my pocket, my family’s pocket, and putting it into theirs. And it feels like slap in the face when I have an employee present themselves as one thing but end up being something completely different. I’m sure everyone has heard the quote… I’m a calm person, but If you mess with my family or my money… You’re going to see my bad side. Or something along those lines. I’m in the red when I pay someone $20 an hour and they end up being a horrible employee. I cant imagine what it must feel like to pay someone 20 million dollars and be a bust.
baseballfreak25
Reading comprehension is not a virtue of some that post here. In the article it plainly states Montgomery fired Boras as his rep. People still saying he should fire him or have a discussion with him? Prime examples of the never ceasing quest to be the first responder in conversations without having proper research nor reading the entire piece. In the quest to be relevant, ignorance makes them the most irrelevant of all!
greg1
I think we all understand what ownership is attempting to do with this outburst, embarrass Jordan enough that hopefully he won’t want to pick up his option and leave them on the hook for at least part of next year’s salary (or full year if he doesn’t rebound to become a trade asset).
Between the Pirates doing Rowdy dirty and this, what is going on the last couple of weeks with team’s upper management/ownerships groups?
njbirdsfan
You couldn’t name three guys on the Pirates not named Skenes but somehow you’re all over the most minor of transactions.
JoeBrady
greg1
Between the Pirates doing Rowdy dirty and this,
===========================
I don’t understand this at all. Tellez was awful and they cut him to make room for a younger player.
Mikenmn
Montgomery was never an ace. Good, yes, and the Yankees traded a good pitcher for the traditional Cashman handful of beans, and he raised his game when he got to St. Louis, and more so in the 67 IP he gave to TX last season But not an ace, not overpowering, Best season, 4.1 BWAR. I don’t know how that translates to an ask of 5 or 6 years, $25-30M per. He still has some good pitching in him, and some team will get it. But how to equalize that contract….
Yankees21
I agree, and I watched Montgomery all throughout his career as a Yankee. At best he was a 3rd or 4th starter. I don’t think the trade for Bader in 2022 was out of line either; unless there was a ton of injuries, Montgomery was not going to be a starter in the post-season that year. If I think the Yankees were planning to replace him anyway with Montas for 2023, but of course that didn’t work out at all.
But all the hype for a handful of starts was ridiculous. He didn’t get off to a great start in 2023 (I remember the Cardinals lost 10 games in a row he started at one point; not all Montgomery’s fault, but still in indicates something) and then he got traded to Texas and had another little run of 10-11 decent starts. He had two decent starts (and two not so great starts) in the 2023 post-season.
And then the. hype machine went full blast, which I never understood, acting as if Montgomery is a top of the rotation starter/post-season hero and due for some massive contract. He certainly was never worth $25MM a year for any length of time; I really thought he would have been in line for something similar to what Jameson Taillon got the prior year (4 years, $68MM).
At this point I wouldn’t trade anything for him; hopefully Montgomery can get in shape this off season and benefit from a full spring training in 2025 and put up a decent year. And then maybe at age 33 he can get a 2 or 3 year contract.
DecaturRagun
Kendrick said It wasn’t in our game plan. That’s very interesting right there, The Dbacks learned after the Erod and Monty signings that the blueprint is to develop or look for Roger Beshens Football Slider pitchers. Notice later in the year they were interested in Tanner Scott who is a RB Football Slider guy, They ended up with RB Football Slider guy AJ PUK.
If the Dbacks are smart they will hire Roger Beshens as a consultant to teach his football slider or hire him as a coach. RB not only can teach his football slider like no other he can help the pitchers with pitch strategy and how to make key adjustments to help accelerate their development.
DecaturRagun
Jordan Montgomery desperately needs to throw the Roger Beshens Football Slider more. He actually did throw it earlier in the year and struck out 4 out of 6 hitters with it and then totally stopped for some reason.
Just to make things interesting the last game he pitched he threw the RB Football Slider again. Someone needs to ask Jordan what the heck is going on with his Roger Beshens Football slider usage?
Acoss1331
If Arizona doesn’t trade Montgomery in the offseason, that first week of Spring Training is going to be awkward with these comments by the owner…
whyhayzee
Roger Beshens and his 600 major league victories, more than Cy Young! Of course.
DecaturRagun
Roger Beshens football slider’s information was so valuable MLB calls it a Sweeper and when thrown over the top more a Gyro.
What does that tell you?
Hundreds of ML guys starting throwing that RB Football Slider in May 2018 and it grew every year.
Remember 2017, Andrew Miller and Hand were all the talk with their slider.
Now 600 guys throw that Football Slider as good or better than Miller and Hand. That’s where Roger Beshens needs to get credit, He Influenced ML pitchers in May 2018 on Twitter to try his Football Slider. It has nothing to do with him saying he created a pitch.
Bauer actually had the gall at the 2018 All Star game to tell Leiter and Pedro that “HE TAUGHT himself a slider. The funny thing is Roger Beshens messaged Bauer and Leiter back in May about his Football Slider. Turns out Bauer made a lot of money and won the Cy CAUSE of the Roger Beshens Football Slider but his luck ran out when his last game was June 28, which is RB moms birthday. It’s called KARMA. How many pitchers got thrown out of baseball? Only the Dodgers are good at that.
yunieskyichiro
Trade him to Seattle for Haniger and Garver. The $ are similar, and Mariners seem to blow up in the AZ air. Monty provides depth for the inevitable trade of one of the starters for offense. Change of scenery win/win.
Zonedeads
If I’m Montgomery I’m letting the media know I’m picking up my option as soon as I heard what the owner said
JoeBrady
If I were Monty, I’d tell the press that the dude was righty and that he sucked this season.
Squeeze32
If pitchers threw the Roger Beshens Football Slider, hitters would never make contact again. Scientists hate this one simple trick to pitching CGSHO every start. Hire Roger Beshens if you never want to allow a run again.
DecaturRagun
The Roger Beshens Football Slider is devastating when it isn’t misfired. The goal for the pitcher and pitching coach is to know what adjustment to make when misfired. Dbacks lost many ML games with Cecconi, Hughes, Mcgough, Henry…
Go to Savant and look at Cecconi’s high sliders. That guy ALONE cost the Dbacks more than 1 game. The Dbacks organization FAILED miserably developing RB Football Slider guys.
If the Dbacks have Castellanos on the AAA roster next year they didn’t learn anything. Roger Beshens in ONE MONTH with Rookie ball guys can have a better guy than Castellanos,
Dbacks should just hire Roger Beshens, have Strom tell the pitchers wherever he is this is the guy I want teaching you the football slider, he will report back to me daily. That’s a great start.
cooperhill
Very ordinary pitcher who had one good year, “Danger, Will Robinson!”
LonnieB
I held him for 2 seasons in FB which no one cares about but he had middle numbers and was always solid. Diamond backs are not the greatest at signing mlb guys. Their development and trades have come quite far though. They have a great AAA and development program.
cwsOverhaul
The owner should have been blunt with Monty in person about how he pushed for him and said he trusts he’ll redeem himself in 2025.
In media, could have said lesson learned going after a late hold out pitcher, but trusts he’ll regain form when back to a normal routine from the start.
LonnieB
Wow! Owner blaming a signing he made on the player. He should be fired immediately.
SupremeZeus
Snakes flameout put the kibosh on Ken Kendrick’s maximum pressure campaign to shakedown taxpayers.
bighiggy
Bad contract swap, mikolas and matz for Montgomery?
DecaturRagun
If the Dbacks Brass knew Ginkel, Puk, Martinez, Pfaadt threw a different non traditional slider called the Roger Beshens Football Slider they would have NEVER went after Monty or Erod.
The Dbacks ERA was bad cause AAA didn’t develop enough higher tier RB Football Slider guys. No way Cecconi, Castellanos, McNough, Henry, Hughes…were developed enough for the Big Leagues.
Those guys demolished the ERA and certainly cost the Dbacks more than 1 game.
DecaturRagun
Hazen and the brass should ask Monty, we noticed you threw that Roger Beshens Football Slider earlier in the year and then again your last game. Can you explain why you aren’t throwing that RB Football Slider more? You know Roger Beshens was in the Dbacks clubhouse in May 2024. That’s the guy you want to learn the Grip, Tilt and Wrist action from.