D-backs owner says signing $25 million pitcher was a 'horrible mistake'

PHOENIX — If it wasn’t painful enough for the Arizona Diamondbacks to be home for the postseason after being eliminated Sunday, they spent Monday in damage control after their owner pointed fingers and chastised one of his highest-paid players.

D-backs owner Ken Kendrick blamed himself for the signing of free-agent starter Jordan Montgomery, saying he was the one who suggested to the front office that they sign him after starter Eduardo Rodriguez injured his left shoulder in spring training.

Kendrick now says he regrets the recommendation, saying the Diamondbacks never should have signed Montgomery, who went 8-7 with a 6.23 ERA in 21 starts, to a one-year $25 million contract.

The kicker?

Instead of blasting Montgomery on his way out the door, Kendrick likely will be seeing plenty of him next year, too. Montgomery has a $22.5 million player option in 2025 that he expects to exercise.

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“Let me say it the best way I can say it," Kendrick said Monday on the The Burns & Gambo Show. “If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy who should be blamed, because I brought it to their attention. I pushed for it. They agreed to it.

“It wasn’t in our game plan. You know when he was signed, right at the end of spring training. And looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision, to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did.

“It was our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”

This was one of the strongest condemnations by an owner towards a player since the days of George Steinbrenner and Hall of Famer Dave Winfield nearly 40 years ago.

Montgomery, who signed too late to pitch in spring training, struggled most of the year. He was removed from the starting rotation in August before returning in September.

Really, Montgomery didn’t want to pitch in Arizona in the first place. He waited for a contract offer from the Texas Rangers that never arrived, and passed up a four-year proposal by the Boston Red Sox earlier in the winter. He wound up taking the D-backs’ offer, and then fired his agent, Scott Boras.

Now, six months later, everyone is mad at one another.

Kendrick, frustrated that the D-backs missed the playoffs by one game, needing Atlanta or the New York to sweep their doubleheader Monday, also took shots at the commissioner’s office for forcing the two teams to play to play the twinbill. They were makeup games after Hurricane Helene caused the postponement of games last Wednesday and Thursday in Atlanta.

He called it a “debacle" that could have been prevented, saying that MLB should have had the two teams to play a doubleheader last Monday when they were both off

“I’m disappointed that MLB did not take a more aggressive posture to insist on those games being played earlier,” Kendrick said. “That decision would have changed how the week would have unfolded for a lot of teams, even those guys. I think they are both very disadvantaged … having used, in some cases, top pitchers, and burned out their bullpens. They’re going to go play in a postseason when you should be able to have your best players ready to go.”

Yet, while Kendrick bemoaned the potential impact the hurricane might have played on their postseason chances, the players thought it was almost immoral to use that as an excuse.

“I mean, people are losing their lives, their homes," ace Zac Gallen told reporters Monday. “So, for me to get mad about a natural disaster when people are worried about other things would be tone deaf."

Amen.

While Kendrick didn’t hide his disappointment – with the D-backs finishing with the same 89-73 record as Atlanta and the Mets but losing the tiebreaker – he did not criticize manager Torey Lovullo or GM Mike Hazen.

“For any of us, at least for me, to say our manager did a poor job this season or our general manager did a poor job this season," Kendrick said, “I wouldn’t be the one to say that.”

While the D-backs’ attendance increased to 2.3 million, their largest total since 2008, it’s unclear whether the franchise-record $175 million payroll will decrease after failing to make the playoffs.

Kendrick, who still paid former D-backs starter Madison Bumgarner $14 million this year, isn’t hiding the fact that he hopes Montgomery leaves, clearing $22.5 million.

“Are we going to be in a position to financially compete yet again next year?” Kendrick said. “I think the answer is basically, yes, we are. … I think that we have a core of players that will be returning that will leave us in a position that will allow us to be very, very competitive yet again next season. And it won’t be inexpensive to do that.”

The D-backs have their entire starting lineup under contract, along with their rotation, with the exception of first baseman Christian Walker.

“There’s a lot of unknowns here, a lot of uncertainties," Walker told reporters. “There’s a good chance I land here, but some unknowns."

And now, there’s another unknown.

If Walker returns, and happens to struggle, could he be Kendrick's next victim?

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