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Ken Kendrick’s comments weren’t enough to deter Jordan Montgomery from taking his money.
The Diamondbacks pitcher exercised his $22.5 million player option for the 2025 season, according to MLB.com. For now, Montgomery is under contract for a second season in Arizona after a rough first year in the desert that had the team owner blaming himself for the signing.
Montgomery went 8–7 in 2024 with a 6.23 earned run average a year after emerging as a strong trade deadline acquisition for the 2023 World Series champion Rangers. After beating the Diamondbacks in the World Series, Montgomery joined them on a one-year deal for $25 million with a player option for 2025. The 2025 contract vested at $20 million after Montgomery’s 10th start with Arizona, and it increased to $22.5 million with his 18th start. He made 21 starts in total before getting demoted to the bullpen in August. (One more start would have bumped the option to $25 million.) The Diamondbacks had a late surge to finish 89–73 and were eliminated from playoff contention by the Mets and Braves on the final day of the regular season.
On Oct. 1, Kendrick gave a mea culpa on local radio for the signing.
“If anyone wants to blame anyone for Jordan Montgomery being a Diamondback, you’re talking to the guy that should be blamed,” Kendrick told Arizona Sports. “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 invest that money in a guy who performed as poorly as he did. It’s our biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I’m the perpetrator of that.”
Despite coming off a strong 2023, Montgomery was one of the last free-agent pitchers to sign, as Kendrick alluded. He agreed to the Diamondbacks deal on March 26, just two days before Opening Day. The extended free agency led Montgomery to fire his agent, Scott Boras, whom the pitcher said “kind of butchered” negotiations for his services last winter.
