Diamondbacks take heat off Mariners ownership with wild Jordan Montgomery comments

Finally, it isn't just the Mariners grabbing negative national attention for the wrong reasons. The Mariners painfully missed out on the 2024 postseason after falling one game short in the AL Wild Card race to each of the Royals and Tigers.

While M's owner John Stanton and his staff deserve to be criticized for another rough season, one other franchise is garnering plenty of bad press, and in an unconventional way.

Rarely do we see MLB owners come down on their respective players publicly, but Arizona's Ken Kendrick didn't pull any punches when it came to his organization ultimately signing left-handed starter Jordan Montgomery, who was the last big free agent to ink a deal in 2024.

The Diamondbacks missed the playoffs after representing the NL in the World Series last year, and Montgomery's lackluster play factored into their narrow Wild Card deficit.

Tell it like it is, Ken. Wow. Arizona was eliminated for falling short on the head-to-head tiebreakers. Mariners fans can empathize with that pain, but Kendrick personally attacking his player is probably not the way to approach the issue.

The first thing to consider is the obvious ripple effect this comment will have. Will other future free agents remember Kendrick going public on Montgomery's down season? You can bet that they all will keep that memory in the bank. When an authoritative figure in the sport airs their dirty laundry, it's most definitely unforgettable among players.

Yes, it was a risk by Arizona for signing Montgomery. He didn't have a Spring Training to ramp up before the regular season, but every team vying for him knew that risk was on the table. From that, he struggled mightily, logging a 6/23 ERA and 1.650 WHIP in 117 innings. He was eventually demoted to the bullpen. He was especially bad in September amidst Arizona's postseason push. Montgomery turned in a 6.62 ERA and a .304 opponent's batting average in five dreadful appearances.

At the end of the day, it doesn't matter how good or bad Montgomery was this year. Although he had the worst season of his career, baseball fans were aware of that. There was no need for Kendrick to say anything along these lines regarding Montgomery's struggles, even if he was attempting to take accountability for pushing the eventual bad signing.

These comments, however, make the Mariners' ownership slightly more competent now, considering no one called out the players following their elimination as they look to build for 2025.