Ex-Marlins president makes feelings known on Jordan Montgomery's situation with Diamondbacks

Arizona Diamondbacks starting pitcher Jordan Montgomery had a tough 2024 season, finishing with an 8-7 win/loss record, along with a 6.23 ERA and 83 total strikeouts. When the season came to an end, Montgomery activated the player vesting option in his contract, which obligated the Diamondbacks to pay him $22.5 million for another year in Phoenix.

Since then, the organization has reportedly tried its best to offload the 32-year-old. However, no agreement was reached regarding a potential trade.

Speaking his mind about the Diamondbacks' predicament on the Monday episode of his podcast "Nothing Personal," former Miami Marlins president David Samson shared his opinion on the whole situation.

"The Arizona Diamondbacks have spent the entire offseason trying to trade Jordan Montgomery, Yankees fans remember him, Cardinals fans remember him. Jordan Montgomery's the player who signed that huge deal with the Diamondbacks, was terrible last year, had like a plus 6 ERA." Samson said [1:35]

"He's now getting about $22 million, and the owner said he's the worst contract he's ever seen. I told you, wait to see, he won't start another game for the Arizona Diamondbacks. My wait to see was, they're going to release him or trade him for sure." Samson added

Further, Samson talked about how the Diamondbacks have reportedly arrived at the solution of converting Montgomery into a reliever.

"What the Diamondbacks announced is 'well, we can't really find a trading partner, so instead, we're just going to name Brandon Pfaadt, put him in the starting rotation, and put Jordan Montgomery as a twenty-two and a half million dollar long reliever in the bullpen.' Samson said.

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Diamondbacks GM backs Jordan Montgomery to 'bounce back' in 2025

Speaking about pitcher Jordan Montgomery, who didn't have the best of years in 2024, Arizona Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen backed the 32-year-old to 'bounce back' in 2025, having looked good in good shape over the spring.

"He's in phenomenal shape. He looks great and ball's starting to come out... Velocity is there, I think he's getting back into the rhythm of Spring Training. Had a little bit of a hiccup at the very beginning with his finger, that's settled now. And now he's just getting back onto his mound progression." Hazen said, via the Baseball isn't Boring Podcast [11:00]

"Look, this guy's track record is too long and too good to not be a good pitcher. He's young, he's in the prime of his career and he's in fantastic shape. So that's usually a recipe for me that these guys are going to bounce back." Hazen added

With Opening Day fast approaching, fans will be hoping Montgomery can get back on top of his game and establish himself as a reliable arm for the D-backs over the course of the sesaon.