The D-Backs shook a few things up in advance of their series with the Dodgers. Arizona reinstated catcher Gabriel Moreno from the 10-day injured list and designated backup Tucker Barnhart for assignment. (Nick Piecoro of the Arizona Republic reported those forthcoming moves over the weekend.) The Snakes placed starter Jordan Montgomery on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to June 29, on account of right knee inflammation. Arizona also optioned young infielder Blaze Alexander to Triple-A Reno. Center fielder Alek Thomas is back from the 10-day IL, while the D-Backs recalled righty Gavin Hollowell to take a spot in the bullpen.
Montgomery has had a nightmarish season. The veteran southpaw agreed to terms on a $25MM pillow contract just before Opening Day. As with fellow late signee Blake Snell, he has had significant struggles with that abbreviated ramp-up. Montgomery agreed to head to Reno for a few starts as a tune-up. He was recalled in mid-April but hasn’t found anything close to his typical form.
Over 13 starts, Montgomery carries a 6.03 ERA in 65 2/3 innings. He’s striking out a well below-average 15.1% of opposing hitters. Montgomery had punched out more than 21% of batters faced in each of the previous three seasons. He allowed fewer than four earned runs per nine in each year while combining for a 3.48 ERA over 94 starts. The average velocity on his sinker is down from its customary 93 MPH range to 91.7 MPH.
It’s impossible to know how much of Montgomery’s struggles are attributable to the unconventional start to the season. It seems fair to presume that has played some role. Whatever the primary cause, Montgomery hasn’t provided anything close to the kind of production Arizona envisioned. The D-Backs hoped he’d step in as a mid-rotation replacement after Eduardo Rodriguez suffered a Spring Training lat strain. Instead, he’s been arguably the weakest point in a starting staff that remains the team’s biggest question mark.
Arizona recently welcomed Zac Gallen back from the injured list. They’re still without Rodriguez and Merrill Kelly. Righty Brandon Pfaadt has been solid, but the D-Backs haven’t gotten much out of Slade Cecconi and Ryne Nelson. They’ll need to find a fifth starter this week, as Arizona doesn’t have another off day until the All-Star Break. That might be righty Cristian Mena. Alex Weiner of AZ Sports tweets that Mena is with the big league club in Los Angeles, though he’s not yet on the roster. Acquired from the White Sox for Dominic Fletcher over the winter, the 21-year-old Mena has a 4.90 ERA with a 24.4% strikeout rate in 16 Triple-A starts. Joe Mantiply will kick off a bullpen game tonight; Montgomery had been slated to start tomorrow’s contest.
On the position player side, Moreno and Thomas draw back into the lineup. The former had a minimal IL stay with a thumb sprain. He’ll return to his role as the primary catcher. Barnhart’s DFA means the D-Backs will stick with José Herrera in the #2 catching role. Thomas has missed the bulk of the season because of a hamstring strain. He played in only four games before going down. That pushed Corbin Carroll into center field. Carroll should move back to right field, which could cut into the playing time for Jake McCarthy and Randal Grichuk.
It pushes Alexander off the MLB roster for the time being. The 25-year-old logged a good chunk of playing time at shortstop while Geraldo Perdomo was on the shelf. Upon Perdomo’s return, manager Torey Lovullo suggested he’d get Alexander more playing time at third base while cutting into Eugenio Suárez’s workload. Alexander got regular run for about two weeks but fell into a slump, hitting .138 without an extra-base knock in 33 plate appearances. Suárez has started five of the past six games at the hot corner. With Kevin Newman playing reasonably well as a utility option who cannot be optioned, the D-Backs send Alexander back to Reno for more consistent playing time.
That contract’s working out well.
It seemed like a great signing at the time. Goes to show the uncertainty of contracts.
It never looked like a great signing. Sure, he had a solid résumé, but he had no preparation during Spring Training and that’s never an optimal scenario for a starter (Lance Lynn when he signed with MIN, Monty with ARI, Snell with SF…).
And most of the time these guys’ careers go from stellar to a literal crime scene, and Scott Boras’ fingerprints can be found on most of them.
Doesn’t boras run a camp for the mlb free agents holdouts? Not run very well.
@solaris “literally’ a crime scene? May I see the police reports please? Nevermind, I remember reading the box scores.
HTF
“It never looked like a great signing. Sure, he had a solid résumé, but he had no preparation during Spring Training”
Post hoc ergo procter hoc
He literally meant figurative.
His was fine. Eduardo Rodriguez was a disaster from the start
I don’t think it was ever a good signing not at that price. I think Montgomery cashed in on a great stretch run but he was never particularly dominant with the Cardinals. He was very good but not front of the rotation type stuff. If im signing a guy to just one year with an option I’d rather have signed Gray even at his age to 2-3 years similar money. He had dominant stuff all year and has had it in the past
Players go through highs and lows and everywhere in between. Because Montgomery was so hot with the Rangers since the deadline everyone expected that to continue. Even Snell who won the Cy Young couldn’t get a mega deal due to his highs and lows. I do expect Montgomery to return to earth but at a #2-3 starter not #1 stuff. Not saying Montgomery is hot garbage he’s not but he’s also just not elite just look backwards at the body of work before the trade. Very good not great
When was the last time someone signed a young top of the rotation pitcher for $25 million? That’s the price of a solid middle of the rotation pitcher which Montgomery was for the past two years.
Diamondbacks receive: Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Andrew Benintendi
White Sox receive: Jordan Lawler, Dru Jones, Yu-Min Lin, Dylan Ray, Ruben Santana
Arizona can have their rotation fixed by tomorrow. Crochet and Fedde will combine to earn less the next 2 years than Montgomery cost this year. Crochet is your new ace. Fedde has been terrific. Winning costs guys. Benintendi and his $15 million per isn’t negotiable. Lawler is expendable for AZ. Tommy Troy is coming right behind him. This is a big boy deal. Sooner or later these teams are gonna figure out to just give up the kids!
Dang, are you high? Put down the pipe, Barry.
Pitching is a premium. White Sox are producing as much top of the rotation guys than anybody in baseball right now. Garrett Crochet, Chris Sale, Carlos Rodon, Dylan Cease, Lucas Giolito, Reynaldo Lopez. Crochet and Fedde would be your #1 and #2 starters right now.
I have a better chance of becoming a BBWAA member than the White Sox will have in getting Jordan Lawlar or Druw Jones in any possible trade before 2030.
Remember when Washington felt that way about Victor Robles? Give up the kids man.
I agree half with Freeland and half with Barry.
Snakes should be more than willing to part with Druw Jones they have a surplus of outfielders and Druw has a high ceiling but also a low floor.
Lawlar is not going anywhere.
I’m pretty sure the Orioles could come up with a better package to get one or both SP’s from CWS. And the Sox know that the O’s need pitching so they will wait things out to see how far Baltimore is willing to go. Arizona and the rest will get whatever scraps the O’s choose not to pursue.
Proposed trades by unqualified individuals always give me a chuckle.
Then why bother coming in? I mean, I seriously doubt any real GMs are commenting in here, so by default, we are all unqualified individuals, including you.
WHOOF. Bloody hell that deal is an eye sore
That’s why “Pitchers and Catchers Report” before everyone else.
All The Rangers from last year are still clearly partying hard. Rangers best decision was letting Monty Walk.
@Champ Think they will be sellers at the deadline? it certainly looks that way.
Would not shock me most of the players are on expiring contracts that are old. Top 5 pick and a lot of money this offseason isn’t a bad thing.
Me personally they should sell and buy I would block the Astros from getting Vlad Junior and go get him if I was Texas. They need a number three hitter get ready to give him the bag trade all the old guys that are expiring. Reload this off-season Vlad is young enough to make it happen and his little brother is in the Ranger system.
Vladdy is the type of player who usually doesn’t age well.
Yes. Quite.
And they don’t stop coming, and they don’t stop coming, and they don’t stop coming lol
In exchange for their WS appearance they’re contractually obligated to have 4 SP on the IL at all times. Them’s the rules.
At least Moreno and Thomas are back; hopefully, they can build some success. The pitching staff is going to need even more help to even just tread water.
Bummer to see Blaze go, but the team should definitely consider getting him some OF reps while he’s optioned. He’s obviously much faster than scouting reports gave him credit for and his arm fits anywhere.
Going to be a rough series of rough serieses (I know that’s wrong, but I find it funny)
Suarez stays, Blaze goes. Sure, that makes sense. (insert face palm emoji)
Dbacks not ready to DFA Suarez yet. Makes sense to me.
Of course it would make sense to you. (insert another face palm emoji)
suffer
I’m using common sense and you’re on your way to a concussion!
And what’s your plan when you DFA Suarez? Play Blaze or Newman at 3rd. You can’t just stick anyone at third base. Look at what happened when they tried. Two VERY costly errors. Plus, Blaze isn’t exactly setting the world on fire with his bat either. I could see if he was hitting .300 with 10 home runs, but he’s hitting a very soft .260 with zero power. This was the correct move.
Glad the Phillies werren’t going to touch either of them with a 45’ foul pole.
montgomery 6.44 era 1.68 whip, on the DL
snell 9.51 era 1.94 whip, on the DL
must be a coincidence
There’s a reason they signed so late. Asking wayyyy more than they’re worth. Snell signing late with no ST starts was dumb AF. That dude has control issues. He needs all the practice before the season he can get. He can’t just start out the gate and sling dots. It took him a month or more last year to get dialed in. Dodgers and Braves did good signing pitchers for a lot less and better probability to do well. Paxton, Glasnow and Sale have been great
they didnt ask way more than they’re worth. it was boras. montgomery fired him bec of how late he found him a job. i think either of them would have been satisfied with something slightly less than 7 years and 200mil or whatever it was that boras convinced them they could get in free agency. i feel bad for these guys, quality pitchers still in their prime. boras had unreasonable expectations and they got burned as a result
Montgomery – out of shape – overweight – on DL to get him ready for after All Star break – this kind of roster move has been done for years – watching him it is evident the lack of spring training cost him – arm
speed and finish on pitches not what it was – Lucky for him he has a very good pitching coach that told him the truth –
Dbacks sure could use the version of Saalfrank seen in last years playoffs run.
Alexander will be back as soon as the Dbacks trade Suarez.
Yes, Suarez isn’t hitting but he sure plays consistently near excellent defense at 3b. That is enough to make him marginally tradeable.
Unless they call up De Los Santos
De Los Santos is not a major league caliber defender at 3B. They’ve been playing him mostly on the other side of the infield this season.
Dbacks didn’t dare run Montgomery out against the Dodgers, Padres, Braves and Blue Jays in the next two weeks. So better to try and get him squared away for the stretch run to the playoffs IF the Dbacks get there this year.
Dbacks prefer to be overloaded in the OF over losing Suarez for nothing. I think they have some trade possibilities brewing.
Like to see a change of scenery trade, Suarez for a bad contract starting pitcher.
Eugenio Suarez for Javier Baez and Zack McKinstry
And this is exactly why small-mid market teams are scared to spend. They had the right idea by adding onto a team that made the World Series and trying not to be a flash in the pan but got nothing for nearly 40m dollars. Monty has been pitiful and Erod once again hurts himself and is nowhere to be found when the team desperately needs him. It really sucks. They aren’t like the Dodgers or Yankees who can double down and add more players. They’re stuck.
Hole
Agree. Dbacks FO needs to be creative to help this team in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, Dbacks need help right now in the 2 weeks leading up to the All-Star break, and if they can’t tread water against the Dodgers, Padres, Braves and Blue Jays, the 2nd half won’t matter.
Not a great look for Boras.
Who you play and when you play them is important. Wish Dbacks could play the Blue Jays now and the Padres later.
When the schedule looks bleak, I always remember the wise words of former manager, and current broadcaster, Bob Brenly who says, “it’s not who you play, It’s when you play them.”
The hype around Montgomery this past winter was ridiculous. At least from all the years I watched him pitch with the Yankees he was a decent back of the rotation piece, but he never was a top of the rotation pitcher.
If thought at best he was worth something similar to what Jameson Taillon got from the Cubs after his run with the Yankees (4 years, $68MM), maybe a few dollars more, but certainly not close to what Boras was seeking.
Anyway, I feel bad for him (and the huge disservice Boras did for him) and hope he can recover quickly, he seems like a good guy.
Jordan is another Borass screw job
Oh those things, they are always being shaken up!
Man I complained all offseason about the Sox not signing him. Boy was I wrong on that one.
That’s what almost all the RS writers get 100%. They criticize the lack of spending, but don’t realize that, if we did spend, it likely would’ve been on Monty and Snell.
and FWIW, I was wrong on those two also. Heck, most posters were wrong, but they have short memories.
Like Snell, Montgomery missed Spring Training. Hasn’t been effective this season & now on IL
Hopefully every team now realizes signing FAs without any Spring Training is a recipe for disaster
JD Martinez doing just fine.
maybe signing free agent PITCHERS (and some position players) without any Spring Training is the recipe for disaster… DH’s are exempt, they just have to keep hitting in the cage & don’t have to worry about fielding
Guy’s washed up, as I said over the winter. Not worth investing in. Maybe a decent bullpen piece in the future.
This is why you don’t sign pitcher’s with little track records to top money. He had a good post season so he thought he was worth as much as an ace. Sorry bub you won 10 games one time in your career. #4-5 starter money is all he deserved.
RE P_B
Another MLBTR commenter who seems to hate baseball players. Such a weird phenomenon.
Complete nonsense. PB did not say anything to indicate he hates baseball players. He said, basically, not to sign mediocre players for top money.
Is there anything wrong with that statement? Of course no. You are trying way to hard to pick fights.
JB
“PB did not say anything to indicate he hates baseball players.”
Yeah, he did, bub.
“He had a good post season so he thought he was worth as much as an ace. Sorry bub you won 10 games one time in your career.”
Time to call the Tigers about Flaherty. Maybe get them to add in Manning to eat some innings as well. A package centered around Torin (SS), Cerda (C) and Barrosa (OF) sounds like a good start.
They can have Javy Baez too
I’d give you more lines but it won’t let me.
One of the talking heads on MLB Network said he heard from “sources” that Jordan Montgomery turned down a $180M offer over 6 yrs(this past off-season) and countered with a $260M request over 7 yrs. No wonder he wasn’t signed long-term and it seems several teams dodged a major albatross bullet.
260 over 7 years? Good lord, Montgomery got those numbers from Boras, that’s Gerrit Cole type of money, which he is clearly not…
Gonna call BS on MLBN. No way he got offered more than Aaron Nola.
not BS on MLBN, BS on their “source” (who is probably Scott Boras)
The source of that rumor was associated with Boras.
Never underestimate the craziness of the Ohtani (stupidly expensive and exclusive) free agency period. Teams were overreacting to all the Dodgers signings that they were likely willing to drastically overpay for the food FAs left. If that’s true, Montgomery got burned big time.
That explains why he sucks this year. The Dbacks wasted a lot of money so far this year that they were hoping to see produce more wins.
he’s actually produced 6 wins (he’s 6-5), which is the same number Zac Gallen has and was on pace to be higher than Montgomery’s career average of 10 per 162 (10-9)…
and Arizona is 8-5 when Montgomery starts…
Montgomery’s just been lucky enough that Arizona has averaged 8.33 runs scored in each of those 6 wins, 6.23 runs in each of his starts (and only 4.4 runs in games he doesn’t start)
What did the Diamonds think when they signed Jordan Montgomery unprepared and Eduardo ‘No Show’ Rodriguez?
Good point. He got lucky. I think he’s had good moments. Maybe he’ll be clutch as the season progresses and be valuable down the stretch.
All Boras’ fault too. If they signed somewhere earlier or taken longer cheaper contracts, they may have been in better situations.