Just under a year ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks made a Cinderella run to the World Series, ultimately losing to the Texas Rangers. This season, they've missed the playoffs completely, blowing a seven-game lead in the NL Wild Card.

As you can imagine, the vibes aren't great right now in the D-Backs clubhouse. They weren't consistent enough in 2024 and that resulted in missing out on October baseball. Unfortunately, the finger-pointing is already beginning, too.

Diamondbacks owner Ken Kendrick put the signing of Jordan Montgomery on blast on Tuesday, blaming himself for recommending the idea to the front office before the lefty struggled immensely in the desert.

Via The Burns and Gambo Show:

“Looking back, in hindsight, a horrible decision to have invested that money in a guy that performed as poorly as he did. It was or biggest mistake this season from a talent standpoint. And I'm the perpetrator of that.”

Some very harsh words from Kendrick. Montgomery didn't sign until late in spring training and as a result, didn't get the chance to actually log innings before the campaign began, similar to Blake Snell. But Snell figured things out, while Montgomery didn't. The veteran went 8-7 with an atrocious 6.23 ERA in 25 appearances (21 starts).

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That's a far cry from how the Diamondbacks southpaw performed last season with the Rangers in the second half en route to a World Series title. Arizona saw how good he was in the Fall Classic and likely thought they were getting that same dominance, but it didn't happen. Montgomery signed a two-year deal with the D-Backs but there's a player option in 2025. Needless to say, he probably won't be back.

It's hard for Montgomery to make excuses for how poorly he pitched. However, he voiced his frustration with agent Scott Boras because the lefty was unsigned until nearly Opening Day, claiming Boras “butchered” a chance to sign with the Red Sox:

“I had a Zoom call with (the Red Sox), that’s really all I know. It went good,” Jordan Montgomery said. “I don’t know, obviously Boras kind of butchered it, so I’m just trying to move on from the offseason and try to forget it.”

Montgomery now has new representation and they will likely need to find him a new home in '25, based on Kendrick's comments. Yikes.