After making an unexpected run to the World Series a year ago, the Arizona Diamondbacks looked to add to their roster in the hopes of building a consistent contender.
Instead, the D-backs find themselves missing out on the playoffs after some of the team's more notable names failed to have the expected impact.
Team owner Ken Kendrick knows exactly whom to blame for at least one of those moves: himself.
"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 [the front office's] 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."
Montgomery joined the Diamondbacks on a one-year deal worth $25 million that features an option for next season, but struggled this year, going 8-7 with a 6.23 ERA and spent time in the bullpen.
He was coming off a year in which he went 10-11 with a 3.20 ERA splitting time with the St. Louis Cardinals and Texas Rangers and was a key part of the rotation as the Rangers went on to win the franchise's first World Series title.
Signed by Arizona in March, Montgomery was the last of the major free agents to sign in the offseason after a softer-than-expected market developed and forced some players, many of them clients of agent Scott Boras, to sign short-term deals. Montgomery fired Boras soon after signing with the Diamondbacks.