PHNX Arizona Diamondbacks Podcast - BREAKING: Jordan Montgomery OUT For The Year, Will Undergo Tommy John Surgery

Episode Date: March 25, 2025

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Well, we have breaking news, and it's not the breaking news that any Diamondbacks fan wants to hear. Jordan Montgomery will miss the 2025 season undergoing Tommy John surgery. We have more on this breaking update right now. Don't you go anywhere? We're starting in 30 seconds. I don't like that. Oh, that's that loss music. Welcome into a breaking emergency podcast here, the PHNX DBAX podcast live from Studio K right here at PHNXHQ.

My name is Derek Montia, occasionally known as a profit. and welcome in again to the PHNX Diamondback show. We thank you guys for being here, and this is under not great circumstances, obviously. The breaking news being that Jordan Montgomery told reporters today that he will undergo Tommy John surgery and miss the 2025 season. Now, I was prepared to come in here tomorrow. I was taking today off.

I was going to go with Shane. We got Shane on the ones and twos. Me and him, we're going to go watch a baseball game and just enjoy life for once instead of covering sports all the time. But yet here I am breaking news with Jordan Montgomery going on the aisle. Now, I do have to point out,

thank you, Candice said Derek literally called this, that at one point, I did have the sneaking suspicion that somehow, some way Jordan Montgomery was going to end up on the aisle, and that was going to be essentially the remedy to this problem that the Diamondbacks

had for who makes the starting rotation. I didn't mean this, though. I didn't want this. I didn't want to lose Jordan Montgomery for the year. It explains some things in regards to Jordan Montgomery. Obviously, he missed time early on in spring due to the finger. It could explain a bit of why we've seen the loss of velocity. But here's what Jordan Montgomery had to say as to why he's undergoing this procedure and missing this time. You just kind of tell us what's going on and help for us. Yeah, unfortunately, I'm going to have to go in and get elbow surgery next week.

Tommy John, surgery? Yeah. What happened? Just haven't been recovering very well. Kind of day after that last game, came back, soared and took a day off like I normally do. Next day it was still a little achy. So we pushed my bullpen back. Felt decent the next day.

I mean, kind of just threw through it. Do a pretty good bull. pin, but something was wrong. And they told me, we were just going to get some imaging on it to just, we thought it was just kind of like a joint thing, would get a shot in there, clean it up, and I'd be good. And it was just what in the case. This is devastating news. This is devastating news to the Diamondbacks franchise, especially considering that Jordan

Montgomery still owed $22.5 million for the 2025 season. And overall, this is just a very, very unfortunate end to at least this contract that Jordan Montgomery signed with the debacks. We know what a disappointment last year was outside of a few starts. Montgomery had his worst season of his career. And now this is happening. So, I mean, there's a lot of questions here. There's still not a lot of answers because this is no.

information. Tori, in fact, discussed this right after we spoke to Jordan. And by the way, I did want to say thanks again to Jack Summers from Sports Illustrated for that video there from Jordan Montgomery. This all happened very quickly. So appreciate Jack. Always having my back with that. But here is what Tori had to say in regards to losing Jordan Montgomery for the season. All right. Sorry for me late. We're dealing with a lot right now. I know you guys have been picking up on bits and pieces of that. So let's start off with an injury report. You got the word on Monty. I know he spoke with you guys. You know, he's going to have that procedure. He's going to be lost for the year.

You know, I know he dug into the details a little bit more about that procedure. So it's just really unfortunate that this is happening. I know he worked really hard. You can see by the way he came into camp an unbelievable shape. He worked really hard with his throwing routine in his program to come in here and show us what he could do. and real early the finger flared up on him, and then clearly this is something that just jumped up on him late in camp, and he's gonna be lost for the year. That's just a sad story that that has to be told

for somebody that's been working really, really hard to make something special happen this year. And I heard for the athlete, we all heard for the athlete and the human being. That's just how we do it here, and he'll rebound, but for right now, as we're absorbing this information, and it all came, it was coming up yesterday, and, you know, puts you in a cranky spot and a cranky mood.

But we'll work through it. We're going to work through it with him, and he's going to land on his feet and throw a lot of more, many more big league innings. We were going to have a long discussion on tomorrow's show about what the Diamondbacks had decided to do here in regards to both their bullpen and their starting rotation. Toro Lavello had made the announcement that Brandon fought had made the starting rotation for the fifth spot. He also discussed making a mistake when it came to scheduling

Corbyn Burns and his routine. So now the actual fifth spot goes to Corbyn Burns, oddly enough. But these are things we can get into much more tomorrow because today is mostly about this Jordan Montgomery situation. However, Jordan Montgomery was going to go to the Diamondback's bullpen for long relief, I imagine. So again, not a role. I think that anybody would have preferred here for Jordan Montgomery. I'm sure it's not a role that Tory or the organization would have preferred. I'm sure it's not a role that Jordan would have preferred. But it also at the very least,

this necessity to have Tommy John surgery does feel a little bit like, you know, we there's, there's a cause. There is something there that has caused our beloved slightly used, pre-loved pre-opened

open box Jordan Montgomery to now require Tommy John surgery and miss the 2025 season. The Diamondbacks are lucky. And this doesn't make them lucky. This sucks. But the Diamondbacks are lucky because Mike Hazen and the front office did such a good job at securing the future of this team, essentially, of over stacking the roster to the point where so far up to this point, all spring, we have been discussing what the Diamondbacks were going to do with these extra players. What were

they going to do with all of the talent that they had for the bullpen? What were they going to do with all of the talent that they had for the starting rotation? And in reality, these problems tend to solve themselves throughout 162 game regular season, right? But we didn't even get to that point yet. Here we are a few days before the start of regular season. Opening day is on Thursday. We are right there. We can see the horizon.

And I just want to wrap every single starting pitcher and member of the starting lineup in bubble wrap and put them away until opening day. Because this, we've gone through this. This isn't the first time the Diamondbacks experienced this. Do you remember last year right before opening day? We lost both Eduardo Rodriguez and Paul Seawald, and then we lost Merrill Kelly just shortly after that. So the Diamondbacks right now, I think, you know, what they've gone through, their history, the fact that they've been here before and experienced this before,

very much is the reason why we saw Mike Hazen when that window opened, when that opportunity presented itself to bring Corbyn Burns to the Diamondbacks and give them not just five starting pitchers, not just six, but seven starting pitchers, they jumped on the opportunity. And as Corbyn Burns said, you do not make it through an entire season with just five starting pitchers. Well, they didn't even get to opening day. This is what Tori had to say, though, more in regards to losing Montgomery.

Yeah, I think he's got a pretty good poker face. I know he's hurting on the inside. I know he worked his butt off to make this day. a lot better than it actually was because he wanted to be one of the starting five. He was very determined. So I think, I know that he's got big shoulders, but I know he's in pain. And, you know, I sat down and talked to him in my office this morning not too long ago. And, you know, we shared our frustration.

And I aligned with how he must be feeling at this time. So I know that he went up before you guys and did what he does best. And that's what athletes are trained to do when they're hurting or they have a bad outing, they stand up as proudly as they can, but I know deep down that there's some emotion that he's filmed for sure. We're, you know, everybody's hurting. The first report this morning was that Jordan Montgomery was receiving hugs in the clubhouse, which sent up red flags.

It made people think that Jordan Montgomery had possibly been traded and that this was what we were seeing. Instead, it's devastating news. It's devastating news to the organization because the investment in Jordan Montgomery just flat out didn't work out, right? And that's devastating to Jordan personally, right? This was a very important season for him. It was a very important season for his career, right?

This is a walkier for him, for Merrill Kelly, for Zach Gallen. These guys all have a ton to play for in regards to their own personal career and their own personal bank accounts, right? How much money they're going to make, what kind of contract they're going to potentially sign at the end of the season. This is the worst case scenario for Jordan. And again, the organization, I said it before. I don't even believe a trade could have really rectified this signing of Jordan Montgomery, really at the end of the day.

Most likely the Diamondbacks were going to have to eat money. Most likely they weren't going to get a return that really satisfied, you know, someone you were paying $22.5 million for for 2025. That's why, you know, again, this is worse than even that now at this point. This is worse than that. But Tori Lovelo did say that he had some good candidates for the bullpen. Again, Jordan Montgomery and Ryan Nelson were both going to end up in the bullpenance long relief. Now Montgomery being lost opens up a spot there. But another spot may temporarily be open because Tori Lobolo did tell us that Kevin Ginkle is also going to begin the season on the IL.

Now that is news that you know we hear of PHA next time. And Beck's absolutely hate because a few things in life get us as fired up as Kevin Ginkle on the mound. And he was going to be a big part of those high leverage situations that Tori Lovolo. was planning on utilizing a committee, right? Like, we know that he wasn't going to name a closer before opening day. He was going to wait until the regular season to do so. But, you know, here we are now with the loss of Kevin Ginkle as well. I think, do we have Ginkle?

Here's what Tori had to say about Kevin Ginkle. Big League innings. Kevin Ginkle has right shoulder inflammation as likely headed for the IL. And I'll get you details on that once it's all official. Likely on the IAL means it's 15 days at least, but he's going to work his butt off to get back here. We know how much we need him inside of our bullpen. Kendall Graveman will throw a bullpen on, most likely throw a bullpen on the 1st of April, and Blaze Alexander is continuing all baseball activities just ramping up and building up some tolerance

and hopefully get him back on his feet in the game as soon as possible. So that's what we got. So Kevin Ginkle, Tori was asked if he saw this as a show. short term or long term. Kevin, Tori said that this will be a short term loss. So the Diamondbacks will not lose Kevin Ginkle for too much time. But again, this goes back to the depth that we've been talking about. Ocean View coffee shop in the comment says the D-Backs rotation is still better than most. You're not wrong about that. Not to mention the fact that at the end of the day, the decision was made once again by this franchise, once again by this organization to go with who was going to win them

baseball games. It would have been easy to give, to anoint Jordan Montgomery that final spot in the rotation. And it's what I suspected, I also suspected he could end up on the IL to start the year. That ended up happening. However, they didn't do that. They went with Brandon Fott. They decided to give Brandon Fought the spot. And what's better about this now is it had the same scenario worked out in the same way, but Jordan Montgomery had been given that fifth starting rotation spot. I think there would have been some, you know, bad feelings on Brandon Fought's part. I'm just speculating here, but, you know, again, it's, it's different to win the spot when Jordan Montgomery was still healthy and be given that because he was the better starting

pitcher rather than it being kind of like, oh, well, now we need you because Montgomery went down. So overall, the decisions made end up still making this team the best team that they could be. I think that realistically, Ernesto says here in the chat, the ginkl news was worse to me. And yeah, to be honest, I mean, ginkle won't be lost for a significant period of time. There's that. However, I do feel like a lot of fans probably feel like Kevin Ginkle is more important to this team, potentially than Jordan Montgomery was going to be. I think a lot of people feel like they were still waiting to see what Jordan Montgomery had to offer. There are some very sad things about this, including the fact that when we had Ryan Thompson on here last week, he just got done saying that he watched Jordan Montgomery throw one of the best bullpens he's ever seen a pitcher pitch. And he said it with conviction. And so that to me is the most heartbreaking part because it almost feels like Jordan Montgomery was so close to being ready. Maybe, maybe, you know, maybe the ramping up process is what caused him to require the surgery. Maybe it's just in general, you know, him working too hard.

You know, he did lose a lot of weight. He did work very hard to get himself in the best shape that he could by the beginning of the season. And, you know, again, baseball is just different now, man. I mean, the off season used to be an off season for a reason. and now these guys just don't quit. They don't stop. And unfortunately, the toll that is taken on the body requires something like Tommy John surgery to be had. Again, though, the Diamondbacks are in a good position overall.

I think that the loss of Montgomery is, and I don't want to be callous about this. I really don't. And it might come off as callous. But in a way, it felt like Jordan Montgomery didn't have a place on this team. It felt like at the end of the day, the Diamondbacks had made moves to move on from him and to potentially find a suitor in a trade or make some sort of move or you know honestly maybe even before he opted into his contract fingers crossed that he opted out none of those things happen and they proceeded to give jordan the same opportunity they gave anybody else same opportunity

they get fought nelson and any other pitcher to make that final you know rotation spot and they went with who they felt was going to win them the most baseball games at this point uh monte you know uh he He, like, it felt like he was on the verge of working his way back. It felt like he was on his way of cracking back into that starting rotation. And this just sucks now. But again, the loss of Jordan Montgomery, the loss of Kevin Ginkle temporarily are things that the Diamondbacks can weather due to the, you know, due to the way that they went out this offseason and improve their team.

They also have guys that came back like, you know, Dre Jameson and a few other pitchers who will be a value this season. We'll continue to add to that depth. There's some interesting choices still left in camp as far as who the Diamondbacks might have make their bullpen. One, Shelby Miller might end up making the Diamondbacks bullpen at this point. He's still in camp. The Tory did say during today's press conference

that he did have some congratulatory conversations with players. Some hugs were given out. So guys have been notified that they made the team and those were guys that were on the bubble that most likely weren't going to make the team. So not to mention, we know that there's a big old horde of talent in Reno that the Diamondbacks have optioned over to AAA that are available for this team to improve its depth and continue keeping this team, I guess, in a better position than they were last year. When we look back at the losses to the starting rotation last year, they were filled by guys like Gilbert Diaz. They were filled by guys like Tommy, right? And again, this year, hopefully the Diamondbacks won't require, you know, Christian,

Christian Mena to make a start in order to fill a rotation spot at some point. They really did, they really did have like three flat tires at times last year. And they just kept throwing that, you know, that foam that fixes the tire temporarily into them and kept the car running. And with doing that, they still won 89 baseball games. So I think this team is in a great position to win. would stand the loss of Jordan Montgomery. And again, not to be callous, but you could say that he, again, he didn't really even have a place, right?

I do not want to speculate on him. I don't want to put this out there. But I do feel like there was a chance that Jordan Montgomery might have been very dissatisfied with being in the bullpen this season. There's a chance that he just might have not really, we know he enjoyed his time there. We know, as Ryan Thompson said, it's the place to be, right? But it's also a thing that could have fostered ill will for him. It could have made him, you know, somewhat, I don't want to say toxic, right? But just a disgruntled player to a degree that wasn't really happy with the opportunity he was given.

Not to say that they wouldn't have maybe taken an opportunity to move him back into the starting rotation should that opportunity it present itself. It's just, Tori said it, man. Once they kind of commit to these guys being bullpen guys, they don't really plan on stretching them. back out to be a starting pitcher again. That's the reason why that if we would have seen a guy like Fott go down to Reno, it would have made sense because they would have kept him stretched out. In this case, though, this is very much one of those things where, you know, again, Jordan Montgomery probably would have been, you know, unhappy down there.

So it, the situation overall kind of figured it's what life has a way, you know, and that's kind of what happened. Ernesto says let's trade for Luke Weaver when the Yankee. are out of the race and make it a double redemption arc. I'm down for that. I'm down for that. But I'm also down to go watch baseball. And I'm going to wrap this up now.

And me and Shane are going to go do that exact thing. So first, I want to thank everybody for the birthday wishes. I love you. I appreciate you guys. Second, I want to say, damn you baseball gods for doing this to us once again right before opening day. I honestly wish all the best to Jordan Montgomery in his recovery. And I hope that, you know, again, Tori said it.

He's going to pitch many more innings at a big league level. And, you know, even if it's not for the Diamondbacks, when you get to know these guys as people, you very much want that. You very much want them to have a happy ending to their story. And hopefully Jordan Montgomery could get things back on track in 2026. Unfortunately, for now, it won't be for the Diamondbacks. And it won't be for the Diamondbacks anytime in the foreseeable future. So we'll see how this whole situation with the bullpen plays out. Tori still has some decisions to made, which.

sounds like he made those decisions. He just has to inform all of us of that. Jordan PM says, happy birthday, mayor, your gift is curse of injury, apparently. At least they didn't do this to me on my birthday, right? That was yesterday. So they let me have my day. I had a good time. But anyway, I do appreciate you guys so much. Make sure you follow me on Twitter. I am at cap underscore caveman with a K. My guy, Shane is at Shane Dief. Our show is at PHNX underscore Dvex. But of course, as always, all roads lead to at PHNX underscore on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. We thank you guys for your comments and stopping by.

Maybe I'll see some of you out there for this 1240 start right now. But we're going to run. We're going to go get some hot dogs and some beers. So until next time, which is tomorrow, I'll see you guys. Enjoy your evening. Have a pleasant night. And remember kids, baseball is fun, but it's so much more fun when your team has an incredible amount of depth.