Jordan Montgomery Moved To Bullpen As Diamondbacks Go With Ryne Nelson As Starter

Ryan Nelson will stay in the starring rotation while Montgomery will be moved to the pen that announcement was made today that news was broke by uh Steve Gilbert from mlb.com and and uh our of course our guy over at AC Central uh Nick Pororo but uh Tori called it one of the hardest conversations he's ever had to have and it's understandable especially considering someone of Jordan mcgomery stature someone of his pedigree as a starting pitcher and honestly I think the thing that surprises of us about this move is someone of his contract right like we know that the right move was to put Ryan Nelson in the starting rotation I don't think there was any doubt about that but we knew that based on the obligation they've made they kind of were in a position where they kind of had to do it uh apparently Tori wanted Jordan to kind of process it today and then start working on how he can contribute out of the bullpen tomorrow but this is like a real thing where Jordan MCG who hasn't been a relief pitcher is going to have to kind of figure it out now figure out how to get loose with a significant less amount significantly less amount of time and how to still contribute to this team uh considering that he is being moved out the starting rotation yeah and I I love Tori and I don't I'm not going to say that he's not being genuine when he says that because I think that this is the truth but I feel like every time Tori has like a difficult conversation he comes to the media and he's like that was the toughest I've ever had in my entire life because because in the moment it it actually is like the guy the guy really cares about the mental well-being I think of his players and so whatever is the current situation is is whatever is at the Forefront of his mind but it was the right decision and you know I think the Diamondbacks have shown the last couple Seasons that they can be Cutthroat with these kind of moves they did it with bum Garner who wasn't necessarily you know like the easiest guy to get along with so I think that might one might have been a little bit easier but they've done it with sending you know blae and Alec down and Jake last year and I mean they're they're they don't mess around with this stuff Carson Kelly DFA Nick Ahmed so like they're it's it's a it as a fan it's it's proof that they care first and foremost about winning baseball games and it's hard to you know it like really like it's it's it's nice it's a nice feeling as a fan because typically a small market franchise like the Diamondbacks they wouldn't be the the money decisions a lot of times outweigh those on field decisions but the Diamondbacks are proving that they they they don't care about that they're they're willing to do what it takes uh Michael in the chat says it's because tor's job is on the line if he doesn't make those decisions I mean yes but tor's job is not on the line don't get it twisted that's just what crazy fans think when they lose a baseball game and they think Tori should be fired like Tori LED this team that was way ahead of schedule to the World Series last year and despite the fact that there's three dudes on Twitter that want to constantly tweet us and tell us how they got to the world spies in spite of Tori not because of him you're wrong and it's because tor's an excellent manager and he does a great job young Talent it's such a crazy take right every button right the entire playoffs to get us there like I mean it was a managing master class in the postseason last year and he's not he doesn't always make the right decisions we we called him out today we were like hey why is Kevin GLE pitching kind of seems like a weird move right and and people in the chat actually had good reasons we didn't get a chance to like go to some of them but I think they said because GLE was already warming up when all of that like when when the sixth and seventh inning happened and everything kind of blew up so yeah it's it's understandable like you didn't know it was going to be a blowout at that point you still wanted your your high leverage guy in there to kind of hold a close game close but you know it's that that's it right in hindsight a jack like me and you can get on this show and be like why didn't you use GLE right I mean that's the way it is it's much easier to do that uh go try playing MLB the show right if you get one of those guys warming up what you're supposed to sit him down now and bring another guy up do you have enough time for that is your one guy's little meter gonna run out before then like that's the way it kind of works in real life too but uh I will say this is that in regards to this situation I'm sure the front office was involved as well I'm sure this decision wasn't entirely on Tori especially considering the fact that they spending $25 million a year on Jordan mcgomery and the fact that he has a player option for next year there's things there's decisions that go beyond the manager and in this case this was the right decision period right and honestly Jordan mcgomery today spoke to the media and he had a quote that if you kind of take a look at it I mean I don't know it kind of sums up maybe how Jordan mcgomery feels about being here in Arizona altogether Jordan mcgomery spoke to Mac I believe it's cillo could be Sero suruyo but Max cillo of the Boston Herald and Jordan mcgomery said this in regards to his free agency obviously Boris kind of butchered it so I'm trying to move on from the offseason and try to forget it yeah I mean it's it's pretty pretty uh Frank into the point isn't it like he's not he's not right he went he I mean this this directly addresses the reason why he moved on from Scott Boris as his agent and again this is one of those situations where all things considered you know like this obviously is not something he's over right I mean you you you you could also get a sense yeah he's thinking about it a lot you also get the sense of Jordan mcgomery seems to make a lot of excuses at times for things and doesn't really seem to be the kind of person that can just kind of put things behind him and move on right I haven't noticed that chase Field's so hot and humid Damon I mean it actually is I'm going to back him up on that the place is not great sometimes and I work there summer and it's baseball it's hot and humid in a lot of places a lot of places that don't have a roof and don't have air conditioning because they're an open Park Stadium right so it's like yes that's I I don't I don't want to get stuck on the humidity thing I do want to get stuck on this though I want to get stuck on the fact that he is obviously like upset right and this is not you know an ideal situation for him I don't even know what's going to what the future is going to hold the other day we were talking about this situation and I discussed moving him to the bullpen in a way that would upset him and maybe cause him to opt out of his player deal next year and maybe that's the best for everybody right maybe maybe even though he might not make $25 million somewhere else he might make 20 million a year for like three years somewhere else I don't know I don't know what his value is going to be I'm sure there's going to be people believe in him you take a look at his stats for his career and this is a a the worst of his career right Jordan mcgomery is a better pitcher than this period he's just not pitching like that now and the idea here is that the Diamondbacks cannot let the fact that they are paying him $25 million stand in the way of them winning baseball games now and possibly winning a championship now and that money is spent regardless that money is is spent if he's out there shoving or if he's not but luckily they do have a guy that shoving they don't need Jordan mcgomery in the starting rotation because someone is pitching much better than him and that is Ryan Nelson when you talk about Ryan Nelson's numbers for the season they may not be that great but they're still better than Jordan mcgomery you're talking about 95 Innings pitched a 6.44 ER a 4.57 FIP a 315 opponent batting average and 67 strikeouts for Jordan mcgomery to Ryan Nelson's 124 Innings pitched a 435 ra a 3o 62 FIP a 271 opponent batting average and 101 strikeouts right that's their season numbers but Damon the last eight starts the last eight starts are pretty damning in the last eight starts Jordan mcgomery has a 7.11 erra in the last eight starts Ryan Nelson has a 2.73 erra Montgomery has 28 strikeouts to Nelson's 55 and when you talk about opponent batting average 20 opponent batting average for Ryan Nelson to Jordan Montgomery's 325 opponent batting average like there these these two things are not the same they're not the same and there's no reason why when we are coming down the stretch we are here on August 23rd they I believe they said they have 32 games left to play you can't around and find out about Jordan mcgomery anymore you have to go with the hot hand you have to go with Ryan Nelson right the Diamondbacks have been very lucky about so many other things but they have not been very lucky when it comes to acquiring starting pitchers through fre agency lefties that's probably the thing that they are snake bitten the most about right so uh it's it sucks and I think that the one thing that this team continues to do well is to cut their losses on guys no matter how important that guy is to them either either you know in the front office they think that this is a key member of the franchise moving forward or the fact they're spending $25 million on him this year right they they are not letting anybody get in the way of them winning over the last two seasons and that already got them to the World Series last year and right now it got them another win tonight with Ryan Nelson on the mound and I feel like that was the best decision it's just shocking that it was made because all of us thought at the end of the day that money was going to control this situation more than Common Sense yeah I think with so I'm the type of guy where when it comes to players answering questions I appreciate their honesty like I T I try not to go after an athlete who says something that that really like you know bothers the the the masses when they it's an answer that they don't like just because they were trying to be honest when they when they answered that question sure but in this circumstance to me this screams I'm not over it and I'm thinking about it all the time and and that I think that there's something to be said that maybe that's impacting his performance this season because I like he's going back to Boston he almost signed with the Red Sox on a longer term deal and and Boris kind of you know blew it right but there's as an athlete in that situation I think it's a lot easier to just be like yeah it is what it is and you know I'm focused on trying to win baseball games with the current team that I'm on because we're contending to win a World Series this year that's our aspiration and you know he he chose the other route of of being like yeah the my agent really screwed it up and I think it's just it's obvious to me that this is where his mind is at and it's it's I I get it it's like it's a lot of money and it's it's generational wealth and he has a family and he wants to support them so it's understandable it's he's a human but it's at the same time it's like it's it's I think it I'd be I'd be lying to myself if I was saying that I didn't think it was impacting his performance at all I'll say this man um really at the end of the day I know there's probably a lot of teams that passed on giving him what Scott Boris was asking for and we don't live in that reality to know what he would have pitched like had he got that deal we live in this reality but there is probably a lot of teams that are like going W when it comes to the thought that they were going to give him maybe five six years and a whole ton of money to come be to play for their team and again we don't know what he would have pitched like had that deal happened we don't know what his mental state would have been like maybe if he was happy maybe if he was pitching in a place with less humidity and a better better air conditioning system maybe he would be you know absolutely killing it right now but we live in this reality where Jordan mcgomery is now the highest paid reliever in Major League Baseball surpassing Edwin Diaz's contract of $19.7 million uh with his $ million deal that's where we're at but you know what like I said the money's been spent I you're invested either way so why not go for the player that's going to bring you the wins no matter what their paycheck is rather than the guy that right now is is just been struggling and that's you know a 7.11 ra in his last eight starts that does not play as Jesse Freeman would probably say but no it doesn't at [Music] all we all sitting like the mayor sh