Bob Nightengale is one of the most well-known figures in all of baseball media, and the MLB analyst recently discussed the Arizona Diamondbacks’ struggles. With Corbin Burnes out for the remainder of the season, the D-Backs have their work cut out for them if they hope to make the postseason. Nightengale took a look at their pitching numbers, which led to some glaring issues.
Arizona Diamondbacks Wasted Money on Pitchers
Both Burnes and Jordan Montgomery have undergone Tommy John surgery, something that is completely out of their control. With Montgomery having a horrific 2024 season, he’s going to miss this entire 2025 slate due to surgery. Burnes was off to a pretty fantastic start in 2025, but his season was cut short after he said his elbow gave out.
“My elbow’s gone. It’s dead”
-Corbin Burnes….
(Great job clipping this up @ReallyDanWeiner) pic.twitter.com/B0FcIH0ZRp— Goldschmidt Happened (@GoldyHappens) June 1, 2025
Nightengale discussed not just Burnes and Montgomery, but he also analyzed Eduardo Rodriguez and Madison Bumgarner. While Bumgarner isn’t on the team anymore, he still took a significant chunk of change from the organization.
Back in 2019, Bumgarner signed a five-year, $85 million deal to play in Arizona. He started 69 games throughout the course of his contract, going 15-32 with a 5.23 ERA in that stretch. A pitcher’s win-loss record isn’t always indicative of their success, but it’s clear that Bumgarner didn’t have anything left in the tank, and he was well past his prime.
Rodriguez signed a similar contract, one that was good for four years and $80 million. While his record wasn’t nearly as bad, 4-7 isn’t going to cut it with an ERA that sits at 5.99. Those numbers are combined from his first two seasons, but Rodriguez has arguably regressed from 2024 to 2025. Last season, he started ten games, going 3-4 with a 5.04 ERA. In 2025, he’s 1-3 in ten starts with a 6.70 ERA.
Montgomery’s 2024 season was nothing short of a disaster, and to follow up on that, he’s going to miss all of 2025. His two-year, $47.5 million contract will go down as a complete failure as the team has once again wasted a large majority of money on a pitcher’s contract that hasn’t turned out to be successful. Last year, he went 8-7 in his 21 starts with a 6.23 ERA. Don’t let his win-loss record fool you, as Montgomery had a -1.4 WAR.
In those three contracts alone, the D-Backs have wasted $212.5 million for a combined 27-46 record. The ERA of all three pitchers was above 5.00, which doesn’t do a team any favors. No matter how much power they have on offense, there isn’t much the players can do to make up for pitchers who are allowing that many runs per game. It’s too early to say the Burnes deal is a bust, but losing him is yet another dent in the pitching staff.