Mets' injured starter wisely deemed worst player on team this season

Which player on the New York Mets has been their worst player this season?

Jul 13, 2022; Atlanta, Georgia, USA; A detailed view of a New York Mets hat and glove in the dugout against the Atlanta Braves in the eighth inning at Truist Park. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

With just six games left in the regular season, the New York Mets no longer control their destiny to make the playoffs and will be heading on the road to finish the year. With six games left against the Chicago Cubs and the Miami Marlins, the Mets need to find a way to build some momentum quickly. 

It has been a terrible extended stretch for the Mets, who were at one point one of the best teams in baseball this campaign. The team's collapse has been shocking, and a lot of the blame has gone on the starting rotation. 

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This was a unit that, in the beginning of the year, was one of the best in baseball. They helped spark New York to a hot start, but things have come crashing down of late. Due to the struggles of many of their pitchers, the rotation has a completely different look to them since the start of the year, mostly for the worse.

Fortunately, some of the young arms that they have recently called up have provided a bit of a spark for the team, and they will be hoping that the trio of right-handers can help push them into the playoffs. But at the same time, the pitching staff is an area that needs to be addressed over the winter, and not in the way that president of baseball operations David Stearns typically constructs them.

One of their top free-agent signings from last offseason has been a culprit for their struggles and is also shaping up to be a dreadful decision.

Frankie Montas Has Been a Massive Failure

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Kerry Miller of Bleacher Report recently wrote about the worst player on every major league team this season. For the Mets, Miller's selection was their injured starter, Frankie Montas.

Over the winter, New York saw a lot of change in their starting rotation as Luis Severino and Jose Quintana departed in free agency. Those two, along with Sean Manaea (who was re-signed by the team), helped the Mets overachieve based on expectations and propelled them into the NLCS. However, despite making the biggest splash in free agency in signing Juan Soto to boost the lineup, New York made no significant splashes to improve the rotation.

One of their top signings was Montas, who has shown ace potential with the Athletics earlier in the decade but was wildly inconsistent and often injured over the past couple of years; the right-hander totaled a 4.84 ERA last season with the Cincinnati Reds and the Milwaukee Brewers. New York still signed him to a two-year, $34 million contract, and that deal has proven to be an unmitigated disaster.

Montas would not make his first start with the Mets until June due to a lat strain in spring training. He wouldn't be healthy for long, pitching in only nine games (seven starts) before undergoing Tommy John surgery. Even when healthy, the 32-year-old was completely ineffective, totaling a 6.28 ERA. 

The signing at the time didn’t make too much sense, as it continued the Mets' reliance on pitcher upside rather than proven results; instead, they paid Montas $17 million to be the worst player on the team, and with the right-hander out for 2026 as well, it has been one of their worst moves in recent memory.