Ex-Yankee Frankie Montas Signs with Reds
Frankie Montas is no longer a New York Yankee.
The 30-year-old right-handed pitcher has agreed to a deal with the Cincinnati Reds, according to Jon Heyman of the New York Post. Full details of the contract are still to come, although Heyman added that the deal is “in the $15 million-$16 million range”.
Montas had finished sixth in 2021 American League Cy Young voting with the Oakland Athletics, and was traded (alongside reliever Lou Trivino) to the Yankees at the 2022 trade deadline for pitchers J.P. Sears, Ken Waldichuk, and Luis Medina, and infielder Cooper Bowman.
Unfortunately, Montas’s Yankee tenure was plagued by injuries. For the rest of the 2022 season, he pitched through shoulder inflammation and went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA.
2023 was even worse, as Montas wouldn’t even take the mound for the Bronx Bombers until the penultimate game of the season against the Kansas City Royals on September 30. Originally said to miss the first month of the season, Montas underwent labrum cleanup surgery in February, which sidelined him for 99% of the Yankees’ 2023 campaign.
In the end, Montas made just 10 appearances with the Yankees, and recorded a 6.21 ERA, falling far below his lofty expectations.
The Yankees had shown interest in bringing Montas back on a one-year “prove it” deal, but they will have to look elsewhere after the Reds beat them to the punch.
