The Yankees bought damaged goods with a no-return policy.
Frankie Montas came to the Bronx in a trade with the Oakland A’s in July of last season. However, the 29-year-old was not at full strength as he is nursing a shoulder injury.
“I wasn’t 100 percent,” Montas told reporters Wednesday morning at the Yankees’ springfield complex in Tampa. “I tried to get through it. Of course I was traded to a new team, I wanted to show what I can do.
“Things didn’t go as I expected. But I’m here to try to help this team and go out there and show what I can really do when I’m healthy.”
It was clear Montas wasn’t the same pitcher after donning the pinstripes while struggling to a 6.35 ERA in eight starts with the Yankees.
The shoulder discomfort continued throughout the season and into the end it led to his February 21st surgery.
If all goes well, Montas could return sometime in the second half of 2023. The righty is in the midst of a 12-week layoff before he can begin a throwing program. Montas has no doubt he will pitch this season.
“Oh yeah, without a doubt, I’ll definitely be back this season,” Montas said Wednesday. “[Shoulder surgery] it was something I had to take care of, I had no control over it. Of course, believe me, I’m one of the guys who wants to launch now and show what I can do. But things didn’t work out that way, so I tried to rehab and come back so I could help with whatever they wanted me to do.”
to trade time that sent Ken Waldichuck, Luis Medina, JP Sears and Cooper Bowman to Oakland, Montas was considered one of the two best pitchers available – along with Luis Castillo, who was traded from the Reds to the Mariners.
Montas made his final start for the Yankees on September 16 in Milwaukee against the Brewers before being sidelined with “shoulder inflammation”. The Dominican native returned briefly to pitch one inning out of the bullpen in Game 1 of the ALCS at Minute Maid Park in Houston, where he immediately gave up a homer to Jeremy Pena.
Before the trade that brought the hard-throwing starter to the Yankees, he was dominant as the A’s ace. In 2021, he posted a 3.37 ERA in 32 starts, topping triple figures, with his fastball and a splitter white. Even closer to the trade date, Montas owned a 3.18 ERA in 19 starts just before the Aug. 2 deadline.
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