Frankie Montas reveals he wasn’t 100 percent healthy after getting dealt to Yankees

Frankie Montas reveals he wasn’t 100 percent healthy after getting dealt to Yankees

One of the biggest splashes in last year’s MLB Trade Deadline was when the New York Yankees acquired former Oakland Athletics starter Frankie Montas, along with reliever Lou Trivino, for prospects JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Cooper Bowman and Luis Medina. At the time, New York was expecting to slot him behind Gerrit Cole in the rotation in hopes of pushing them over the top in the postseason.

That ultimately didn’t end up being the case.

Montas posted a 6.35 ERA (62 ERA+) with a 4.93 FIP in 39.2 innings with New York. He struck out only 17.8 percent of his batters — compared to 25.8 strikeout rate in Oakland over his previous 19 starts — while walking 8.1 percent of batters. He surrendered four or more runs in five of his eight starts, including three of his last four.

Montas eventually underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery in February and revealed Wednesday morning that his shoulder was still bothering him when he was traded, even though he still played through the nagging shoulder issue.

“I was like eh-eh. I wasn’t fully 100 percent,” Montas said. “I was trying to pitch through it. Of course I got traded to a new team, I wanted to show what I can do. Things didn’t go the way I was expecting. 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.”

He ended the season with a 4.05 ERA in 27 starts, including 3.78 FIP with 142 strikeouts in 144.1 innings. Montas is now two seasons removed from finishing in the top-six in the AL Cy Young voting after posting a 3.32 ERA in 32 starts in his last full season with Oakland.

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The soon-to-be 30-year-old was ultimately placed on the injured list in mid-September and made only one postseason appearance last season. Because of the offseason surgery, he will miss the start of the 2023 season because of his shoulder surgery. Though Montas still believes he will still pitch for the Yankees this season.

“This was a thing I had to take care of,” Montas said. “I don’t have control of it. Of course, trust me, I’m one of the guys that wants to be out there pitching right now and showing what I can do. But things didn’t work out that way, so just trying to rehab and come back so I can help with whatever they want me to do.

“Oh yeah, no doubt,” he said. “I’ll for sure be back this season.”

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