Pitcher admits he wasn't fully healthy when Yankees traded for him

New York Yankees pitcher Frankie Montas will not be ready for the start of the 2023 season after offseason shoulder surgery, and he admitted this week that he was not fully healthy when the team acquired him at the 2022 MLB trade deadline from the Oakland A's. 

“I wasn’t fully 100 percent," said Montas, via Greg Joyce of the New York Post. "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."

Montas was one of the top starting pitchers available at the trade deadline with the Yankees hoping he could be their No. 2 starter in the playoffs behind staff ace Gerrit Cole. In his first eight starts with the team, Montas went just 1-6 with a disappointing 6.35 ERA, and he was shut down in mid-September due to shoulder inflammation. 

He had a 3.18 ERA with Oakland prior to arriving with the Yankees. 

Montas will not resume throwing for at least another nine to 10 weeks, but he remains confident he will pitch this season.

He is a pending free agent after the 2023 season so it remains possible that his time with the Yankees will be very brief and perhaps very disappointing given the price they paid to acquire him. The Yankees traded prospect Ken Waldichuk for Montas, who ended up outperforming Montas down the stretch with a 4.93 ERA and striking out 33 batters in 34 innings while walking only 10 batters. 

Even with Montas sidelined, the Yankees starting pitching staff should still be in good hands with Cole and offseason addition Carlos Rodon at the top of the rotation. A healthy and effective Montas would simply make it a lot better.