Mets manager reveals rehab status of Frankie Montas and Sean Manaea

While Mendoza stated that Manaea is still "earlier" in the process, Montas is approaching the end of his rehab assignment and has yet to see any encouraging results.

Montas has put strung multiple concerning starts in a row, and despite his improving health, the Mets will have a difficult decision to make when he's ready to return. According to Mendoza, the righty will have one more start in Triple-A before the team comes to this decision.

"We haven't seen the results, but physically he continues to say he's fine," Mendoza said.

In his latest start, Montas went just 1.2 innings, allowing seven hits and eight earned runs on 53 pitches. He also allowed his eighth home run in the last three games and only managed one strikeout. In five rehab starts, the 32-year-old has a 13.17 ERA and 10 Ks across 13.2 innings.

In his early starts, the results weren't nearly as important as reaching his pitch counts without setback. But now that Montas's ramp-up period is over and he is nearing the end of the rehab stint, his inability to produce outs is certainly concerning.

According to Will Sammon, Montas said he would be open to any role that would help the club when he returns. He added that he feels the rehab process went well, saying it is "the strongest [his] arm and shoulder has felt in a while."

With Paul Blackburn struggling in his relief appearance on Friday night, perhaps Montas could serve as the long-man out of the pen and Blackburn could move back into the starting rotation. Results aside, both Mendoza and David Stearns have reaffirmed the importance of seeing progress in the health of both Montas and Manaea before forecasting their return to the big league roster.