Aug 9, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; New York Mets pitcher Frankie Montas (47) delivers a pitch against the Milwaukee Brewers in the second inning at American Family Field. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images Michael McLoone-Imagn Images

Mets Send Former Yankees Starter to Bullpen

Originally posted on New York Yankees on SI
By Michael Rosenstein | Last updated Aug 13, 2025 11:00 AM ET

The New York Mets had great expectations for Frankie Montas when they signed the right-hander in December to a two-year, $34 million contract. Those expectations went unfulfilled and the former New York Yankees right-hander lost his spot in the Mets rotation.

"(Manager) Carlos Mendoza said Frankie Montas is going to the Mets bullpen. Available beginning Thursday," the New York Post's Joel Sherman reported on X.

Montas has struggled this season, going 3-2 with a 6.38 ERA in eight games (seven starts).

“He’ll be the first one to tell you it’s been a battle for him,” Mendoza said, according to MLB.com's Anthony DiComo . “He’s a competitor. He wants to start. And that’s what we brought him in for, but [he understands] that the results haven’t been there."

Denis Poroy-Imagn Images

Montas started the season on the injured list with a right lat strain. He made his Mets debut in June, but never found the form that once made him a Cy Young contender for the Oakland A's. Montas gave up 15 runs in his last three starts, all Mets losses.

The 32-year-old made his MLB debut in 2015 with the A's. The Athletics sent him to the Yankees before the 2022 trade deadline in the deal which also sent reliever Lou Trivino to the Bronx.

Montas made just nine appearances in a Yankees uniform, missing most of the 2023 season after having shoulder surgery. He signed with the Reds as a free agent before the 2024 season. Cincinnati later fiipped him to the Milwaukee Brewers.

As for his future with the Mets, that is very much up in the air.

"In the short term, the Mets will look for soft landing spots for Montas out of the bullpen," DiComo wrote. "Longer term, it’s unclear how the Mets plan to proceed with Montas, whom they signed to a two-year, $34 million contract last offseason. Montas will still have $17 million left on that contract heading into next season, assuming he does not opt out of the deal."

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