Yankees’ Frankie Montas drops truth bomb about health

When the New York Yankees acquired Frankie Montas from the Oakland Athletics, they believed he would be an integral part to the World Series push. Montas was fantastic with Oakland before heading over to the Bronx, hosting a 3.18 ERA, 3.20 xFIP, 9.37 strikeouts per nine, and a 73.6% left-on-base rate across 104.2 innings. He expected to fit right into the Yankees’ starting rotation and help them win games during the postseason, but he was knocked out prematurely due to a shoulder issue.

In fact, Montas posted a 6.35 ERA across 39.2 innings with the Yanks, certainly unexpected numbers that didn’t transition over from Oakland. Months later, the Yankees shut down Montas before spring training even started, indicating he will miss the majority of the 2023 season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery to fix his shoulder.

It wasn’t until Wednesday morning of this week that Montas indicated he was never 100% healthy after being acquired by the Yankees, which should certainly raise some questions about the team’s medical staff and the process they went through to confirm his bill of health at the deadline.

“wasn’t 100%” when the Yankees acquired him. “I was trying to push through. I got traded to a new team and wanted to show what I could do. Things didn’t go the way I was expecting.”

Per Bryan Hoch of MLB.com.

The Yankees whiffed badly on the Frankie Montas deal:

The fact that Frankie wasn’t 100% and was still trying to push through the injury is a massive concern, especially since the Bombers gave up one of their top pitching prospects in the process. Now, it seems as if they gave them away for nothing since Montas will miss most of the upcoming season. He is still optimistic about his chances of appearing this year, potentially in August, but who’s to say he won’t need weeks to reach full strength and find his groove?

One way or another, the Yanks walked away from that deal on the wrong side, as general manager Brian Cashman once again struck out trying to land a big-name player.