Montas to Mets: À la Manaea Special
New York – The Mets made more moves this week to address gaps in their pitching staff – Adding 31-year-old pitcher Frankie Montas to the rotation à la “Sean Manaea Special.” Pending a physical, the right-handed pitcher and the club have agreed to a $34 million two-year deal – This comes with a player opt-out after the first season.
Welcome to Queens, Frankie Montas! 🗽 pic.twitter.com/cYmyM0XoeT
— SNY Mets (@SNY_Mets) December 2, 2024
Having struggled with a shoulder injury in previous seasons, the righty put up a 7-11 record with an ERA of 4.84 over 150.4 IP with the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers in 2024. The new addition to the staff brings a five-pitch mix; including an above-average-velo fastball, and an a-plus splitter.
Mets’ President of Baseball Operations David Stearns has previously voiced a priority for short-term deals to address gaps noticed in the 2024 season, with a heightened focus on their pitching – Both starters and relievers – Alluding to the structure around a long-term-franchise-sign like OF Juan Soto and/or 1B Pete Alonso. Mets’ advanced scouting has deemed Montas a worthy addition.
Frankie Montas in 2024:
7-11
150.2 IP
148 K
4.84 ERAWhat you are looking at right here is a prototypical David Stearns move, taking a chance on a guy with high upside coming off of a down year. pic.twitter.com/mJNPntIYSc
— MetsMuse (@MetsMuse) December 2, 2024
Master Class
While the Montas signing comes as a bit of a surprise, given Mets fans were hoping to bring back [at least one] of their now available starters from last season – Sean Manaea, Luis Severino, and/or Jose Quintana – We’ve got to remember we are witnessing the #DavidStearnsMasterClass. As it is widely known across the league, the Stearns/Cohen Duo have plenty of money to spend and have sights set on building out this team to get even further than the previous season – You can’t really expect them to stop here.
There is a bit of a mixed bag of opinions with this one – But let us not forget about a similar tone regarding the addition of Luis Severino as a league veteran with some struggle/off-seasons, who proved to be a very nice fit for the Mets all the way through their 2024 postseason run. Especially with the variety of strong pitching available in the market, a short-term “inflated value” contract is a strategic approach for attracting some of those ring-chasing veterans for a career resurgence in Queens. There is still so much out there that the Mets will go after.
