The Yankees won’t have Frankie Montas on their opening-day roster. The 29-year-old starting pitcher for New York is expected to miss at least the first month of the 2023 regular season because of inflammation in his shoulder, which remains a shock for many fans who are questioning his trade last year.
Montas was bought from the Oakland Athletics by the New York Yankees last year. He was traded for three pitchers, including the fifth- and ninth-best in the Yankees farm system, and second baseman Cooper Bowman. However, he remained on the injured list for a long time and the problem has not been resolved yet. This is always a worry because it means he could be out for a longer time.
After he signed with the Yankees, Frankie Montas had a hard time living up to what many fans wanted from a starting pitcher. He had a 1-3 record and a 6.35 ERA in eight games for the Yankees and he struck out 33 batters.
The Yankees will miss him right away, though, because he would have made an already strong rotation even better. Now, the team will have to replace Frankie Montas in the rotation with pitchers in their bullpen, such as Domingo German, Clarke Schmidt, Luis Gil, or Deivi Garcia.
Domingo German has been in MLB longer than Clarke Schmidt. He may become the favorite to take over the fifth spot in the pitching rotation when Spring Training starts. German has pitched 413.2 innings in the MLB and has a 26-21 record, a 4.37 earned run average, and 429 strikeouts.
Clarke Schmidt might be a better choice to replace Frankie Montas than German, even though German has more experience. He has a better career performance though he is four years junior to German. This may make the Yankees want to see him putting more of himself.
Schmidt has only pitched 70.1 innings in his three years in the MLB. He has a 5-6 record, a 3.71 ERA, and 69 strikeouts.
Brute force dominated Frankie Montas performance
Frankie Montas has been a good MLB starting pitcher since his first game with the Chicago White Sox in 2015. In his seven years in the Major Leagues, Montas has gone 36-35 with a 3.90 earned run average and 611 strikeouts. Even though his stats don’t jump off the page, if he was healthy, he would be a good fifth starter for the Yankees.
His best year was 2021 when he played for the Oakland Athletics. At the end of the 2021 season, Frankie Montas had a 13-9 record, a 3.37 earned run average, and 207 strikeouts. He came in sixth in the voting for the American League Cy Young Award that year.
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