Frankie Goes To Flushing

[bmfc1]

2 years, $34M, player-option after this year.

https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/montafr02.shtmlhttps://www.baseball-reference.com/players/m/montafr02.shtml

[Bob Alpacadaca]

Seeing reports we've signed him to a two-year, $34 million deal.

[Gwreck]

The first of the 3 (4?) starting pitchers the Mets need has been signed.



1 years, $17 million and a player option for 2026 at $17 million.

—-

Seems like another Stearns special: see what they can get off a short term deal. This past year wasn't very exciting (30 starts, 150 Innings, 89 ERA+)

[Centerfield]

I remember playing the Brewers at the end of the season and in the playoffs and thinking man I would love to have some of these pitchers.



Montas was not one of them.



I hope he's the Quintana replacement.

[Edgy MD]

I like that he's good for his 30 starts per year except when he's on the Yankees.

[Centerfield]

All kidding aside, hard to make sense of this. Manaea and Severino had upside. They were gambles but their body of work showed some hope. Hard to see the upside here.



And he's not cheap so this isn't a “nothing to lose” move. And it's not even a one year deal.



I know Stearns has earned some benefit of the doubt. And I'll wait to see who else he brings in. But right now I'm getting Adrian Houser flashbacks.

[Fman99]

=Centerfield post_id=179987 time=1733116062 user_id=65]
All kidding aside, hard to make sense of this. Manaea and Severino had upside. They were gambles but their body of work showed some hope. Hard to see the upside here.



And he's not cheap so this isn't a “nothing to lose” move. And it's not even a one year deal.



I know Stearns has earned some benefit of the doubt. And I'll wait to see who else he brings in. But right now I'm getting Adrian Houser flashbacks.

[DocTee]

He's a Boras agent--maybe this smooths the path to Soto?

[metsmarathon]

hopefully this means we're all set at the 5th man in the rotation....



i am more than a little surprised at how much he's got here. i don't hate the signing per se, but i'm not in love with it either. as with the rest of everything we do this offseason, it all depends on what the rest of the team looks like.

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Yeah seems like a Lotta $. Then again healthy starting pitching ain't cheap

[Lefty Specialist]

Hope Stearns knows something we don't, because on the surface this is a questionable move. Montas isn't that good.

[MFS62]

I'm underwhelmed, bordering on whelmed.

Later

[metirish]

Yeah, not really liking this move

[Edgy MD]

There's an old and ugly adage that comes up when a Hollywood big shot gets into trouble with a prostitute scandal hitting the tabloids. People wonder why a guy would be dropping all that money on paid sex when half of America would be banging his door down, and the response is something along the lines of, "He's not paying 'em for the sex; he's paying 'em to leave."



I get the idea that Stearns likes his starting pitching the way Charlie Sheen likes his romantic liasons — short-term, easy to move on from, no entanglements when things go south, no strings attached. It's cold and calculating and not particularly classy and hard to connect with, but it works for him, and Frankie Montas is easy to sneak out the back door if and when Blade Tidwell surprises him with a big breakfast.

[MFS62]

Nice theory.(and analogy)

Mine is he said he wants to build an organization from the ground up, and this is what he found on the ground.



Later

[Centerfield]

Some more thoughts on this.



His contract of 2 years, $34M is significantly higher than his MLB Trade Rumors prediction of 2 years, $22M. Of course, that is just a prediction on a random fan website, but their predictions have been pretty good. They were right on the money with Kikuchi, and much closer with Boyd (2 years, $25M versus his actual of 2 Years, $29M). I understand that more signings can indicate that the market is hotter than it currently looks, but as of now, Montas is the outlier.



I tried to justify the signing in my head by saying he's likely the Quintana replacement. The problem is, he's not close to being as productive as Quintana was for the Mets (3.70 ERA, 1.268 WHIP). And with Quintana available, I wonder why Quintana wouldn't have been a better bet to replace his own innings. Going into his age 36 season, you'd have to think he'd be available on a short term deal as well.



So as of right now, it looks like we signed a guy who hasn't been good in years, doesn't really have a high upside, recently had season-ending shoulder surgery, and we overpaid to get him while plenty of good options were still available. Which I guess must mean that there must be something specifically about Montas that David Stearns likes.



I can't guess at what that might be. But he did have a better WHIP with Milwaukee than he did since he left Oakland (1.256). And his ERA for Milwaukee was maybe inflated by one bad start he had against Arizona. So maybe there's something there. Stearns has earned the benefit of the doubt with the work he did with Severino and Manaea. Let's just hope Montas isn't a more expensive Houser.

[smg58]

I could justify the salary if it was a team option and not a player option. But this just strikes me as being overly generous towards a so-so player.. I think I'd sooner take my chances with Butto in the rotation.

[Edgy MD]

Thanks for giving the Frankenpitcher his own thread. Nu Met acquisitions deserve as much.

[MFS62]

Edgy MD wrote: Thanks for giving the Frankenpitcher his own thread. Nu Met acquisitions deserve as much.

We hope this will be the first, with many better ones to follow.

Later

[Edgy MD]

Well, I can only speak for myself, but I hope the acquisitions the Mets have already made get their own threads.

[Fman99]

Cubs getting Matthew Boyd (as per sources) for 2 years and $29 million. And unlike Frankie, he was good at baseball last year. So what the hell

[MFS62]

=Fman99 post_id=180041 time=1733173164 user_id=86]
Cubs getting Matthew Boyd (as per sources) for 2 years and $29 million. And unlike Frankie, he was good at baseball last year. So what the hell

[Benjamin Grimm]

Stearns inherited Ottavino and Quintana. Manaea came from the Giants.

[MFS62]

Benjamin Grimm wrote: Stearns inherited Ottavino and Quintana. Manaea came from the Giants.

Manaea had been in the Al for 6 of his 8 previous seasons.

But has he acquired any players who played most of their careers in the NL?

I can't think of any.



Later

[Edgy MD]

Of course he has — Adrian Houser, Tyrone Taylor, Jesse Winker, among others.

[ashie62]

Yes Montas does seem a bit steep at $34 million



I didn't think much of Manaea when he was acquired, injured and ineffective much of the time. To say it worked out well is an understatement



Why can't Frankie Montas do the same? You don't know



NY Post has connected the Mets with Walker Buehler. He looked dang skippy against the Mets in October



You almost need to sign four or five starters and hope mud sticks to a couple via magnet fishing

[Cowtipper]

Manaea

Severino

Quintana

Montas <--- probably where we can expect Montas' output to fall



Not a great signing.

[Edgy MD]

Well, it's been suggested that none of the above were particularly rated any higher a year ago. How accurate that is, I haven't checked out, but it's true enough to state that they tended to produce performances beyond their projections.



The 2025 rotation at this moment looks like this:

• Kodai Senga


• David Peterson


• Frankie Montas


• Tylor Megill


• Paul Blackburn

Obviously, a lot of cards have yet to be turned, with Paul Blackburn's availability at the start of the season being questionable, and possibly trending toward doubtful.

[metirish]

Looking at that rotation we need a #1 type and a #2

[Johnny Lunchbucket]

Rocky Sosocky and Manaea for me