Yankees' Frankie Montas to have shoulder surgery, may miss entire 2023 season
TAMPA, Fla. — More teams than the Yankees were interested in Frankie Montas before last season’s Aug. 2 trade deadline.
But some of those teams were scared off by the shoulder issues the righthander dealt with earlier in the season while with the A’s, not fully convinced the injury was behind him.
The Yankees were not scared off and, to this point, the decision to deal for Montas has been the baseball version of a train wreck.
Montas, 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts with the Yankees before he went on the IL in mid-September with right shoulder inflammation, will undergo arthroscopic surgery on the shoulder Feb. 21, and “best case he would be back late” this season, manager Aaron Boone said Wednesday.
Boone spoke for nearly 30 minutes — report day for Yankees pitchers and catchers — in his spring training kickoff news conference, with much of the first part taken up by the Montas news, which the sixth-year manager disclosed at the start when asked about his condition.
The Yankees were convinced at the time of the trade they had not acquired damaged goods, but Boone acknowledged Wednesday the thought had crossed his mind.
“We knew when we traded for him that he had missed time with the shoulder, but that’s the nature of a pitcher though, they’re able to get back on the mound,” Boone said. “Pitchers will go, sometimes their entire career with, if you examined them on the MRI from a shoulder standpoint, there’s labrum issues, there’s rotator cuff issues, but things they’re able to pitch with all the time. Obviously having dealt with a shoulder situation and that it’s manifested itself to where he’s had to go for surgery, yeah, there’s some level of that [thinking the club traded for an injured pitcher].”
The 29-year-old Montas, who had a 3.13 ERA in 19 starts with the A’s, early in the winter had been declared out for at least the first month of the season as the inflammation wasn’t improving dramatically.
Still, the Yankees hoped surgery wouldn’t be necessary and that they’d have Montas for the majority of the year.
Now it seems a longshot they’ll have him at any point in 2023.
And though Boone described that as a hit to the rotation, he doesn’t see it as fatal.
“Obviously losing Frankie’s clearly a blow and, unfortunately, we haven’t gotten to see him pitch like we know the pitcher that he is, but we also feel very confident in those [pitchers] that are going to now maybe get an opportunity because he’s not there initially and the depth that we’ve built up,” Boone said. “We feel very good about the rotation that we potentially go north with at the end of next month.”
Domingo German, who went 18-4 with a 4.04 ERA in 2019 and posted a 3.61 ERA in 15 games (14 starts) last season, already had been penciled in to take Montas’ rotation spot for the season’s first month. He remains the favorite to be the No. 5 starter long-term, but Clarke Schmidt, who posted a 3.12 ERA during several stints, including three starts, last year, will also get ample starting chances this spring.
“Feel very comfortable with those guys,” Boone said of German and Schmidt. “But then there’s always guys that you bring in [non-roster invitees] that are going to have more of an opportunity and are going to be closer to breaking through. You always see surprises each and every year kind of kicking the door in and taking advantage of an opportunity. I’m excited about the talent we have in that room.”
Looking big picture — and assuming there are no more injuries to the group — the rotation does appear to be an overwhelming strength, headed by Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodon at the top with Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes and German following in some order. Cortes pulled out of the World Baseball Classic with a right hamstring injury, but Boone said the lefthander could be back on a mound as soon as this weekend and the expectation remains he’ll be ready for the start of the regular season.
“I feel like our rotation on paper, and I caution we’re in the middle of February right now and it’s still only that,” Boone said. “But I’m excited about their potential impact and what they can be.”
Erik Boland started in Newsday's sports department in 2002. He covered high school and college sports, then shifted to the Jets beat. He has covered the Yankees since 2009.
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