Blue Jays: Three trade deadline targets struggling with their new teams

Frankie Montas

Heading into the 2022 trade deadline, one area the Blue Jays were potentially looking to add to was the starting rotation. There weren’t a ton of big names on the open market but Oakland’s Frankie Montas was one of them, and it’s safe to say his name came up a lot in trade discussions.

With the A’s, the right-hander pitched to a 3.18 ERA through 19 starts and 104.2 innings. He was sporting a 9.4 K/9 and a 2.4 BB/9 just prior to the trade deadline but had also dealt with some shoulder troubles a few weeks prior, which many thought would hurt his trade value even with the additional year of contract control.

Once Luis Castillo was traded to the Mariners, Montas became the hot ticket item and the Blue Jays were interested in the Dominican product, being one of the last teams involved in trade discussions before he was sent to the New York Yankees.

Since being traded to the Bronx, the wheels have slowly started to fall off for the right-hander. Through three starts with the Yankees, Montas has allowed 18 hits and 14 earned runs through 14.0 innings of work, sporting a 9.00 ERA with his new club.

He also has seen his walk rate climb almost two full points to 3.9 while the strikeouts have dropped to 5.1 K/9 since the trade. He allowed six earned runs to both St. Louis and the Blue Jays on August 7th and August 18th respectively, with the Jays mustering eight hits and one home run while only striking out twice through six innings. The Yankees are 1-2 when Montas has taken the mound.

One wonders if the shoulder troubles are still bothering the right-hander although his pitch velocity remains in the same MPH vicinity compared to earlier this season.

Whatever the reason is, Yankees fans do not appear too happy with their newest acquisition and the Blue Jays may have dodged a bullet by not adding Montas as the deadline.