Blue Jays: Division rival's rotation takes huge hit with latest news

Last season, the New York Yankees were the "lucky" team to land one of the last high-value trade chips left on the Oakland A's roster: starting pitcher Frankie Montas. The club gave up four prospects for him including intriguing pitchers JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk.

Montas, 29, made eight starts for the Yanks down the stretch, going 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA and 4.93 FIP. His 62 ERA+ means that he was a whopping 38 percent below league-average as a member of the Yankees.

News broke earlier on Wednesday that Montas, who was already expected to miss a chunk of time to start the season, will now require shoulder surgery and will likely miss the entire season.

Right-hander Frankie Montas, the biggest acquisition for the New York Yankees at the trade deadline last year who was expected to be a big part of their rotation this year, will undergo shoulder surgery on Tuesday that could cause him to miss the season, manager Aaron Boone said.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) February 15, 2023

A loss of this magnitude could be a big one for the Yankees. Yes, Montas struggled in his brief stint last season but it's worth mentioning that if he returned to form like he did with the Oakland A's, this would be a huge hit to the AL East standings.

In Montas' absence, the club is set to turn to a mixture of Gerrit Cole, newly-signed Carlos Rodón, Luis Severino, Nestor Cortes and Domingo Germán.

Cole and Rodón are as steady as they come. They are to the Yankees what Manoah and Gausman are to the Blue Jays, everyone knows what they're about.

Severino is another accomplished pitcher at the game's highest level but it's been quite some time since we've seen any sort of extended successes from him as he has missed a ton of time with injuries since 2018.

Last year, he made 19 starts, going 7-3 with a 3.18 ERA in just over 100 innings. He could be a piece that either makes or breaks this year's rotation.

Cortes, 28, emerged as one of the better lefties in all of baseball last season, making the All-Star Game and finishing eighth in Cy Young voting after going 12-4 with a 2.44 ERA in 28 starts.

Finally, there's Germán, who has bounced around between the rotation and bullpen over the years. He's a decent pitcher but has yet to find any long-term success at the big league level.

The loss of Montas could be a significant one for the Yankees, only time will tell on just how badly the club will miss him as the season marches on.

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