Frankie Montas
With the New York Mets pursuing Roki Sasaki, the team was indicating they’re looking towards a six man rotation. They’re also looking for starting pitching depth.
While there are internal options like Griffin Canning and Paul Blackburn, the Mets could turn to the free agent market. One name that stands out there is former Met Max Scherzer.
Scherzer, 40, is not the prime target he was when the Mets signed him back in 2021. Rather, he’s a future Hall of Famer looking for one last chance to win, one last chance for glory before he retires.
The Mets could present that. However, the question is what could Scherzer present to the Mets at this stage of his career.
For starters, Scherzer provides a veteran presence and competitive edge. As detailed by Mike Puma of the New York Post, Scherzer served as a mentor to the younger Mets pitchers, and the Mets thrived in 2022 as a result.
In many ways, Scherzer acted as an extension of Jeremy Hefner. There’s real value there as the Mets look to make Frankie Montas this year’s version of Luis Severino. They’re also trying to reclimate Canning, and hopefully, we will soon see Brandon Sproat.
This is all well and good, but this is also why the Mets have Hefner. It’s also why Steve Cohen has invested so much money in analytics. It doesn’t matter at all if Scherzer is done.
Fortunately, it appears Scherzer has something left in the tank. In an injury riddled season, he had a 101 ERA+, 4.18 FIP, and an 8.3 K/9. There are numbers there to justify him as a fifth starter.
Looking at his Baseball Savant page, Scherzer can still miss bats. It’s not at the same rate as his prime or even two years ago. Fortunately, even when opposing batters make contact, he’s limiting the damage.
Yes, he’s injury prone now. It may sound odd to say, but that does somewhat help the Mets. It would give a chance for a Canning or Sproat to prove themselves.
In essence, Scherzer buys the Mets time. It’s time for the younger starters. It’s time for Montas to figure it out. It’s time between starts for Kodai Senga.
Scherzer pitched well for the Mets when his body let him. He was the co-ace they needed. Now, they need a placeholder and veteran staff leader. Once again, he’s a perfect fit.
Last year, a large part of the New York Mets making the postseason was their rolling the dice on Sean Manae and Luis Severino. Apparently, David Stearns is looking to execute the same plan for 2025.
The Mets agreed to terms with Frankie Montas on a two year $34 million deal. Like with Manae last year, Montas can opt out after the first year of the deal.
Last Mets fans saw Montas, they knocked him out of the fourth inning of Game 2 of the NL Wild Card Series. He had allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits and three walks on 60 pitches.
Truth is, Montas hasn’t been all that good for a few years now. Back in 2022, much of baseball thought the New York Yankees got off cheap acquiring Montas from the Oakland Athletics at the trade deadline.
Prior to that deal, Montas had pitched six years for the Athletics posting a 111 ERA+ and a 3.72 FIP. He finished sixth in the 2021 Cy Young voting.
In all of Montas’ other stops, he was a 92 ERA+ or worse. At least in terms of the Yankees, it was due to a series of injuries. That right there is your Mets/Severino parallel.
Like with Severino, the Mets are grabbing Montas the year following the proof he was healthy. Montas did make more starts and threw more innings.
The Mets hope they can have Montas improve upon the pitcher he was with the Milwaukee Brewers. In Milwaukee, he roughly pitched 5+ innings per start while striking out 11 per nine.
Even with the uptick in his K/9, his K% was lower than it was with the Yankees. Digging deeper, his Baseball Savant page is a lot of blue. He’s not getting good extension or spin, and perhaps not coincidentally, his whiff rates are low.
Still, we saw Jeremy Hefner get the most out of this pitching staff last year. Manea radically altered his delivery. Peterson changed his pitch mix to feature his sinker more. Severino stopped tipping his pitches.
Between Hefner and the analytics, the Mets are showing they can get the most out of their starters. At one time, Montas was viewed as a top of the rotation pitcher. The Mets are gambling by presumably giving him the fourth or fifth starters job to earn his way back to that status.
With the Mets, you’d think they’re at a spot where they don’t take projects like this. It’s what makes this signing odd. You thought after 2024, they would be in a different spot.
Then again, this is why they hired David Stearns. This is what could give them the room to sign Juan Soto along with whatever else they need.
Still, this is a gamble, and that’s what makes this signing so odd.