Why Frankie Montas may be Mets’ next great reclamation project: Three reasons to believe in veteran’s comeback

The New York Mets made an addition to their rotation on Sunday, inking veteran right-hander Frankie Montas to a reported two-year pact worth $34 million. Montas, 31, is coming off a season split between the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers that saw him post a 4.84 ERA (89 ERA+) and a 2.24 strikeout-to-walk ratio across 30 starts.

Those marks, particularly the ERA, are slightly below average for a starting pitcher. Nevertheless, when CBS Sports ranked Montas as the 45th-best free agent available, we noted that “the ingredients are here for better numbers.” The Mets seem to agree.

It just so happens that the Mets have done this song and dance before, and have done it quite well. Last winter, top baseball operations executive David Stearns signed Sean Manaea and Luis Severino to similar short-term pacts. Both Manaea and Severino proceeded to have good seasons, putting themselves in position to ink more lucrative free-agent contracts this offseason. (The Mets could also lose Jose Quintana to the open market, leaving them without their three top innings amassers from the 2024 season.)

Why are we (and seemingly the Mets) bullish about Montas? Below, we’ve laid out three reasons.

1. Superior track record

While we think the Mets are looking forward, not backward by signing Montas, we would be remiss if we didn’t note that he has demonstrated he’s a capable big-league starter throughout his career — after all, he’s only a few years removed from finishing sixth in Cy Young Award balloting. What’s more is Montas has made 10-plus starts in a season six times, and has been average or better in four of those campaigns.

If the perception of Montas feels worse than the reality, it’s probably because of a few factors. Foremost, he’s coming off a down season that saw him surrender an uncharacteristic amount of home runs — to the extent that we have to believe he’ll enjoy positive regression in 2025.  There’s also the bad vibes lingering from Montas’ disappointing stint with the New York Yankees. You may recall that he made eight dismal starts with them down the stretch in 2022 before missing almost all of 2023.

Even with that in mind, there’s reason for optimism to be found in Montas’ game.