Frankie Montas is back in the conversation, but not because of a baseball move.
The former Yankees right-hander posted a brief Instagram message this week while still on the open market, and it immediately pulled his Bronx stint back into focus. The post was short and blunt: “Zero Excuses AND hard work 🙏🏾”
That alone was enough to get people talking, especially because some users fixated on the cap he was wearing and wondered about the Yankees connection. But there was no actual development on the baseball side.
No signing. No workout.
No hint that New York is considering a reunion.
Montas, 33, has been unsigned since the Mets released him on Nov. 19, 2025, and he has not appeared in the majors during the 2026 season.
The attention makes sense, though, because his Yankees chapter still stands as one of the more costly deadline swings of recent years. New York sent left-handers JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk, right-hander Luis Medina and infielder Cooper Bowman to Oakland for Montas and reliever Lou Trivino on Aug. 1, 2022, according to MLB’s transaction record.
The idea was simple: add a starter who could steady the rotation for a deep run. The reality was much harsher.
Montas made eight starts for the Yankees that season, going 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in 39 2/3 innings. He later returned for one relief outing in 2023, throwing 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Put together, that gave the Yankees nine regular-season appearances, a 2-3 record, a 6.15 ERA and just 41 innings from the pitcher they paid four prospects to acquire. He did make one postseason appearance in 2022, but shoulder trouble later required surgery and shut down any chance of salvaging the story in 2023.
Montas did find a way back onto a major league mound in 2024, splitting time with Cincinnati and Milwaukee. He logged 150 2/3 innings over 30 starts and posted a combined 4.84 ERA, enough to at least reestablish himself as a real starting option.
The Mets took a shot on him before the 2025 season, but a right lat strain delayed his debut. He eventually pitched in nine games, seven of them starts, and finished 3-2 with a 6.28 ERA in 38 2/3 innings, according to Baseball-Reference’s season record.
Across his two New York stops, the numbers never really cleaned up the picture. Montas threw 79 2/3 regular-season innings for the Yankees and Mets combined and allowed 55 earned runs, a 6.21 ERA by the record.
That doesn’t erase what he did with Oakland, where he was excellent in 2019, going 9-2 with a 2.63 ERA in 16 starts. But it does explain why a motivational post doesn’t move the baseball conversation much. For the Yankees, the trade remains what it was: a deadline gamble that didn’t deliver.
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