The Mets have signed free agent right-hander Frankie Montas to a two-year, $34MM deal that contains an opt-out clause for Montas following the 2025 season. Montas will earn $17MM in both the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The contract will become official when the Boras Corporation client passes a physical.
Montas returns to the Big Apple after an injury-plagued stint with the Yankees during the 2022-23 seasons. The Yankees acquired Montas from the A’s at the 2022 trade deadline when Montas was still trying to work through some shoulder discomfort, and his ill-fated attempt to pitch through the pain led to a 6.35 ERA over 39 2/3 innings during the remainder of the 2022 campaign. Montas then required labrum surgery the following February that cost him almost all of the 2023 season, as he returned to pitch 1 1/3 innings in one game at the very end of September.
The Reds bet that Montas would be able to bounce back when healthy, and last January signed the righty to a one-year deal that ended up being worth $16MM — $14MM in guaranteed salary, and then a $2MM buyout once Montas declined his end of a mutual option for the 2025 season. Perhaps showing the after-effects of his long layoff, Montas had a 4.84 ERA over 150 2/3 combined innings with Cincinnati and Milwaukee last season, as the Reds sent Montas to the Brewers last July in another deadline trade.
Apart from a minimal 15-day IL stint due to a forearm contusion, Montas was pretty healthy in his comeback year, and the 150 2/3 innings represents the second-highest workload of his nine Major League seasons. As the 4.84 ERA might imply, however, Montas (who turns 32 in March) ran into some struggles. His 22.6% strikeout rate was slightly below the league average, and he surrendered a lot of walks and a lot of hard contact.
Montas’ 14.8% home run rate was the highest of his career, and he actually allowed more homers after leaving the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark for the more neutral American Family Field. His fastball velocity dropped from 96.1mph to 95.6mph, which isn’t bad for a pitcher returning from a yearlong absence, but the larger issue was Montas’ sinker was the only effective pitch in his arsenal. It is worth noting that Montas’ velocity and strikeout rate did increase after the trade to the Brewers, so another change of scenery might now more fully get him back to his pre-surgery form.
MLBTR ranked Montas 27th on our list of the offseason’s top 50 free agents, and his $34MM guarantee significantly tops our prediction of a two-year, $22MM contract. The higher price could reflect the ever-rising price of pitching, and the Mets and other teams might have put a greater premium on Montas’ ability to eat innings.
The Mets in particular had a glaring need for rotation help, as Luis Severino, Sean Manaea, and Jose Quintana are all free agents. Montas now fills one of those holes in the pitching staff, and he’ll join Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megill, and (if healthy) Paul Blackburn as the current starting five, though more additions are surely still to come this winter.
Much of the buzz surrounding the Mets this offseason has naturally focused on their courtship of Juan Soto, but New York has also been linked to such pitchers as Roki Sasaki and trade candidate Garrett Crochet. There has been speculation that the Amazins could also pursue some of the top names on the pitching market, though there hasn’t been any public news on that front to date.
It could be that the Mets are holding off on other big-ticket pursuits until Soto’s situation is resolved, and Montas’ contract represents a fairly less-expensive foray into the free agent market that helps address the club’s chief need for pitching. For now, the Montas contract resembles the two-year, $28MM deal (also with an opt-out) that Manaea signed last winter, as president of baseball operations David Stearns has thus far stuck to his strategy of inking starters to shorter-term contracts. Montas is surely hoping that he can follow Manaea’s path of delivering a stronger full season, and then returning to free agency next year to land a lengthier and pricier contract.
The $17MM average annual value of Montas’ contract still leaves New York with plenty of space before it hits the $241MM luxury tax threshold, as RosterResource projects the club’s tax number at roughly $189.7MM. Obviously avoiding the tax hasn’t been a priority in the Steve Cohen era and signing Soto to a record contract would alone put the Mets at or near the threshold before any other moves are made. Just in case Soto does sign elsewhere, however, a world exists where the Mets could be aggressive this winter and still reset their tax situation entirely, which would allow the Mets to enjoy more financial flexibility (and a smaller overall tax bill) going forward.
It is perhaps noteworthy that Boras represents both Soto and Montas, and it seems likely that Boras and Stearns have discussed several of the agent’s many clients during their conversations this offseason. Montas is already the third Boras-represented pitcher to sign a new contract this winter, after Blake Snell’s five-year, $182MM deal with the Dodgers and Yusei Kikuchi’s three-year, $63MM pact with the Angels.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan (X link) was the first to report the signing and the contract terms. Jon Heyman of the New York Post (via X) added the detail about the opt-out clause, and the specific breakdown of Montas’ salaries over the two seasons.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images
That’s not Corbin Burnes…
@frank the tank. That could be the serverino replacement.
Boras takes no prisoners
Umm, yay?
Not bad…
Solid pickup.
Hefty contract
bad contract on day 1
How is it bad? It’s 17 mill and an option out after year 1. That’s a standard contract for this level of pitcher. Mañaea wants 21+ and severing wants at least 18.
When Montas is not injured he’s mostly ineffective not an upgrade over anyone they had last year
@WideWorld,
If the Mets work their magic on Montas like they did Severino and Manea, they’ll have done quite well with this signing. To me, this signing is very similar to those two.
Milwaukee already did the magic. Mets can always do better but if not so be it.
Reminds me of the Phillies contract with Taijuan Walker
yep
Not even close… it’s half the length and less than half the total salary even if he takes the option to return.
I think they mean to the extent that it immediately looks like a bad deal. I kind of agree, though it’s a short contract so who knows.
My bold offseason take: Tigers trade for Freddy Peralta
That’s not bold it’s idiotic. Put the bottle down and stop posting online.
That’s bold. But not very likely at all. Probably too bold. The Brewers could probably use a starter as it is for depth, so not likely they’d trade one of their top 3 starters
Boras ended up signing Montas just so Mets could get some extra time to talk with Boras about Soto.
That’s how greasing pockets to land the big contract works. /s
BorASS!
About the only sensible reason Mets needed to sign this guy today. He would have been available in 2 months at that price
@Big whiffa,
I strongly doubt all of that. The Mets aren’t going to sign someone to butter up Boras. This isn’t rookie ball negotiation and signings…not David and Goliath. Mets are very attractive destination, and Mets do what Mets need, and Boras does what he needs for his clients.
They need a lot of pitching. 1 down.
Von, who do you think the Phillies sign? I mean, they can’t sit out again, right?
I think they get creative on the trade market since after Soto (who they won’t get), there’s a huge dropoff in OFs.
I expect them to land an OFer, starter and high-end reliever.
They probably match up well with the Cardinals.
I don’t see them going after Arenado at all.
No Helsley and/or Gray.
Trust in Stearns
This is the Mets, not the Brewers. $17M p/y is a heavy overpay.
@padam. It’s really not bad considering the market. You just hope he has a good year, and opts out.
@Rex – I wish I could be optimistic about this one but I doubt either of those happen.
Stearns teams make the playoffs but can’t win the big one
Stearns teams with highly limited payrolls made the playoffs but couldn’t win the big one. He now has an unlimited budget.
Out of the many FA names I had going to the Mets, Frankie was *not* one.
Nestor will probably be a Met in ’26.
I’d be shocked if anyone picked Montas to the Mets, Clip.
I haven’t checked but after the top ten guys I just started picking teams based on general needs instead of actually thinking about individual players. I probably gave the Mets 3 pitchers in the back half of the top 50, there’s a chance Montas was one of them.
Nestor the…….
!
Nestor the Transgressor, Nestor the Prognosticator, Nestor the Mastor of Polyestor.
@Yankee Clipper,
Who thought Severino and Manea would be Mets last offseason?
We see how David Stearns works. He knows how to find talent on team friendly deal and more often than not, succeeds. And when he doesn’t, he’ll cut players who aren’t working out.
Stearns sure does love 30 something washed up SPs … can he & hefner revive yet another career?
The Answer is Yes he can. The same way he helped Sevy.
No, the real answer is maybe. Know one knows for sure which pitchers will or won’t be resurrected.
Or the same way he helped Adrian Houser!
@royhobbs,
He also got Tyrone Taylor in that deal and he’s still a Met and was a solid contributor.
Eventually Houser was cut loose after starting and relieving.
Hefner dated a lot of good looking blondes in their 30’s…oh different Hefner.
More like dumped them when they hit their 30s.
@DreamGM It’s an approach worth considering, although may be untenable below certain income levels.
Excellent goal for increasing income. Poor people can do it as well if they hit the genetic lottery. But no reason not to achieve both and make pool larger.
So you’re saying being poor isn’t necessarily a hindrance as long as I’m good looking?? But I thought women don’t really like being the Sugar Momma. It upsets traditional gender roles.
Hefner and Citifield both help starters.
Random
Jon Heyman of the Boras Corp. who works in season at the NY Post.
Severino’s replacement, essentially.
Seems like a good deal for both sides.
A bit of an overpay, but I don’t think that matters with Cohen.He could afford to lose some of these gambles.
A BIT????
It’s the Cohen tax.
Should have overpayed a bit more to get 2 year deal. I like the gamble but he needs a bigger reward. Who was beating this deal?
@halosheavenjj. I’m liking the Hendricks signing more and more.
Same.
Replaces Jose Quintana
A big step down!
Montas has an air of their last offseason where they weren’t building a roster to compete…
Not sure this a signing the fanbase was looking at for 2025.
Oh, stop!. They needed to add 3 starters. Not all of them were going to be aces. Let’s see who else they sign and where Montas slots into the rotation before throwing shade. If he’s the #2 pitcher, then go ahead and question it. If he’s #4, this is just fine.
I’d take any of the their free agents over him. Frankie’s star dimmed the moment he was traded off the A’s.
But honestly, I’m just saying this signing shouldn’t be the one the Mets come out swinging with. Their pockets are deeper than Frankie Montas.
Montas was ranked 27th on this sites Top 50 FA. Sure are a lot of FA that are not close to as good as he is.
mlbtraderumors.com/2024/11/2024-25-top-50-mlb-free…
He’s…not…good…
Salzilla, thats a pretty closed-ended judgement. His numbers were not the worst last year. And what difference does it make what move they “come out swinging with”. Who gives a bleep which moves were first and which were last? All that matters is how the roster looks in late March. And even that is an overstatement, as rosters continue to evolve even after the season starts.
4.84 ERA puts him near top of the league out of the 5 hole in rotation. 30 starts would have been the most by a #5 starter last season. The Mets are not counting on him to be their Ace. As of today, he is #4 in their rotation and the offseason has just begun. Add Burnes or Fried and he is the #5.
He IS overpaid based on last season’s performance, but its not your money, Cohen can afford it, he is not bad for the job at the back of the rotation they are expecting him to perform.
He’s not even #2 with their current staff. Behind Senga and Peterson if not Butto.
He is behind Senga, Peterson, and Megill and possibly Blackburn if he is healthy. Maybe even behind Butto if Blackburn is not healthy.
If come March 1st this is the only rotation move the Mets have made I will say WTF. I think they are going to add a top of the rotation starter. Burnes or Fried. If they miss on both, then Flaherty. They may even land a couple more starters or sign an Ace and bring back Manaea pushing Butto, Blackburn and Megill to the pen.
Not sure you’re very checked in here Salz. They stated many times that they were building a team to complete in 2024 only that they were not mortgaging the future to do it.
Please. They cobbled that pitching staff together with pennies. No one in their right mind would think Sev, Manea, and Quintana were pitchers on a competitive team, but they had to hire SOMEONE to pitch. If you bought into that trio as replacements for Verlander and Scherzer, who’s actually not very checked in? 😉
I like all 3 of those, in regular season at least. Playoffs you would desire better but not bad.
The Mets spent a lot on one year deals last year. They weren’t cheap.
Good for Montas. Guaranteed himself 3 years/$50M off injury and awful performances over the past 3 seasons.
BIG MONEY COHEN
I only have one question: why?
Wow, this implies to me that there was competition for Montas’ service and I was thinking he’d get 1/9million and be someone’s trade bait like last year. I believe in Stearns evaluation and Cashmans as well and both liked him. But if he’s the #4 starter then he’s placed well and should deliver. Reminds me of last years Stroman contract, hope it turns out better for the metropolitans.
Do not like this signing at all and frankly don’t understand giving montas money w the other options out there
Early Christmas present?
The Mets were a one hit wonder. I won’t be shocked if they miss the playoffs.
Better chance of the Padres winning the West.
I wouldn’t sleep on the Padres.
Wow what an overpay.
I need to take a DNA test that makes me a relative of Cohen. He is just giving money away.
You must be joking? Fringe journeyman with a career WAR under 10?
No doubt an overpay but it’s Cohen’s money, not mine. My guess is that Steverino will be on the hook for the full load. I just don’t see Montas bouncing back enough in 2025 to trigger the opt-out. But what’s the extra $17 million to Cohen?
I’m thinking Stearns may have received some intel from some of his old contacts back in Milwaukee that Montas is looking more like his old self or completely healed from what was ailing him.
No need for intel from Milwaukee. He has a computer and screen. Anyone can have that information.
What am I missing here? $34 million guaranteed to a guy who has put up a WAR of 1.0, 0.1, and 0.6 in each of the last three years, including a major shoulder injury.
@mustard tiger. They want the QO pitchers to sign with other teams. That happens if you take guys just below their tier. It’s possible he has severino numbers on a two deal. I’m sure they will land burnes or fried and getting two comp picks back will soften the blow.
War is worthless and so is last 3 years. They only care about what he will do in 2025. I would guess it’s a overpay. I’d call the bluff and let him sign with the “other team”. Only way it’s a 2 year deal is if he stinks. If he does well he is opting out.
Meh. I suppose he’s a similar talent to Severino and this is similar to giving Severino 1 year 21 million. But I wouldn’t have offered Severino 1 year 21 million.
Metsin7 will badmouth this move. I guarantee it.
@Blue Baron you are 100% right, Dollar Tree David is making a joke of this offseason. Montas isn’t better than any of their departing free agent pitchers and hes proven that he can’t pitch in NY. Burnes, Buehler, Manaea, Bieber, etc are the guys they should be signing, not this overpaid bum
How can you say he’s proven he can’t pitch in NY with a combined 41 innings thrown here during an era injured riddle tenure ? I don’t love or hate the signing it’s whatever but that’s not enough time to say he can’t handle NYC.
This proves pitching is still at an insane premium. Guys like Montas and freaking Andrew Heaney getting the money they get for their consistently back of the rotation/borderline Quadruple-A performances.
Thats what we thought last offseason but as it turned out there were just a couple early offseason overpays.
Kikuchi deal not looking so bad now huh. And it wasn’t bad. I’d rather have that but this one isn’t awful. I see the possible reward and Cohen can make that 34m bet without breaking a sweat.
It’s very early in the offseason. Wait until April and then we can talk about who is an overpay and who is not more definitively.
Los Angeles and New York have money that other teams don’t. There will be some good deals for teams we just aren’t to that point yet. Gotta let the big spenders spend first.
It’s a overpay because of opt out. If it was 1 or 2 years it would be fair contract. I think he will be better in 2025. Amazing for players but teams should really avoid them or pay more. There will be better deals. Mets have found these better deals in the past.
Both of the top starter pitchers to sign have received $6 million more AAV than they were projected to get. Very interesting.
Burnes was projected to get $28.75 million by this site and $30 million by nearly every other site. Does that mean he is going to get $35-36 million AAV? 7 years/$245-252 million?
Does that mean Soto will get the same rate of increase over the projections on him. Are the $600 million projections 16-20% low?
I’m not sure where Burnes lands and for how much, but I’m certain that Soto goes way past $600M.
I think Soto lands at just below $700M but over 1.5x the length of Ohtani’s deal but also no deferrals.
Depends. Is Soto a pitcher?
Edman’s extension was for $16 million per WAR. About $6 million more AAV than anyone thought he would get.
I believe the alleged overpay will pay off. Stearns built teams have a track record of maximizing talent, thanks to heavy investments in coaching.. Given that Montas was able to raise his velocity by 2 MPH in a week after being traded, there’s still plenty of life in his arm.
I trust Hefner to straighten out Montas, just as he did with Manaea and Severino.
It’s a overpay. Who was the next highest bidder. I think they could have got straight 2 year deal. Sure they could increase his stuff. Or just lower walks.
YourDreamGM: It’s not an overpay according to the market.
Kikuchi was better contract so this one is a over pay according to market.
It’s not a drastic overpay. I would have paid more to get 2 years. Actually would have got a club option at a higher amount in addition to his player option. I need to get the risk reward closer to center. If he refuses there are other options. Don’t think he would though. With number of teams in small markets, bad markets, losing tv deals, fighting luxury tax, not contending, or looking for a better pitcher or safer option, there isn’t that much competition at this price point.
I believe the contract will end up being at least fair value.
Montas’stuff already improved post trade. A 2 MPH increase in velocity is significant. To me, that says the rest is a matter of coaching. Heck, a defensive upgrade at 1B like Walker or Santana would help the rotation across the board.
Severino and Manaea really weren’t that good in 2024. Why am I the only one who seems to understand this????
Montas has been on a pretty steady decline. I loved the Severino gamble. Manaea completely changed his mechanics and became a new pitcher. I don’t really see Montas making a huge impact. This feels like an overpay for backend depth, but Cohen can afford it. They need pitching. Now they need less pitching.
His numbers increased across the board after being traded from Cincy. I think we’ve all seen Milwaukee engineer enough successful pitcher reclamations to know if they’re willing to acquire a pitcher, his arm is far from dead.
But who knows? I could always be wrong. What I do know is that a grand total of $70 million in contract commitments. (that’s for the duration of all contracts handed out last offseason), was enough to get the Mets to the NLCS. And as much as it pains me to say it, they gave the Dodgers far more of a fight than the Yankees.
That and the fact that Stearns’ Brewers were always one of the most efficient in the league in terms of dollars spent per win, is more than enough for me to trust the process.
*Meant to say improved, not increased.
Manaea didn’t become a new pitcher he’s the same guy he’s always been an ordinary starter.
Then why did he receive Cy Young votes? Certainly not for first place, but votes nonetheless.
I disagree that the Mets gave the Dodgers more of a fight. I understand the series was 4-2, but every game was a massive blowout. The Yankees were a few outs away from winning 3 games of that series. Every game was relatively close. The Dodgers only challenge was San Diego.
Sharp increase. Only year that matters is what he will do in 2025. Milwaukee numbers seem like a better indicator than Cincinnati NY. 2025 should be and improvement. Best year since Oakland days.
He completely changed his mechanics and got better results.
Obviously it’s because you’re the only one who thinks they weren’t good. Do you have any stats or anything you can add to the argument or … ?
“Why am I the only one who seems to understand this????” Probably because there’s no metric that really backs you up on that island you built for yourself.
Severino was the lesser of the two but had a huge bounceback from his disastrous 2023 – he went from a 6.65 ERA/6.14 FIP with an 8.2% walk rate, 18.9% strikeout rate, and 5.5% HR rate in 89.1 IP to 3.91/4.21, 7.9% BB, 21..2% K, and 3.0% HR over 182 innings. Clearly the Mets and Jeremy Hefner were able to do something there.
Manaea was even better – 3.47 ERA/3.83 FIP in a career high 181.2 IP and three very good postseason starts – he even got some downballot Cy Young attention. Both guys had fastball/sinker combos that ranked in the 90th+ percentile value-wise per Savant as well. Acting like they weren’t all that good is just choosing to avoid readily available information.
Of course Severino improved on his 2023 season his 2023 was awful.
FIP of 3.83 and 4.21. That’s not exciting. Both are worthy of rotation spots but thats not good production nothing to get excited about at all. And the Mets offered rhe pair 42 million for that production. Yuck.
Kikuchi was worth less bWAR than both those guys this year and just signed for that same $21M AAV – and I’d argue that since both Severino and Manaea declined the QOs, they believe they will be able to lock in more guaranteed money than that in free agency.
And offering a guy the QO is less about trying to retain them at the QO price point and more about the draft compensation for a guy that may have priced himself out of your plans.
Just because the Angels are stupid doesn’t make the Mets smart. Wait until April and we can talk about who was smart and stupid.
Offering a player more than he’s worth hoping he’s too dumb to accept the offer isn’t a good strategy.
Los Angeles and New York are big markets with money to burn. Wait until the big markets run out of spots to fill and we will see what players are actually worth. We got all offseason dude just wait and see.
@Blackpink You either value players differently than anyone else or your definition of good is wrong. The blew past their contracts with their performance.
What do you think a pitcher with a FIP of 4 is worth????
Maybe you could say they earned their money in 2023. But there is no way you can say they are worth 42 million dollars in 2025. No way. Wait and see what other starting pitchers get paid for 2025 after some of these big spending dopes are out of the way. Just wait and see
I don’t use fip to value players so no idea. Can be anywhere from 10 to 30 million. Really doesn’t tell me anything.
dankyank: He’ll work in the Mets pitching lab and improve.
Bingo. Stearns excels at putting together rosters and coaching staffs. He’s got plenty left in the tank.
It seems an overpay, but Stearns is pretty shrewd so maybe there is something there us “experts” on the internet don’t see perhaps?
Overpay: who cares, it isn’t our money. I say good job for the guy, he gets paid. Mets needed pitching. And, it puts pressure on cheap owners to boost spending on their teams.
The last Brewers SP that Stearns acquired was Adrian Houser. How’d that work out? Montas likely performs similarly provided he doesn’t spend most of 2025 on the IL.
Montas made his MLB debut in 2015 and was a Brewer for three months of that time. – and since he was a free agent signing, Stearns didn’t actually acquire him from the Brewers, either. Feels like a bit of a straw to be grasping at.
I’m glad there is all the naysayers with this move. The same thing happened last year with the Mets starter signings and they all ended up pretty good.
Did we all forget the Adrian Houser acquisition?
Yes, this is an overpay, but the key to his signing is that he wasn’t on a QO. Hopefully, he can overachieve in a pitcher’s park.
Traditional stats might show Montas is terrible.
But he’s actually not terrible
The reason mainly is perceived velo is high
The secondary stuff is nasty too, but sometimes he leaves a floater up there and he gives up HRs
That can inflate ERA and make it look like the pitcher is worse than he actually is
When he doesn’t have his good stuff he probably gets lit up bad with HRs, and it inflates ERA
The bottom line is this guy is nasty. It is not easy to hit
So what you are saying is he’s good when he’s not bad?
Lol
I had him going to the Giants. Now I’m 2 for 4. The inevitable decline has started. 2 for 50 here I come!
Ug what an awful player to sign. I wouldn’t even want him as a fifth starter. Complete waste of money. A rotation of Senga, Peterson, Montas, Blackburn, and one of Sproat/Megill means that we are going to finish behind the Nationals next year, 4th place finish. There are so many better options out there like Burnes, Bieber, Eovaldi, Manaea, Buehler, and I’d even prefer Severino over Montas as well. Dollar Tree David strikes again
What makes you think this is the only addition to the rotation this winter? So hellbent on criticizing that you fail to exercise any common sense whatsoever.
aw dang i forgot the rule that once you sign one starting pitcher you are completely done for the rest of the offseason. can’t believe Stearns would waste that opportunity like this!!!
Dollar tree David?
Lol good lord. This Mets fan is whining because the owner is cheap. That’s awesome…..
Seems last year’s $13MM is now $17MM. Not a fan, not opposed. Whatever.
This isn’t inflation it’s just a team with too much money paying too much.
For the Mets sake they better hope Montas does better in Queens than he did in the Bronx
This is unexpected. Far above what anyone thought he would sign for. Between Snell, Kikuchi, the Edman extension, and now Montas, the market is showing that there is a huge amount of money to be thrown around.
$17MILLION for Frankie Montas per yr..? Excuse me fellas, gota go in backyard n play catch w/Junior. Smh