Let’s overreact to Yankees’ Brian Cashman’s latest Frankie Montas comments
Was starting pitcher Frankie Montas healthy or not when the Yankees took him on at close last summer? The slinger recently said he wasn’t. General manager Brian Cashman responded by saying all signs pointed to him being healthy.
Then, of course, the poor performance began. A stay on the injured list followed before he underwent surgery in February. The trade was obviously a bust for the Yankees. Already at the end of 2022 it looked terrible. But now that Montas’ year of travel has been shortened, things look even worse.
Cashman knows that. After all, it doesn’t take a Rhodes expert to look at the right-hander’s stats (6.35 ERA, 1.54 WHIP in 39.2 innings) and come to that conclusion.
Let’s take a quick look back in time to revisit the public comments on this topic, shall we? Then we put the newest one at the end in bold.
Here are Montas’ original comments:
A few days later, Cashman responded publicly in a predictable manner:
I know [Wednesday] He clearly said he was hurt but I think contextually it’s easy for him to say that now but when we got him he said he was feeling great, he was feeling 100 per cent and ready to go. I feel like he was real and sincere. So you go through the medical deep dive that you can do in season.
You deal with the player when you get them and how they are feeling. Everything came back fine and aces, and without hesitation. But it didn’t play out that way.
And finally, here’s what Cashman just said to Ian O’Connor New York Post:
You can’t sugarcoat it – the trade with Montas didn’t work out. We didn’t get a healthy pitcher, and that’s ultimately my fault.
As I said in the caption, we’re overreacting to this comment!
Cash has been with the Yankees in some capacity for almost three decades. He knows what the atmosphere/pressure is like in New York. He also knows that everything he says can take on a life of its own (*bows*). So what he said here was interesting to me.
About two weeks ago, he said the Yankees had done their due diligence from a medical standpoint. And since Montas hasn’t had any complaints, what else is New York supposed to do, right? But now that he’s said what’s in bold above, it can certainly raise doubts in some.
Did the Yankees know Monta’s was potentially damaged merchandise? If yes, how serious was it? He could also say that the Yankees didn’t get a healthy pitcher in hindsight. He alluded to his original comments that Montas probably did it himself.
However, he probably should have chosen his words a little better. The last thing he needs is stuff like that – an opportunity for others to read into it and possibly misunderstand what he said.
Matt Musico can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.