Mets overpaying hated ex-Yankees player came back to bite them stunningly quickly

Two years ago, the New York Yankees felt like they were about to enter spring training with their highest-ceiling collections of arms in years, if not decades. Gerrit Cole. Free agent addition Carlos Rodón. Luis Severino. Nestor Cortes Jr. coming off an All-Star season. Injured 2022 trade deadline addition Frankie Montas in the No. 5 spot? Who wouldn't sign up for that?! Even if Montas came with a fair degree of injury uncertainty, there was no reason not to believe in him at the bottom of the rotati -oh, MAN, did this all fall apart quickly.

Severino eventually tipped enough pitches to ascend to a 6.65 ERA. Rodón's back balked; he finished the year with a 6.85 ERA after starting it on the shelf. Cortes Jr. suffered the same shoulder injury twice, made 12 starts, and finished with a 4.97 ERA. And we should've known that the entire thing was poised to clatter down around a Cy Young version of Cole back when Montas disappeared in January.

The righty's 2022 season was cut short with shoulder troubles, but there was no indication they'd lingered until late January, when he was said to be behind ahead of camp. That turned into a surgical procedure that was revealed on Feb. 15, a scope that was set to steal most, if not all, of the year from Montas; he ultimately threw 1 1/3 innings before departing and posting a 4.84 ERA in 150 frames last season split between Cincinnati and Milwaukee.

Why do we bring this story up again? Oh, no reason, other than David Stearns of the New York Mets placing a $34 million bet on Montas after his middling 2024 campaign, only to be bitten by the exact reality the 2023 Yankees faced again this week. As camp opens, Montas is sidelined with a high-grade lat strain and shut down entirely for 6-8 weeks. A full buildup will follow. He, theoretically, could be back before the end of May, but Yankee fans from two years ago were fed that line plenty. He was never seen again.

Former New York Yankees pitcher Frankie Montas already shut down with injury at Mets camp for two months

The jury's still out on whether the entire remainder of the Mets rotation will fall apart piece by piece in Montas' wake like the 2023 Yankees did, but the rest of the group doesn't exactly engender confidence. Kodai Senga struggled with repeated injuries last season, and one of the Mets' rotation spots is occupied by Clay Holmes: Starter.

Despite a relatively robust output last season (innings-wise, not performance-wise), Montas will always bring inherent injury risk wherever he goes from this point forward. A $34 million guarantee felt like it could've been better spent at the time (half that for Walker Buehler, maybe?), and now the Mets' attempt at adding another projectable arm to the pitching lab seems to be trending the same way as the Yankees' addition of the very same guy two and a half years ago.