The New York Yankees got some expected unexpected news this week when No. 5 starter (who was supposed to be a No. 2) Frankie Montas opted to undergo shoulder surgery.
In a best-case scenario, Montas will be able to return towards the end of the year if the Feb. 21 scope isn't as extensive as some believe it will be. If the procedure has a lot to correct, Montas' Yankee career will end after just eight starts of 6.35 ERA baseball.
That would qualify this deal as a flop, as Adam Weinrib and Thomas Carannante discussed on Thursday's episode of the Yanks Go Yard Yankees podcast.
At the time of the trade, both hosts were skeptical of Montas' creaky shoulder and road ERA, but were willing to accept the risk rather than give up Anthony Volpe and more for Luis Castillo. Clearly, the risk wasn't worth it, and whoever was in charge of approving Montas' medicals couldn't discern the full extent of the foundational damage. His shoulder wasn't right during a single start of his Yankees tenure, which deserves scrutiny.
As CBS' Mike Axisa rightly said, "Montas, IKF/Donaldson, Gallo, yeesh. I know you can justify them by saying they made sense at the time, but it's a results-based business and those are total duds." Yup! It's fair to blame Cashman for the results, as well as whatever happened with the MRI.
Yankees Podcast: Yanks Go Yard tackles Gleyber Torres' future
For some reason, after everything he's been through, Gleyber Torres still wants to stay with this organization, though he sadly admitted this week that he hasn't had extension talks with the Yankees yet and it's his "wish" that those talks would begin. Unfortunately, the second baseman's future has never seemed more tenuous.
This particular Yankees podcast episode broke down Torres' future -- in essence, we'd love the offensive boost he brings, but don't want him breaking camp with the team if his head's already out of it.
Plus, why is Gary Sánchez working out in Yankees gear on Instagram? Does it mean something or nothing? And why did Aaron Hicks get Brett Gardner's locker next to Aaron Judge? What is that all about?
Subscribe to the feed, or join the podcast live on YouTube Mondays and Thursdays at 2:00 PM EST, all offseason and regular season long.
READ MORE: Domingo Germán's bizarre number change, new Yankees jerseys