Frankie Montas’ first full season with the Yankees will start much in the same way his ended last year, with him dealing with shoulder inflammation.
The right-hander is expected to miss the first month of the regular season and is, according to sources, 8-10 weeks behind in his offseason training.
Montas and the Yankees avoided arbitration by agreeing to a $7.5 million deal on Friday, a number that likely would have been higher without the shoulder concerns.
The 29-year-old missed two weeks with the A’s last season after being forced out of a July 3 start. He then landed on the 15-day IL on Sept. 20 with the Yankees after eight mostly lackluster outings — including a final start in Milwaukee, after which an MRI exam also showed inflammation in the shoulder.
Montas was the Yankees’ top pitching acquisition at last year’s trade deadline after they missed out on Luis Castillo, who went from the Reds to the Mariners and has since signed a massive extension to stay in Seattle.
The Yankees traded left-handers JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk, along with minor league right-hander Luis Medina and minor league infielder Cooper Bowman in exchange for Montas and Lou Trivino.
Trivino pitched well out of the bullpen for the Yankees last season and avoided arbitration earlier in the offseason by agreeing to a $4.1 million deal.
Montas struggled from the start in The Bronx.
In his eight starts with the Yankees, Montas finished with a 6.35 ERA in 39 ²/₃ innings and returned to pitch out of the bullpen in the ALCS, when he pitched just once, giving up a home run in his lone inning of work in Game 1 and didn’t pitch again.
The Yankees hope Montas is an important part of a strong rotation that has added Carlos Rodon this offseason to go along with Gerrit Cole, Nestor Cortes and Luis Severino, with Domingo German and Clarke Schmidt providing depth — which is something the Yankees might need sooner than they would have liked if Montas is out for an extended period of time.
Montas is due to be a free agent after this season.
