Brandon Tierney was a little bummed during Monday’s show discussing Giancarlo Stanton, whose readiness for opening day is in question due to elbow issues – but the midday hosts’ fandom quickly became a game of ‘who has it worse?’ not long into the show.
Carlos Mendoza announced that Frankie Montas will miss ‘significant time’ due to a high-grade lat strain, being shut down completely for six to eight weeks before he’ll have to ramp up and then basically go through spring training.
Translation: if we see Montas by Memorial Day, it’s a win for medical science, and even if that’s the case, Sal Licata’s Mets-induced ulcers ain’t going away…especially the one he’s had since the minute the Mets even SIGNED Montas.
“This year was like, ‘hey, you shut me up once, I'm gonna sit back and watch you go to work and do your thing, but when they chose Montas, that was the one I said, even with trusting David Stearns, this is the guy you’re gonna go in on?’” Sal said. “I got to a point where I started to think that hey, maybe Montas could be pretty good…well, I should have trusted my initial instinct! I was right, Stearns was wrong: Frankie Montas is useless!”
Montas got two years and $34 million after posting a 4.84 ERA in 150 innings last year, but those came after he had shoulder trouble with the Yankees in late 2022 and surgery that limited him to one outing in 2023.
Even if $17 million is the going rate for a starter like that, well, Sal was shopping in a much different section than Stearns, it seems.
“You could have spent that money elsewhere, like Walker Buehler, but now, already before you get started, you're losing one of your prize possessions in the offseason as far as that rotation goes,” Sal said. “They’ll be fine, they have depth in the rotation and Tylor Megill will take his spot, not the end of the world – but boy genius, who had a great first year, year two already with the Montas news. Stearns was BEGGING to get ripped with that, and here we are!”
BT agrees that the Mets do have depth if they need to stay in house, but there’s still a big name out there…
“What’s the pivot here? They have some younger names, like Megill, but you gotta go get Dylan Cease,” BT said bluntly. “You just gotta re-engage the Padres for Dylan Cease.”