The Mets have signed a free agent right-hander Frankie Montas to a two-year, $34 million contract that includes an opt-out clause for Montas after the 2025 season. Montas will make $17 million in each of the 2025 and 2026 seasons. The contract becomes official when the Boras Corporation customer undergoes a physical examination.

Montas returns to the Big Apple for the 2022-23 season after an injury-plagued time with the Yankees. The Yankees acquired Montas from the A’s at the 2022 trade deadline when Montas was still trying to overcome some shoulder discomfort, and his ill-fated attempt to overcome the pain resulted in a 6.35 ERA over 39 2/3 innings over the remainder of the campaign 2022. The following February, Montas had to undergo labrum surgery, which cost him almost the entire 2023 season, as he was 1 1/3 again at the end of September innings pitched in a game.

The Reds bet that Montas would bounce back when healthy, signing the righty to a one-year deal last January that ended up being worth $16 million – $14 million in guaranteed salary and then a $2 million buyout after Montas opted out of his contract at the end of a shared option for the 2025 season. Perhaps showing the aftereffects of his long layoff, Montas posted an ERA of 4.84 over 150 2/3 combined innings when the Reds sent Montas to the Brewers in another deadline trade last July.

Aside from a minimal 15-day IL stay due to a forearm contusion, Montas was fairly healthy in his comeback year and the 150 2/3 innings represented the second-heaviest workload of his nine major league seasons. Like the 4.84 ERA, however As might suggest, Montas (who turns 32 in March) has had some problems. His strikeout rate of 22.6% was slightly below league average, and he allowed a lot of walks and a lot of hard contact.

Montas’ 14.8% home run rate was the highest of his career, and he actually allowed more home runs after leaving the hitter-friendly Great American Ballpark for the more neutral American Family Field. His fastball velocity dropped from 96.1 mph to 95.6 mph, which isn’t bad for a pitcher returning after a year away, but the bigger problem was that Montas’ sinker was the only effective pitch was in his arsenal. It’s worth noting that Montas’ velocity and strikeout rate actually increased after joining the Brewers, so another change of scenery now could potentially bring him closer to his pre-surgery form.

MLBTR ranked Montas No. 27 on our list of the top 50 free agents of the offseason, and his $34 million guaranteed significantly exceeds our projection of a two-year, $22 million deal. The higher price may reflect ever-increasing pitching prices, and the Mets and other teams may have placed greater value on Montas’ ability to eat up innings.

The Mets in particular had a glaring need for rotation help Luis Severino, Sean ManaeaAnd Jose Quintana are all free agents. Montas now fills one of those holes on the pitching staff and will be included Kodai Senga, David Peterson, Tylor Megilland (if healthy) Paul Blackburn like the current starting eleven, although more new additions will certainly follow this winter.

Of course, much of the excitement surrounding the Mets this offseason centered on their advertising Juan Sotobut New York has also been associated with such pitchers as Roki Sasaki and trade candidate Garrett Crochet. There has been speculation that the Amazons could also pursue some of the top names in the pitching market, although there has been no public news on this yet.

It could be that the Mets hold off on other high-profile signings until Soto’s situation is resolved, and Montas’ contract represents a relatively lower-cost foray into the free-agent market that helps fill the club’s primary pitching needs. For now, the Montas contract is similar to the two-year, $28 million deal (also with an opt-out) that Manaea signed last winter, as president of baseball operations David Stearns has so far stuck to his strategy of moving starters to shorter ones Committing terms to contracts. Montas certainly hopes he can follow Manaea’s path of delivering a stronger overall season and then returning to free agency next year for a longer and more expensive contract.

The average annual value of Montas’ contract is $17 million, still leaving New York plenty of wiggle room before hitting the $241 million luxury tax threshold, as RosterResource projects the club’s tax figure to be around $189.7 million . Obviously, avoiding the tax wasn’t a priority in the Steve Cohen era, and just signing Soto to a record deal would put the Mets at or near the threshold before any further moves are made. However, in the event that Soto signs elsewhere, there is a world in which the Mets could be aggressive this winter and still completely overhaul their tax situation, which would allow the Mets more financial flexibility (and a lower overall tax bill) in the future .

It’s perhaps notable that Boras represents both Soto and Montas, and it’s likely that Boras and Stearns discussed several of the agent’s many clients during their conversations this offseason. Montas is the third pitcher represented by Boras to sign a new contract this winter Blake Snell‘s five-year, $182 million contract with the Dodgers and Yusei Kikuchi‘s three-year, $63 million contract with the Angels.

ESPN’s Jeff Passan (X-Link) was the first to report the signing and terms of the deal. Jon Heyman of the New York Post (via

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