UPDATES ON THAT FRANKIE MONTAS GUY YOU FORGOT ABOUT

Admit it, you have forgotten about him. It's okay.... he's forgettable for too many reasons. You can remember him now for this brief update. Or maybe you still don't care since we talked about him last month. Yes, only a month ago but it might as well be an eternity.

So what's going on with Bust Frankie Montas? Well, the beginning of the end in my opinion, but you can check out what NJ.com reported HERE. The plan was to have Montas start a throwing program at the end of May and hopefully get back to big league action in August, but that's not going to happen. Montas has been playing catch for 6 1/2 weeks and that's it. He's had some setbacks due to some discomfort so that's not promising.

Best case scenario at this point, is Montas ramps up his rehab and we get to see him in a relief role for the last few weeks of the season. That may not happen though, and if so I don't expect to hear a lot of people crying. He's been a non-factor all season. If he's not throwing off a mound soon, there won't be a 2023 season for him. The Yankees always knew that even after his surgery, his rotator cuff issue could be season ending.

This injury could not only be season ending but realistically, pinstripe ending. Montas is a free agent at the end of the season and that would mean "see ya later, Montas....and thanks for absolutely NOTHING." Seriously, one of Brian Cashman's biggest busts which is crazy to think about because with how displeased fans are this season his list of failures seems to be never ending. Montas is definitely a huge bust though. We gave up assets and got absolutely nothing in return. Meanwhile, left handers JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk have been pitching for the Oakland A's all season. That's a bitter pill to swallow.

I guess we will wait until we get our next update, which should be days away. Montas will be getting a follow up with his surgeon Dr. Neal ElAttrache who is the Dodgers physician. According to Aaron Boone, the Yankees will be checking in on Montas on their upcoming road trip in Anaheim. 

Oh goodie? Seriously, I couldn't care less about this guy anymore. So there is your update on the guy you may have forgotten about.... or also may not care about. Do with it what you will. 

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

DON'T BE MAD AT ONLY FRANKIE MONTAS, FOLKS!

This is the Carl Pavano 2.0 trade. Is it too soon to call this trade a disaster? Because right now it feels like it. It's also hard NOT to be agitated at several parties.

I agree with Casey's post: DON'T TRY AND BE A HERO, FRANKIE MONTAS because his confession doesn't spare him from scrutiny, in my opinion. Sure, no one can blame him from wanting to get out of Oakland, but why not just keep your damn mouth shut, Frankie? My mom taught me I don't always need to SAY what I am thinking in my head. That couldn't be truer here.

When players are traded, they have physicals. So standard protocol here, Yankees trade for Frankie Montas and he gets a clean bill of health from Yankee doctors. In exchange for Montas we send Cooper Bowman, Luis Medina, JP Sears (above) and Ken Waldichuk to Oakland. We were supposed to get one full year before Montas hit free agency but, now that will be a few months if we are lucky. We got hosed ladies and gentlemen. 

Literally. We gave up some good pieces for a guy that made eight starts and pitched to a 6.35 ERA. Even Brian Cashman knows how bad this is and said, "obviously he wasn’t healthy, so the trade goes into a bad category," Cashman said. "We gave up assets and we didn’t get anything for it," read more HERE. So, thank you Cashman for admitting the A's are laughing at us because we dropped the ball, and they still have a good return. It's time to stop shopping in Oakland, Cashman. It's not working out well for us.

As mad as I am that Frankie opened his big mouth and Cashman admitted what we are all thinking what about the accountability Yankee doctors should have for this? It's their job to perform these standard physicals and find any concerns. So the Giants and Mets could do it with loser Carlos Correa but our doctors can't? Maybe we should be shopping for new "medical experts" because we could've caught that. Even Frankie knew he didn't have the "clean bill of health" Cashman said our doctors gave him. We look stupid.

At he end of the day, we gave away four guys with upside for a short-term rental. You can't make up this kind of insanity and at the end of the day no one is held accountable for it. The medical staff and Cashman all walk away with money in their pockets....and I hate it.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj 

YANKEES GET FRANKE MONTAS!

Big news from the man and legend Jack Curry of YES Network.  The Yankees are acquiring Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino from the Athletics.  Here is Jack's Tweet:

The Yankees have acquired Montas and Trivino from Oakland.

— Jack Curry (@JackCurryYES) August 1, 2022

Now in return, JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina and Cooper Bowman are going to the A's. As CBS Sports writes:

"Sears is an interesting starting pitching prospect who will get more of an opportunity in Oakland than he would have in New York. "

The Yankees needed to bolster their pitching and they have.  

Bleacher Nation writes:

"Montas, 29, has been excellent this year when healthy, and he comes with an extra year of control. Lou Trevino, a reliever, has terrible results this year, but the peripherals have all mostly been pretty normal. Montas, one of the best starters on the market, is obviously the main attraction here, though."

Nice work getting Montas.  By the way, Joey Gallo? Still a Yankee. Why? Because we can't trade this guy away if we wanted to. And trust me, we want to.

JP SEARS SAVES THE SERIES, NO THANKS TO THE OFFENSE!

There was one bright spot in last night's game against the Orioles, and that was JP Sears. The Yankees didn't have any offensive answers to the Orioles, but Sears rose to the occasion all on his own.

It shouldn't be that way though. Sears looked great, he was impressive and since he has exploded onto the Yankee scene unexpectedly, we hinted that IT JUST WENT FROM BAD TO WORSE FOR DEIVI GARCIA. But honestly, Deivi Garcia isn't the only concern.... there's an elephant in the room we can't ignore.

All I want to reflect on is how great Sears looked in his first major league start where he threw 84 pitches, in 5 innings that allowed 3 hits and no earned runs.....but I can't. The Yankees deflated offense completely distracted me. Sears moment is overshadowed for me by the same old, disappointing offense. The Yankees won another series, but no thanks to the dead offense.

The Yankees have found their first test of the 2022 season. The injury bug has finally weaseled its way back in the clubhouse, and it couldn't come at a worse time. The Rays are up next in an important four game series with a 4.5 game lead in the AL East that sounds like a nice cushion.....but it's not. I don't care that it's early in the season because the Rays are a thorn in the Yankees side. We aren't 100% healthy and we aren't playing our best. It's time to buckle down.

Good teams will find a way to win no matter what obstacles are in their way. I don't care that Giancarlo Stanton is out with what Aaron Boone now claims is "ankle inflammation" and not a calf strain. Yes, he's a big par of the lineup but so are guys like Aaron Hicks only because he's paid an insane amount of money and utterly useless.

There is plenty of other talent that should be able to step up and help this team keep winning, but that doesn't include Hicks. I don't think there is anything in the world that would make Boone see and understand this. He's useless offensively and defensively. He literally has no benefit for the Yankees....but yet he led off last night. Go figure.

I'm happy for Sears, I am but he carried the Yankees last night. He's the reason we won. The offense needs to pull their heads out of their rear ends and figure it out fast or the Rays are going to close the gap.

We squeaked out a win last night.... but I'm still mad. The Yankees owe Sears a few beers and a nice steak dinner.

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

IT JUST WENT FROM BAD TO WORSE FOR DEIVI GARCIA

The Yankees aren't admitting this yet but, they are worried about Deivi Garcia and so am I. Garcia used to be the Yankees second-best pitching prospect and he's in a downward spiral and barely cracked the top 30. He couldn't wait for 2021 to come to an end but his 2022 start so far is nothing to feel great about.

We got a short, encouraging glimpse of Garcia in Spring Training but it was short lived. I was hopeful that he would carry that with him into the regular season. As bad as his 2021 start was, this year looks even worse and he better turn it around fast otherwise some new kids are knocking on the door of the 40-man roster.

The season is young but he has a bloated 9.90 ERA in six starts with the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders down in Triple-A. In 20 innings he has allowed 22 earned runs on 27 hits and walked 16 batters. He's quickly losing ground to guys like JP Sears and Hayden Wesneski, who isn't on the Yankees 40-man roster yet but he's making the Yankees think long and hard about that. If Wesneski continues to impress, Garcia is going to find himself left behind.

I hope Garcia can pull himself out of this. He's still 23 so he's young and I think he can be saved, however I already said ANALYTICS FAILED DEIVI GACIA AND NOW THERE IS PROOF! The Yankees have some other kids that are starting to climb the rankings and Garcia is freefalling. I think the Yankees are to blame for a lot of that because....the Yankees haven't done well developing young talent. They look at numbers spit out of a computer and try to tinker with these younger kids like they are a science experiment. Not to mention Matt Blake and Aaron Boone are just brainless morons.

But Garcia is in a race against time. He may be young enough, but some of these other kids pitching well are older than him and proving they are already closer to that big league opportunity. They may outpitch him for a big league opportunity and that would suck. I like Garcia, I've always pushed for him....but time may not be on his side anymore.

I hope Garcia can pull it together quickly. We always want to see the kid that we follow for a long time make it to the show and be successful. I still hope that happens, but I'm worried about him. He doesn't have a lot of reputable coaches behind him to guide him....and history has proven this. 

I want to see the Garcia from Spring Training come back again....please!

--Jeana Bellezza-Ochoa

BYB Senior Managing Editor

Twitter: @nyprincessj

HOW THE YANKEES DEPTH WILL SERVE THEM WELL.

Source: New York Post

Yes. The Yankees have depth. I know. Right. I am complimenting the stack the Yankees are piecing together in an intentional way. Let's take a deeper look at how the 2022 Yankees have the depth that will serve them well.

The Yankees will carry 16 pitchers into the first series of the season with longtime rivals The Boston Red Sox. Besides the obvious ones, the Yankee pitchers will include right-handers Clarke Schmidt and Ron Marinaccio and lefty JP Sears. The Yankees will likely drop back to 13 pitchers when the expanded roster ends on May 1st. This expanded roster gives teams some flexibility due to the shortened spring training.

"Schmidt, 26, went 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA in three appearances (two starts) this spring. He led all Yankees pitchers with 11 strikeouts and 9 1/3 innings pitched. Schmidt is a former first-round pick (16th overall) of the Yankees in the 2017 Draft," reported MLB.com

Schmidt will likely be used in a variety of roles this season. He could be a long reliever, a starter. [Maybe] a day where he gives us some serious length," Boone said. "But there may be a scenario where he is in an inning-plus situation as well. You never know how the games unfold."

In addition to the talent and versatility in the Yankee pitching, there are the hard-core utility players. The standout is switch-hitting Marwin Gonzalez. "Gonzalez will be part of the three-man bench after hitting .375 (9-for-24) with three home runs and 10 RBIs this spring. However, his ability to play several positions in the field will be even more useful to the Yankees early in the season than his bat," reported MLB.com

"Marwin's versatility gives up pretty good coverage everywhere," Boone said before an exhibition Tuesday against the Detroit Tigers. "Just early on, got to make sure we protect and build up the arms properly. We'll make it work, and if we have to change on the fly a little bit, we'll do that," reported ESPN.

The Yankees were scheduled for a 1:05 PM start on Thursday at the Stadium, but Mother Nature is not in agreement. Game 1 of 162 is postponed to Friday as the rains won't let up enough for the start of the much anticipated 2022 season. Better for our pitchers honestly, but I know we all were looking forward to having baseball back. On the bright side, the Bombers' depth could serve them well this season. Let's hope they can really use this depth as an opportunity to rise above rather than a stop gap for injuries. 

--Suzie Carbonaro
BYB Senior Managing Editor
Twitter: @suzieprof

THE YANKEES JUST MADE A TRADE

Photo of JP Sears / Southern Conference photo

It has started.  The Yankees have made a move. Yankees Public Relations tweeted this just a short time ago...

The @Yankees today announced they acquired minor league LHP JP Sears and minor league RHP Juan Then from Seattle in exchange for RHP Nick Rumbelow.

— Yankees PR Dept. (@YankeesPR) November 18, 2017

So it appears Nick Rumbelow goes to Seattle. 

Photo: MLB.com

Yanks get a decent Lefty in JP Sears and Righty Juan Then.  I know what you're thinking... Then what, right?

We shall see. Maybe a Manager. Stay tuned with that.


BYB Stack Merchandise (2017)