Frankie Montas Trade Grades: Grading the Trade for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics

Frankie Montas Trade Grades: Grading the Trade for the New York Yankees, Oakland Athletics

The Yankees have overachieved with their starting rotation this season. Luis Severino is currently on the injured list and the rest of the rotation has been better than expected if we're being honest.

The Yankees currently have 70 wins on the season and realized that they were in need of a number two starting pitcher.

Therefore, the Yankees struck a deal with the Oakland Athletics and brought in Frankie Montas to be their number two starter. The Yankees also added a solid reliever in Lou Trivino, who will basically replace Michael King in the bullpen.

At this time, we don't know exactly how valuable Oakland's haul is, but we can absolutely give some projections and expectations for those guys. The Athletics traded for pitchers, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina, and JP Sears along with second baseman, Cooper Bowman. Waldichuk was New York's 5th best prospect according to MLB Pipeline. Medina was the 10th best prospect while Sears and Bowman were 20 and 21 respectively.

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Yankees Grade: A-

The Yankees brought in their second starting pitcher choice at the trade deadline in Frankie Montas. Let's be real, the Yankees wanted Luis Castillo, but they weren't willing to pay the price to get him.

Instead, the Yankees held onto their top prospects and brought in a difference maker in Montas, to be the second pitcher for the club.

The Yankees have a ton of rings as a franchise, but they haven't been nearly as dominant in the playoffs in the last decade. With 70 wins on the season, the Yankees have their best chance in the last decade to win a World Series. They had to go all-in and find a reliable starter and brought in Montas, along with Trivino, who will be the perfect replacement for King, who ended up on the injured list recently. The Yankees did what had to be done.

Athletics Grade: B+

The Athletics haven't been competitive at all this season. There was no reason to hold onto Montas during the rebuild process. The Athletics currently have no choice but to develop their minor league talent and build a roster from scratch again.

Waldichuk struck out 13.7 batters per nine innings in Double-A and then moved onto Triple-A and still struck out 13.2 batters per nine innings. He's expected to be the real deal and should be Major League-ready next season.

Medina, on the other hand, has a bit of a walk problem, but limited batters to a .179 average this season in Double-A. There's some optimism there.

Meanwhile, JP Sears has already pitched in the Majors for the Yankees and had a 2.05 ERA in 22 innings while doing so. In Triple-A he has a 1.67 ERA with 55 K's. So he's been very good and seems to be developing nicely.

The Athletics also added Bowman, who was a fourth-round pick in 2021. He's not hitting the cover off the ball, but the Athletics saw a buy-low opportunity here. Bowman was basically a throw-in.

We'll see how all of this works out. But the Athletics listened to multiple offers and thought this was the best one. I'll trust that.