Free Agent Righthander Agrees To 1-Year Contract

CINCINNATI – Cincinnati Reds President of Baseball Operations Nick Krall today announced the signing of free agent RHP Frankie Montas (mone-TAHS) to a 1-year, $14 million contract through the 2024 season with a $20 million mutual option for 2025 and a $2 million team buyout.

    Montas finished sixth in the BBWAA’s Cy Young Award voting in 2021 when he went 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA in 32 starts for Oakland. That year, he allowed 3 earned runs or fewer in 29 of his 32 starts while pitching 6.0 or more innings 21 times.

    From 2018 through 2022, Montas’ 3.70 ERA was the fifth-lowest in the American League among pitchers with at least 500.0 innings, trailing Justin Verlander (2.33), Gerrit Cole (3.00), Shane Bieber (3.17) and Framber Valdez (3.38).

    “We are excited to add a pitcher of Frankie’s caliber to our staff ,” said Krall. “We are confidant  he will return to the form that made him one of baseball’s best pitchers before he suffered the shoulder injury.”

    Montas missed the first 160 games of last season while with the Yankees after undergoing right shoulder surgery in February. Following 2 rehab outings with Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he made his lone appearance for New York on September 30 at Kansas City with 1.1 scoreless innings of relief.

    Montas appeared in 3 postseason games with the A’s (2020) and Yankees (2022). The Dominican Republic native began his Major League career with the White Sox in 2015 before pitching parts of 6 seasons with the A’s. He was acquired by the Yankees from Oakland in a 6-player trade on August 1, 2022. Montas turns 31 on March 21.

    To make room on the Reds’ roster, C Austin Wynns was designated for assignment.