ATLANTA -- A little less than a thousand miles north of where the Mets lost a 5-0 game to Chris Sale and the Braves on Wednesday night at Truist Park, dropping their season-high fifth in a row, a different but related drama played out in Syracuse, N.Y.
There, Frankie Montas allowed five more runs in a loss to the Triple-A Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp. He yielded another home run, his eighth in six rehab starts. Montas’ ERA on his nearly month-long rehab assignment actually decreased to 12.05, which probably didn’t factor into the discussions team officials began having about his future late Wednesday night.
This was not what the Mets had in mind when they decided to give Montas one final rehab start in hopes that he would improve. Signed to a two-year, $34 million contract in December, but sidelined since Spring Training due to a right lat strain, Montas has put team officials in a difficult spot.
The club currently has three realistic options:
Option 1: Add Montas to the rotation
Ignoring Montas’ rehab results and adding him to the rotation next week against the Braves would be risky. But it’s not as if the Mets have a slew of great alternatives.
Already, the team is operating with both Kodai Senga and Tylor Megill on the injured list, likely for the next month or more. David Peterson, Clay Holmes, Griffin Canning and Paul Blackburn will all continue starting games for a team that badly needs whatever that quartet can provide. Making his own rotation return on Wednesday, Blackburn allowed a leadoff homer to Ronald Acuña Jr. among four total runs (three earned). He didn’t make it out of the fourth inning.
“We’ve kind of run into a rut here the last week,” Blackburn said.
Montas, at least, has more than 700 innings of Major League experience, including an elite season for the A’s back in 2021. His velocity has been fine on his rehab assignment, and he’s worked with pitching coach Jeremy Hefner on ironing out some mechanical issues that the team believes have led to poor results. There’s a world in which Montas joins the rotation next week and proves passable.
“Sometimes, these things take a little while to kind of get back to who he is,” Hefner said.
Should Montas continue to struggle, Sean Manaea is only two weeks behind in his rehab from a strained right oblique muscle. He could be ready to go by the first week of July. Theoretically, then, the Mets could limit Montas to a single start if he doesn’t show immediate improvement.
Option 2: Activate Montas as a reliever
This may not be the ideal way to spend $34 million, but if Mets officials consider it their best chance to win, they’ll at least discuss it. The problem is, if Montas doesn’t start, who will?
Mets officials don’t love the idea of debuting blue-chip prospects unless they can give them extended opportunities in the Majors. Manaea’s impending return limits that possibility. To that end, a person with knowledge of the team’s plans said not to expect fifth-ranked prospect Nolan McLean to come up Friday, when New York needs a spot starter in Philadelphia.
McLean has been performing far better at Syracuse than No. 2 prospect Brandon Sproat, who has walked nearly as many batters as he has struck out his past three starts, and No. 14 prospect Blade Tidwell, who owns a 7.36 ERA over the same stretch.
That leaves Justin Hagenman as the most realistic option for Friday’s spot start. Even if Hagenman pitches well, the Mets probably wouldn’t give him an encore the following week. It all points to the rotation -- not the bullpen -- being Montas’ ultimate destination.
Option 3: Restart Montas’ rehab clock
To be clear, this may not actually be an option. It would require approval from both Montas and Major League Baseball, which would need to see continued evidence of an injury. A poor run of rehab results won’t be enough.
But if something is still physically wrong with Montas, it could happen. This sort of move wouldn’t leave the Mets in any better of a spot than they are now, but it would at least explain why Montas -- a successful pitcher for so many of his nine seasons in the big leagues -- has been having such trouble in the Minors.
“Giving up runs, not getting swing and miss, there’s obviously some concern,” Hefner said. “But this guy’s been a really good Major League pitcher. If we get him back to who he was delivery-wise, you’d kind of expect his average self to come out.”