The Mets will move struggling right-hander Frankie Montas from the rotation to the bullpen, manager Carlos Mendoza announced Tuesday (link via Anthony DiComo of MLB.com). The team has not yet announced who will start in place of Montas on Saturday. The Mets have righty Paul Blackburn on a minor league rehab assignment, but Mendoza indicated that Blackburn will make at least one more rehab appearance and is not an option to step into Montas’ rotation spot this weekend.
Notably, Saturday is the first day that prospects can be promoted to the major leagues but still fall shy of the requisite 45 days on the active roster that exhausts a player’s rookie status. In other words, beginning Saturday, the Mets will be able to turn to a top prospect like Nolan McLean or Brandon Sproat without burning either pitcher’s rookie eligibility. That’s key for teams with top-100 prospects, as promoting those prospects early in the 2026 season can then net the teams a compensatory draft pick, based on Rookie of the Year voting.
It’s been a miserable season for the veteran Montas, who inked a surprisingly strong two-year, $34MM contract with an opt-out provision over the winter. That opt-out is a moot point by now, with the 32-year-old righty being relegated to bullpen work after logging a 6.38 ERA in his first eight appearances of the year (36 2/3 innings).
Montas began the season on the injured list due to a lat strain and didn’t pitch in the majors until late June. He’s allowed four or more earned runs in four of seven starts and has yet to complete six innings in an outing. Setting aside a solid season debut in which he tossed five shutout frames, Montas has been clobbered for a 7.39 ERA and yielded an average of 2.27 homers per nine innings pitched in six starts and one three-inning relief appearance (his most recent outing).
It appears that Montas won’t get the opportunity to improve on that rotation performance anytime soon. It’s difficult to fathom a scenario where he’d turn down the $17MM player option he’s facing at season’s end, so it’s in the Mets’ best interest to get him back on track, but their recent play doesn’t afford them the luxury of keeping a struggling veteran in the rotation while he tries to sort things out.
The freefalling Mets, who’ve lost seven in a row, currently have Kodai Senga, Sean Manaea, Clay Holmes and David Peterson in the rotation. Sproat and McLean stand as the two most logical replacements. (Fellow top prospect Jonah Tong was only just promoted to Triple-A and has yet to throw a pitch there.) Sproat last pitched Aug. 7 and would be on eight days’ rest, whereas McLean pitched on the 10th. Based on their current schedules, McLean seems like the more straightforward option, and he’s pitched more effectively this season anyhow.