Cincinnati Reds Bolster Rotation, Sign Frankie Montas
The Cincinnati Reds offseason of adding continued Saturday when they reportedly signed veteran righty Frankie Montas to a deal “in the $15-$16 million range”. Montas joins Nick Martinez and Emilio Pagan on the list pitchers the Reds have added this offseason.
Overview
Montas, more known for his time in Oakland, was traded to the Yankees at the 2022 trade deadline where he posted a 6.35 ERA across eight starts. His 2023 was limited to 1.1 innings due to injury.
Overall, Montas has been a solid starter and and very well could return to form in Cincinnati. His home/road splits from his time in Oakland are concerning posting an ERA of 3.28 at the Oakland Colesium and around a 4.50 ERA on the road. Of course home/road splits are not the only factor of a pitchers success.
Cincinnati adds a veteran arm with a five-pitch mix including a fastball that sat 96 miles per hour pre-injury. Montas works a splitter off his fastball, which is a pitch the Reds organization seems very interested in and has helped other pitches find success with. He’s not going to rack up a ton of strikeouts but does produce a groundballs at a good clip and has struggled with home runs at times.
The Fit
The Reds are a contender for the NL Central and have been rumored to several big name pitchers all offseason. There’s no doubt adding another high end arm to this rotation was one of the top offseason priorities.
Hunter Greene still could take his game to another level, Andrew Abbott showed well for a rookie, and Graham Ashcraft returned to form. Lefty Nick Lodolo is often injured and working back while Brandon Williamson showed he is at the very least a Major League caliber arm. Several prospects including Connor Phillips are knocking on the door, so why do the Reds need more?
Having options, and depth, is absolutley necessary in this day in age. Pitchers deal with injuries at an alarming high clip. The Reds have enough to get through a season, now. Having high-end talent to go head-to-head with other top teams in the playoffs is where the Reds could use another proven starter.
