James Rowson has just been sentenced to 30 years in love triangle manslaughter case…..
Opening Day is a time of optimism for most teams and fanbases, the last point in which the best-case scenario is still on the table for those who choose to believe.
The same is true for players. In addition to hotshot young players and established veteran starters, each season provides opportunities for journeymen who were able to crack a big-league roster to start the year.
Several former Yankees are gearing up for Opening Day across the league. All of these players once carried great promise. All of them have also had their struggles, whether due to injury, ineffectiveness, or both. The list, including familiar names like Luis Severino and Gary Sánchez, is too long to cover in one article. Instead, we’ll be focusing on a few former Yankees whose new opportunities may have flown a bit more under the radar.
Let’s look at a few of these players to assess the likelihood that they will be able to re-establish themselves and revitalize their careers in a new home.
Frankie Montas
Yankees fans heard much about Montas but saw little of him over his year-plus in New York. After coming over from Oakland at the 2022 trade deadline, the right-hander struggled mightily, posting a 6.35 ERA in eight starts and pitching his way out of the club’s playoff rotation. It went from bad to worse that offseason, as he underwent arthroscopic shoulder surgery that would cause him to miss almost all of the 2023 season.
Montas did return for one game in late September, and the Reds liked what they saw enough to guarantee Montas $16 million in free agency this offseason. That’s more than many fellow starters, including Jack Flaherty and Kyle Gibson, who pitched full seasons last year.
It’s easy to forget Montas finished sixth in AL Cy Young voting as recently as 2021, when he went 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA and 122 ERA+. Cincinnati is hoping that Montas, who just turned 31 last week, still has some of that level of performance left in the tank. They gave him the nod to start on Opening Day this Thursday, signifying their hope that he can anchor a rotation replete with young, inexperienced arms; Hunter Greene, Graham Ashcraft, Nick Lodolo, and Andrew Abbott are all 26
