3 free agents who always made more sense for the NY Mets than signing Frankie Montas

It's safe to say the Frankie Montas project has not gone as planned. When the New York Mets signed Montas to a one-year, $17 million deal last winter, fans questioned the decision to sign a guy with an ERA over 4.50 since 2021. After giving up seven runs in four innings in Sunday afternoon's disaster against the Giants, Montas is up to a 6.68 ERA on the season with a 1.54 WHIP.

Mets' pitching coach Jeremy Hefner is regarded as one of the league's best in his field, and his ability to return fading pitchers to their former glory (Manaea, Severino, etc.) has turned heads across the league over his tenure. Montas, who was good in 2021 and the first half of '22, was one that David Stearns hoped could be a similar case with Hefner when there were better options on the board. The Mets overpaid for an experiment that hasn't worked out; here's who they could've had instead.

1) Jose Quintana

This one is a low-hanging fruit. Quintana, who had a 3.70 ERA with the Mets and pitched two shutout starts for them in the playoffs last year, was repaid by the team he wanted to return to with absolutely nothing, having to wait until March to sign a measly 1-year, $4 million deal with the Milwaukee Brewers. Now he's thriving in Milwaukee, with a 3.50 ERA in 16 games started.

It's mind-boggling that the Mets chose to throw $17 million at a struggling Montas, who they had hopes of fixing, rather than spend less to bring back Quintana, who has been a proven model of consistency over the past three seasons and a key to some of the Mets' major victories during their 2024 NLCS run. Now that it's clear how the Montas deal is working out, not taking another chance on Quintana will be something that Mets fans, especially myself, will be shaking their heads about for years to come.