Yankees can’t resist signing one more former NY Mets player before Opening Day

Once a New York Mets player, likely a future New York Yankees player and vice versa. The two Big Apple teams have exchanged so many exes this offseason you’d think we were living in a sitcom world where everyone gets a turn to date or at least exchange a kiss.

The Yankees couldn’t resist adding one more former Mets player before Opening Day. They’re bringing in Rafael Montero on a minor league deal.

An ex-Mets player best known as a guy who was incorrectly rated higher than the franchise’s second best starting pitcher of all-time, Jacob deGrom, he returns to New York off of a very weird year.

What has Rafael Montero been up to anyway?

Montero had the rare distinction of being traded twice last year. Once was in April from the Houston Astros to the Atlanta Braves. At the deadline, he went from the Braves to the Detroit Tigers.

A massive $11.5 million deal followed him along. It’s a deal he earned after a strong 2022 season with the Astros. He never came close to the three-year agreement.

His 2.37 ERA and work as an occasional closer for Houston landed him a three-year deal worth $34.5 million. He had a 5.08 ERA in 2023 and 4.70 ERA in 2024. ERA isn’t everything and a dive into his 2024 numbers outside of the earned runs make him look worse. He had a walk rate of 4.5 BB/9 and strikeouts at 5.4 BB/9 in just under 40 innings.

Montero only had limited action for Houston last season before going to the Braves where he failed to regain excellence. An easy to remember 4.50 ERA followed by 5.50 in Atlanta didn’t have the Tigers avoiding him at the trade deadline. They were rewarded. Montero finished with 22 innings and a 2.86 ERA performance but with shaky stats elsewhere including more declining strikeout numbers, falling to 7.8 K/9.

Glance at last year’s results and you might get fooled into thinking the Yankees got a steal.

Detroit had little use for Montero in the postseason, allowing him one game. He faced the minimum of three batters and didn’t record an out.

On the minor league side of things, the Yankees have now added Montero, Ali Sanchez, Zack Short, Kenedy Corona, and Dom Hamel this offseason. Montero is by far the most notable, ranking as the club’s third-best prospect heading into 2014. deGrom was at 14. He won the Rookie of the Year that season.

Montero at least did manage to make it to the majors with the Mets even if he never lived up to the billing. Across 192.1 innings, he had a 5.38 ERA from 2014-2017. It was in 2017 when he logged 119 of those frames. An injury knocked him out for 2018. He was released after the season.