11 Mets starting pitcher trade candidates ranked from the bottom to the top

2) NY Mets trade target Frankie Montas

Much less established than Manaea as a big league pitcher, we have our final member of the 2021 Athletics rotation. It’s righty Frankie Montas, last season’s sixth-place finisher in the Cy Young vote.

The 2021 season was a big one for Montas. After hopeful signs in 2018 and 2019 but without enough innings to land on the map, he had a rough year in 2020. This is all but forgotten after going 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA in 2021. Logging 187 innings and tying Manaea with a league leading 32 starts, he’s the type of innings eater the Mets should look at as someone to get them through a full season. Jacob deGrom and Max Scherzer aren’t young. They need firepower with age on their side.

With two years of control left, the Athletics might not be so inclined to trade Montas for anything less than an impressive haul. The Mets would do get the benefit of having him for two years, which has its own plus. They won’t have to go out seeking yet another arm next winter. Montas is someone they can comfortably have around for 2023 as well. Considering they don’t have any major starting pitching prospects coming up by at least mid-2023 if things get fast-tracked, the timeline works out well.

A trade for Montas might work best if the Mets are able to acquire someone else as well. Otherwise, I feel like the cost might end up being too much. The risk with any trade that brings you a single player in exchange for several is that he steps off the mound funny once and that’s the end of it. Nonetheless, it’s a phone call for the Mets to make.