TAMPA, Fla, — Frankie Montas needs shoulder surgery and will miss most or all of the New York Yankees’ season.
As pitchers and catchers reported to spring training on Wednesday, Yankees Manager Aaron Boone said the 29-year-old right-hander will have right shoulder surgery on Feb. 21. Boone said Montas could possibly return in the season’s second half.
“He was building back up and just still wasn’t quite right,” Boone said. “Now we’ve gotten to the point where they’re going to go in and they’ll scope it. Best case is he would be back late in the season but we’re really going to know a lot after the 21st.”
Montas was acquired from Oakland on Aug 1. and went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts with the Yankees. He didn’t pitch after Sept. 16 due to inflammation in his pitching shoulder.
Montas left a July 3 start at Seattle after 13 pitches with shoulder tightness – his velocity was down about 3 mph. He returned July 21 and had a 2.25 ERA in starts against Detroit and Houston.
“He had shoulder issues when he got to us,” Boone said. “I think with all these pitchers, you’re going to have this similar thing. That’s why, especially with shoulders, they don’t race into shoulder surgeries all the time. You treat these things, and sometimes these things lay dormant, sometimes they are asymptomatic, sometimes they become very symptomatic. For Frankie, it was just I think that nagging thing that didn’t allow him to continue to get over the hump.”
Montas is eligible for free agency after this season.
• Outfielder Aaron Judge worked out at first base Tuesday at the minor league complex.
“We needed someone to take the throws over there,” Boone said. “I don’t expect you to see him out there this year. Maybe five years from now, maybe it’s something we’re talking about.”
RANGERS: Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom was held out of the first spring training workout for the Texas Rangers because their top free-agent acquisition felt some tightness in his left side.
Each of deGrom’s past two seasons with the New York Mets were shortened substantially by injuries, but Rangers GM Chris Young insisted the decision to hold out deGrom was precautionary. It was an unusually chilly day in Arizona and some fields were slick from overnight rain.
WHITE SOX: Mike Clevinger reported among pitchers to spring training while facing allegations of domestic violence.
GM Rick Hahn told reporters the team’s “only option” was to allow Clevinger to report while awaiting results of Major League Baseballs investigation into the allegations.
MLB began the investigation following allegations made public by Olivia Finestead in an Instagram post on Jan. 24. The White Sox said they were not aware of the allegations when the 32-year-old right-hander agreed to a $12 million, one-year contract as a free agent that was announced on Dec. 4.
Hahn told reporters the team had no way of knowing about the allegations “without someone being in violation” of the domestic abuse policy’s confidentiality clause.
Hahn also said “there was no indication of anything close to what is being alleged in this guy’s background.”
Finestead said she is the mother of Clevinger’s child and alleged he fathered two other children who were not hers. She posted a photo of marks on her body with accompanying words that alleged the injuries were “from when he threw an iPad at me pregnant” and “finally left when he strangled me.”
ROCKIES: Manager Bud Black agreed to a one-year contract extension that goes through the 2024 season.
Black is 417-453 with Colorado since he was hired before the 2017 season. He’s third in franchise wins behind Clint Hurdle (534) and Don Baylor (440).
The team has made the postseason twice under Black’s leadership.
ARBITRATION: Two-time All-Star Corbin Burnes and Brady Singer lost in salary arbitration.
Burnes will receive $10.01 million from the Milwaukee Brewers rather than his $10.75 million request, Melinda Gordon, Jules Bloch and Keith Greenberg ruled one day after hearing arguments.
Singer will get $2.95 million rather than $3,325,000 from the Kansas City Royals, according to the decision by Howard Edelman, Walt De Treux and Brian Keller.
Teams have a 5-3 lead in decisions.
Infielder Gio Urshela went to a hearing with the Los Angeles Angels, asking for $10 million rather than the team’s $8.4 million offer.
BRAVES: Right fielder Ronald Acuna Jr. has been cleared to play in the World Baseball Classic and was taking swings at the team’s spring training camp on Wednesday, getting an early start on a season with high expectations.
Acuna hit .266 with 15 homers and drove in 50 runs in 119 games in 2022 after sustaining a season-ending torn ligament in his right knee on July 10, 2021. Acuna played through knee pain last season and at times was used as the team’s designated hitter.
Now the Braves’ three-time All-Star is looking forward to a pain-free season with hopes of returning to his 2019 peak form, when he .280 with 41 homers and 101 RBI and led the NL with 37 stolen bases.
The Braves at first planned to keep Acuna out of the WBC. The team was persuaded there’s no reason he can’t take a break from his normal spring training schedule to represent his native Venezuela in the WBC, assuming he has no setbacks.
NATIONALS: Right-hander Stephen Strasburg, a three-time All-Star and 2019 World Series MVP, did not report with other pitchers following a recent setback in his comeback from a 2021 operation to correct thoracic outlet syndrome.
Strasburg, 34, had a nerve-related setback in a recent bullpen session, MLB.com reported. He made only one start in 2022, giving up seven runs in 4 2/3 innings in a loss at Miami on June 9. His history of health problems created an uncertain outlook for his chances to return to the rotation in 2023.
Strasburg has thrown a total of 31 1/3 innings across just eight starts over the past three seasons. He had carpal tunnel surgery in 2020.
DIAMONDBACKS: Left-handed reliever Andrew Chafin and the Arizona Diamondbacks finalized $6.25 million, one-year contract.
Chafin gets $5.5 million this year, and the Diamondbacks have a $7.25 million option for 2024 with a $750,000 buyout. Chafin could earn $1 million in performance bonuses for pitching appearances: $250,000 each for 55, 60, 65 and 70. He would get a $250,000 assignment bonus if traded.
Chafin returned to Arizona after spending his first seven seasons with the D-backs from 2014-20.
He was 2-3 with three saves and a 2.83 ERA in 64 appearances and 57 1/3 innings last year, striking out 67 and walking 19. Chafin has 375 mound appearances since 2017, most among major league relievers.
He earned $6.5 million from Detroit and opted out of a deal that would have paid $6.5 million this year.
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