The whispers are growing that Frankie Montas could be a 2023 washout

Never listen to the rumor mill. For starters, it is a bastard. It drinks too much, shouts obscenities at squirrels and then, later, denies everything. You tell yourself to ignore it. He's just the rumor mill, you say. It's Rep. George Santos, on Ambien, in drag, playing truth or dare, hand on the Bible phone book, pretending to be Charles Ponzi. It doesn't matter... 

But still, you hear the whispers...

Lately, the mill has been gobbling about Frankie Montas, who came last August to fill the No. 2 slot in the Yank rotation. It's been suggesting that Montas' enflamed shoulder will sideline him far longer than the month of April, as the Yankees say. It's claiming that Montas might need shoulder surgery, which would mean the 60-day DL, a veritable No-Fly List for pitchers. If so, Montas could miss the rest of the Biden administration and settle, once and for all, the argument that Brian Cashman last August engineered the worst set of deadline trades in his, or perhaps any GM's, career. 

The Yanks traded four prospects to Oakland for a No. 2 starter with a 3.18 ERA over 104 innings. They received a recurring meltdown, a 6.35 ERA, and their second Sonny Gray - a late summer acquisition that couldn't make the postseason roster. And now here's our friend, Mr. Rumor Mill - tongue bloated with gin - pattering that Montas might never even throw another pitch for the Death Barge. 

At right is a list of Frankie Montas' statistical doppelgangers, compiled on Baseball Reference. I offer it to make one point: At this stage of his career, age 30, Montas is a nobody masquerading as a nonentity. He is Merrill Kelly. He is Vance Worley. He is Leniel Hooker. Dear God, he's the reincarnation of Steve Swetonic! Yes, he's the Tonic! 

So, in the name of Ross Stripling and Yordano Ventura, we're suddenly back to penciling in Domingo German and/or the bullpen every fifth day. Let's appreciate that Hal Steinbrenner spent heavily on Carlos Rodon. But last night, as crazy Uncle Joe kept sputtering, "FINNNNNISH THE JOB!" he might as well have been the ghost of old George, yelling at his son over the Ouija board.

This doesn't count that the Yankees gave up JP Sears and Ken Waldichuk, both of whom look like future rotational cogs. Or that we'll pay Montas $7.5 million this year. Or that next winter, he's a free agent. Yeesh. For the trade to be worse, Cashman would have had to throw in a $1 million Best Buy gift card. 

Ah, but it's only the rumor mill, right? Ignore it, right? Hey, Rollie Sheldon had his moments, no?