Montas wasn't fully healthy when traded to Yankees from A's

Frankie Montas said Wednesday that his shoulder wasn’t completely healthy when he was acquired by the New York Yankees at last season’s trade deadline, but the right-hander said he tried to “move on” after join- to his new team.

Montas, who went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts last season after being acquired from Oakland, is recovering from shoulder surgery that will keep him from pitching until at least the playoffs of May

“I was trying to push forward,” Montas told reporters in his first comments since surgery two weeks earlier. “I got traded to a new team and I wanted to show what I could do. Things didn’t go the way I expected.”

The Yankees placed Montas on the disabled list in late September after his second cortisone injection of the year, knocking him out of the AL Division Series. He was on the roster for the AL Championship Series, but only pitched one inning in the first game against Houston.

Montas said he continued to experience discomfort as he tried to start a pitching program in the offseason. Although he tried to avoid surgery, he said it was the best option and is confident he will pitch this season for the Yankees.

“Trust me, I’m one of the guys that wants to be pitching right now and showing what I can do,” he said. “But things didn’t work out that way, so I’m just trying to rehab and come back so I can help with whatever they want me to do.”

After Montas’ surgery on Feb. 21, Yankees manager Aaron Boone described the procedure as the pitcher cleaning up his labrum without needing to repair his rotator cuff. Boone said everything went according to plan.

New York acquired Montas and reliever Lou Trivino from the Athletics on Aug. 1 in exchange for four prospects.

Montas, who will turn 30 on March 21 and could become a free agent after this season, made 19 starts last year before being traded. He was 4-9 with a 3.18 ERA in 104 1/3 innings.

In the weeks leading up to the deal, he sat out a July 3 start at Seattle after 13 pitches with shoulder strain, then got a cortisone shot before returning with three scoreless innings on July 21 against Detroit . He went five innings against Houston in his last start for Oakland.

reports from the Associated Press

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