Cardinals show trade target who went to Yankees he missed out

The St. Louis Cardinals faced off with a potential trade target, Frankie Montas, in Sunday’s game against the Yankees and gave him the business. 

MLB Trade Deadline rumors had the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Yankees as potential suitors for former Oakland A’s pitcher Frankie Montas.

While the Yankees ended up acquiring him, on Sunday, the Cardinals showed him just what he might be missing out on the rest of this season in the Gateway City.

As the calendar turned to August, the Yankees inked a trade with the A’s to bring Montas to the Bronx. New York was one of three teams reportedly in the hunt for Montas at the end of the chase for his services, joining the Cardinals and Toronto Blue Jays.

However, Montas got a good look at the St. Louis lineup on Sunday when he took the mound against the Cardinals at Busch Stadium. In fact, it was too close of a look for the new Yankees pitcher.

Cardinals rough up Frankie Montas in once-trade target’s Yankees debut

Montas surrendered six runs on five hits and walked three batters in just three innings of work as the Cardinals jumped out to a quick 6-4 lead. The 29-year-old right-hander threw just 64 pitches before his Yankees debut was done.

It was another piece of what has been a bad weekend for the Yankees and their reminders of the trades they made in an effort to boost their chances of getting back to the World Series for the first time since 2009. On Saturday, Jordan Montgomery, traded from the Yankees to the Cardinals in exchange for outfielder Harrison Bader, came back to haunt his old team by earning the win against them in a 1-0 St. Louis victory by scattering two hits over five innings.

Montas entered Sunday’s game with a 3.18 ERA/3.35 FIP/1.137 WHIP in 19 starts this season (all with Oakland). Montas had given up five runs on four different occasions, but Sunday was the first time an opposing team had tagged him for six runs.

The timing of Montas scuffling on the mound couldn’t have been worse for the Yankees in a weekend series that has been filled with frustration. It also couldn’t have been better for the Cardinals, who sent a not-so-subtle reminder to Montas about what could have been.