MLB trade grades: Early returns on Frankie Montas favor Cardinals front office

The St. Louis Cardinals may have won the Frankie Montas trade, and they weren’t even involved.

The New York Yankees traded for Frankie Montas at last season’s deadline, and while it was deemed a success at the time, the right-handed hurler hasn’t been able to stay healthy since. This hurt the Yankees come the postseason, as pitching depth was a real concern of theirs.

This was especially evident since New York traded Jordan Montgomery to the Cardinals for Harrison Bader, a move that should benefit both teams moving forward.

Nonetheless, when grading the Montas trade, it’s tough not to take the Cards into account. St. Louis was another potential suitor for Montas, but they did not give into the Athletics trade demands.

Who won the Frankie Montas trade? The Cardinals

Here’s how the final deal for Frankie Montas went down:

Josh Jacobs of Redbird Rants broke down what a Cardinals equivalent to this trade would have looked like, given the most recent prospect rankings:

"“At the MLB Trade Deadline, the Athletics sent Montas and reliever Lou Trivino to the Yankees for JP Sears, Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina, and Cooper Bowman. The equivalent to that package for the Cardinals (based on organization prospect rankings) would have been something like Gordon Graceffo, Michael McGreevy, Jake Walsh, and Jonathan Mejia. Had St. Louis given up this kind of package for Montas and Trivino, we would be ripping them for it every day based on his second-half performance alone.”"

Montas made just eight starts with the Yankees last season, pitching to an ERA over 6.00. He wasn’t nearly good enough to get their rotation over the hump, and New York was promptly swept out of the postseason by the Houston Astros in the ALCS.

Had St. Louis made such a trade, they’d be out at least three top prospects and Montgomery, who proved last season he deserves to be a part of the Cardinals Opening Day rotation.

St. Louis won the Montas trade, if only because they weren’t baited into such a move by a fanbase desperate for rotation help. They waited for the right move, and made it in Montgomery.