brian cashman yankees
Lucas Peltier-USA TODAY Sports

The injury bug has invaded the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa. Several important players are expected to start 2023 on the injured list. The first domino to fall was starting pitcher Frankie Montas. He also made some comments the other day that we said general manager Brian Cashman needed to address.

The longtime New York executive did that on Thursday. After hearing Montas say he wasn’t 100% healthy after getting traded and trying to pitch through it, this is what Cashman said (quotes via New York Post): 

I know [Wednesday] he said clearly he was hurt, but I think in terms of context, it’s easy for him to say that now, but when we got him, he said he felt great, he was feeling 100 percent and ready to go. I feel like he was genuine and sincere. So you go through the medical deep dive that you can do in-season.

You deal with the player when you get him and how he’s feeling. Everything came back good and aces, and without concern. But it didn’t play out that way.

Did you expect him to say anything other than this? There’s no way — if something fishy did happen — the GM would own up to it. We need to take everything at face value. But if what Cashman said is true, then what else are the Yankees supposed to do?

Montas did skip a start or two in July, but he was back on the mound before getting dealt at the deadline. If nothing shows up on the medical report and the hurler doesn’t share any concerns, then there’s no other choice than to start running him out there.

Either way, the trade has looked like a dreadful move so far. Montas will at least potentially get an opportunity to show it was worthwhile at some point later this season (assuming his recovery has no significant setbacks).

Matt Musico can be reached at [email protected] and you can follow him on Twitter: @mmusico8.

Matt Musico is an editor for ESNY. He’s been writing about baseball and the Mets for the past decade. His work has been featured on numberFire, MetsMerized Online, Bleacher Report, and Yahoo! Sports.