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    • Brewers trade for Reds starting pitcher Frankie Montas
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    Brewers trade for Reds starting pitcher Frankie Montas

    Vaseline Posted on

    Matt Arnold got his starting pitcher. That much is known now.

    How is it going? The next two months will tell.

    The Milwaukee Brewers searched the market for a player who could bolster their rotation and throw meaningful innings, and on Monday night they struck a deal with the Cincinnati Reds for Frankie Montas.

    In return, the Brewers are reportedly sending outfielder Joey Wiemer and pitcher Jakob Junis to the Reds.

    Montas, 31, has made 19 starts for the Reds this year on a one-year, $16 million contract and has a 5.01 earned run average with 78 strikeouts in 93 ⅓ innings.

    Montas also had 41 hits and 14 home runs this season with the Reds.

    Montas started this season strong with a 3.36 ERA in his first six starts, but has since dropped to a 5.56 ERA.

    The right-handed pitcher is a nine-year Major League veteran who previously pitched for the Athletics, Yankees and White Sox.

    He will receive $4.3 million for the remainder of this season and has a $20 million mutual option with a $2 million buyout next year.

    Montas still throws relatively hard, averaging about 94 mph with his fastball, but not at the velocity he once had after undergoing multiple surgeries, including one on his shoulder in 2023. He throws with five pitches, with his four-seam and split-finger fastballs being the primary ones.

    The four-seamer has been hit pretty hard this year, though, with a .418 slugging percentage while whiffing just 19.7%. Montas’ best pitch is his split finger, which has a whiff rate of over 40%.

    The cutter, sinker and slider have all produced mixed results and have also been hit hard at times this year.

    Wiemer, a former top-100 prospect who played center field regularly for Milwaukee last season but generally struggled at the plate, largely due to swing decisions. In 151 games in the majors over the past two years, Wiemer is hitting .201 with a .625 OPS and 13 homers, but has struck out 125.

    He’s become popular of late in Class AAA Nashville, where his overall OPS is .745. The tool-heavy outfielder is now heading home to Cincinnati, where he spent his college years playing for the University of Cincinnati and still owns a home there.

    Junis, meanwhile, has been a reliable arm in a multi-inning role out of the Brewers bullpen. He missed most of the year recovering from a shoulder injury, but through 10 games and 26 innings he has allowed just seven earned runs, pitching critical innings in a depleted bullpen of late.

    The Brewers have allowed the fewest innings of any team from their starters this season, making it a terrible secret that they have been desperate for weapons. Milwaukee has been involved in discussions about Erick Fedde, according to multiple reports, and has also had discussions about Jack Flaherty with Detroit, sources told the Journal Sentinel.

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