Dodgers News: Frankie Montas Out 2-4 Months

Not all news is good news, and tonight the Los Angeles Dodgers have learned that right-hander Frankie Montas will miss the next two to four months after having rib surgery. The news broke shortly ago on Twitter.

Montas was acquired by the Dodgers in mid-December during a three-team trade with the Cincinnati Reds and Chicago White Sox. Last season, Montas struck out 20 batters in 15 innings during his big league stint. He fanned 108 batters in 112 innings at Double-A in 2015.

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From Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) on Twitter:

Dodgers pitcher Frankie Montas out 2-4 months after rib surgery.

— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) February 13, 2016

Details of Montas’ exact surgery have been made public now, and it’s not entirely terrible:

#Dodgers say Montas had "right first rib" removed after stress fracture.

— Bill Shaikin (@BillShaikin) February 13, 2016

This is a similar surgery that Josh Beckett had undergone, and it was done by the same surgeon, Dr. Greg Pearl. So, there is some history there. All in all, Montas should be fully recovered in two to four months, so he shouldn’t miss a significant portion of time.

While this sounds bad – and, let’s face it, surgery isn’t really ever good news – it still isn’t the end of the world. Montas should be ready to go by mid-May or June, and he might still make the team later on in the season if the team needs a power thrower out of the bullpen.

This doesn’t really delay Montas’ estimated time of arrival, but rather it just addressed a problem that was there and it means he should be fine from here on out. Montas will likely begin the season with a rehab assignment before transitioning to Double-A or Triple-A.

I'm told Montas noticed irritation in ribcage during off-season workouts. Until further notice, file this under "baseball-related injuries."

— J.P. Hoornstra (@jphoornstra) February 13, 2016

The good news is that Montas knew something was wrong and had doctors take a look at it before ultimately going through with the surgery. It’s great to see that he took it seriously and addressed it before it got too far along in the process. We wish him the best and root for him to have a speedy recovery.

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