Promising JP Sears has made the Frankie Montas trade look even more ridiculous for Yankees
Oakland Athletics pitcher JP Sears works against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning of a baseball game in Oakland, Calif., Tuesday, April 16, 2024. Credit: AP/Tony Avelar
In 2022, shortly after his final start wearing pinstripes, around midnight, JP Sears stood on the vacant corner of 161st and Jerome Avenue, a duffel bag at his feet, waiting to be picked up for his ride back to Scranton-Wilkes/Barre.
It was late June of his last Bronx season, and I recalled the surreal scene in talking to Sears this past week in the visitors' clubhouse at Yankee Stadium.
That same night, hours earlier, Sears was pitching in front of 38,000 fans, a temporary rotation patch, and earned his third major-league victory while extending his scoreless streak to 12 2/3 innings.
Minutes later, Sears learned he was being immediately flipped back to the RailRiders. After a shower, and having his locker packed, Sears was on a Bronx curb, looking out for a black Suburban.
When I brought up that night to Sears, he remembered it well, of course.
“Against the A’s, right?” Sears said, smiling.
Yep. That impressive 2-1 win over Oakland was his second start for the Yankees, but the promising lefty wouldn’t make another in pinstripes. He got three more relief appearances that season, then was shipped to those same A’s — along with Ken Waldichuk, Luis Medina and Cooper Bowman — for Frankie Montas and Lou Trivino.
At the time, that swap was considered a much-needed win for the Yankees, who thought they were getting a proven front-line starter in Montas for the stretch run (plus another year of team control) and a solid bullpen piece in Trivino.
As for Sears, he was merely the No. 20 prospect for the Yankees back then, the package’s most coveted pieces being Waldichuk (No. 5) and Medina (No. 10). Bowman, a second baseman, was ranked No. 21.
Funny how things turned out — as in weird, not ha-ha, for the Yankees.
Montas arrived as damaged goods and pitched to a 6.35 ERA in only eight starts that season before needing February shoulder surgery that wiped out all but 1 1/3 innings the following year. He was the Opening Day starter for the Reds this year and is 2-2 with a 4.19 ERA (now on the IL with a forearm bruise after being hit with a line drive).
Trivino made 25 appearances after the trade, with a 1.66 ERA, but now resides in Yankees limbo, still rehabbing from the Tommy John surgery that wiped out all of 2023. He is expected to return sometime around midseason.
And Sears? He’s looking like the real prize of the entire Montas fiasco, and the Yankees got a painful reminder Monday when Sears stifled them for six scoreless innings (seven Ks) in Oakland's 2-0 win. Sears dominated the Yankees with a four-seam fastball that averages 92.6 mph this season (max 94) and a deceptive sweeper that skims by at 78.8 mph. He also mixes in a changeup, sinker and slider, but the sweeper and four-seamer are his main weapons, as he uses them 35% and 32.7% of the time.
Monday’s gem lowered Sears’ ERA to 3.38 in five starts, and he beat the defending World Series champion Rangers for his lone victory (1-1) this season, carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Adolis Garcia’s one-out single broke it up. In his last three starts, Sears has a 0.52 ERA, allowing only six hits in 17 1/3 innings (.109 opponents' batting average).
No wonder the Yankees admitted to having trouble tracking Sears’ pitches after Monday’s loss. Or least picking up the difference between that mid-90s fastball and 80-mph sweeper.
“Couldn’t see any spin on the ball,” Juan Soto said. “It was just a white thing coming at you.”
Sears confessed to reading what his former team had to say about his performance. So I asked him why his sweeper now is so deceptive (he went 5-14 with a 4.54 ERA in 32 starts last season).
“I think it’s maybe the type of arm slot I throw it from and how I deliver the pitch, which makes it a little weird coming out of my hand,” Sears said. “There’s been times I haven’t thrown it that well. It’s kind of got a mind of its own. But whenever I’m moving really well down the mound, it looks a lot like my fastball, and it’s harder to see for lefties.
“It’s just a pitch I feel comfortable throwing at all times. Half of pitching, when it comes to stuff, is just having a commitment to it. I think the big difference is throwing it more consistently this year than I had been in the past.”
One place Sears has pitched consistently well: Yankee Stadium. After Monday’s sterling effort, he’s 2-1 with a 2.36 ERA in four starts and two relief appearances in the Bronx, with five walks, 23 strikeouts and a 0.83 WHIP in 26 2/3 innings. Not everyone excels on the big stage, but Sears has been comfortable there since his first call-up from Scranton.
“In this stadium, the mound’s really good, the sight lines are really good,” Sears said. “Obviously, there’s really good energy. Any time you come and play the Yankees, you have to be on your stuff. You’re able to find that little bit of extra edge to help you get ready for that game.”
Sears, 28, may be a rotation fixture in Oakland, but being on the vagabond A’s — who are scheduled to play next season at a Triple-A ballpark in Sacramento — would seem to evoke feelings of standing on that Bronx sidewalk again. Sears doesn’t see it that way.
“A lot of stuff can happen as far as guys’ careers, and moves, so I’m just trying to focus on what I can,” he said. “I love it here, and there’s no place I’d rather be, but that’s up to them where we’ll be next year. This year we’re in Oakland.”
Umpires strike out
This week’s four-game series between the Yankees and A’s featured two balks and three ejections, a busy Bronx visit for the umpiring crew. John Tumpane tossed out A’s rightfielder Lawrence Butler for arguing balls and strikes on Tuesday, then followed up by booting Alex Wood — Oakland’s starting pitcher for Thursday — during the first inning of Wednesday night’s game, when he was sitting on the bench.
Maybe Tumpane was just overcompensating for Hunter Wendelstedt’s ridiculous ejection of Aaron Boone, who apparently was thrown out for being in the vicinity of a fan harassing the umpire last Monday Not only was Wendelstedt’s postgame statement embarrassing in admitting that Boone didn’t do anything wrong, but his failure to identify the culprit in the Yankees’ dugout in order to warrant an ejection was inexcusable. Tumpane did it with Wood; Wendelstedt, a 26-year veteran, should know better. And MLB clearly sided with Boone, who was not fined (as is customary with a manager’s ejection) and, based on what the manager said, received what sounded like an apology for Wendelstedt’s behavior.
In defending himself, Wendelstedt said he’s never ejected someone over what a fan yelled. But Gerrit Cole, who suggested the harassment came from behind the dugout, not inside — as a hot mic on the broadcast indicated — said this wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed such a thing happening. Cole saw his UCLA coach, John Savage, bounced for what a fan screamed at the ump.
“It was a similar argument,” Cole said. “Just no video evidence.”
David Lennon is an award-winning columnist, a voter for baseball's Hall of Fame and has covered six no-hitters, including two perfect games.
