Sources: Mets, Montas agree to 2-year, $34M deal
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Jeff Passan, ESPN
Right-hander Frankie Montas and the New York Mets are in agreement on a two-year, $34 million contract, sources told ESPN on Sunday night, adding a veteran to a thinned-out rotation in the team’s first free agent signing of what’s bound to be a busy winter.
Montas, 31, joins Kodai Senga and David Peterson among Mets starters after Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana reached free agency. While a reunion with any of the three pitchers who anchored New York’s playoff rotation is not out of the question, the Mets pivoted to Montas, who can opt out of the deal — which is pending a physical — after the first season.
Montas has shown flashes of frontline starter potential, with a splitter, slider and cutter complementing a fastball that sits around 96 mph. Cincinnati gave him a one-year, $16 million deal last year despite Montas throwing only 1⅓ innings in 2023 following arthroscopic shoulder surgery. The Reds eventually traded Montas to Milwaukee, and he finished the season with a 4.84 ERA over 150⅔ innings, with 148 strikeouts, 66 walks and 24 home runs allowed.
With the free agency of the three pitchers, first baseman Pete Alonso, designated hitter J.D. Martinez, outfielder Harrison Bader and the ending of payments on Justin Verlander‘s and Max Scherzer’s salaries, the Mets have shaved around $150 million off their payroll from last season.
They remain among the favorites to sign superstar outfielder Juan Soto, who shares an agent, Scott Boras, with Montas. New York has engaged in conversations about a vast array of free agents beyond Soto, though signing him to a record deal would not preclude the Mets from pursuing other big names.
New York is coming off a surprising run to the National League Championship Series. In what was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Mets, they snuck into the playoffs with a furious late-season run, ousted Milwaukee in the wild-card round, thumped Philadelphia in the division series and pushed the NLCS to six games against the eventual World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers.
Starting pitching was a fundamental part of their run. Despite losing Senga, their Opening Day starter, for the majority of the season, the Mets finished with a 3.91 starters’ ERA, getting better-than-expected seasons from Manaea, Severino and Quintana, all of whom were signed to short-term deals similar to Montas’.
Instead of having an All-Star Game this season, the NHL and NHLPA are staging the 4 Nations Face-Off, which will run from Feb. 12 through Feb. 20. This is a round-robin tournament that will feature four national teams — Canada, Finland, Sweden and the United States — with NHL players from those nations filling the rosters.
Read on for full coverage of the event, including rosters, schedule and broadcast information from the opening round games all the way through the championship matchup.
More: Schedule
Roster grades, snubs
Everything you need to know
Game schedule
Note: All times Eastern.
Wednesday, Feb. 12: Canada vs. Sweden, 8 p.m. | TNT
Thursday, Feb. 13: USA vs. Finland, 8 p.m. | ESPN
Saturday, Feb. 15: Finland vs. Sweden, 1 p.m. | ABC
Saturday, Feb. 15: USA vs. Canada, 8 p.m. | ABC
Monday, Feb. 17: Canada vs. Finland, 1 p.m. | TNT
Monday, Feb. 17: Sweden vs. USA, 8 p.m. | TNT
Thursday, Feb. 20: Championship game, 8 p.m. | ESPN
Rosters
Note: Players are listed alphabetically by position. These are not projected lineups.
Finland
Sweden
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Greg Wyshynski, ESPN
The first-ever NHL/NHLPA 4 Nations Face-Off is many things.
It’s a midseason exhibition tournament that replaces the NHL All-Star Game for a change of pace. It’s an antipasto of international hockey ahead of the Italian feast of the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan. It’s also the first time that a generation of Canadian and American superstars get to battle for bragging rights and a championship — although Sweden and Finland will have something to say about that.
On Wednesday, those four nations reveal their rosters for the 4 Nations Face-Off, taking place from Feb. 12-20 in Montreal and Boston. The U.S. and Canada will announce their rosters at 7 p.m. ET, while Finland’s and Sweden’s reveals arrived earlier in the day. Some of the names are very expected, and some of the selections are a bit surprising.
Here’s how the rosters grade out — at each position group and overall — and which NHL players might be feeling snubbed by their home nations after these roster reveals.
College football’s national signing day has kicked off with the early signing period. Class of 2025 high school recruits are now able to sign their national letters of intent to lock them into the colleges of their choice.
With 16 ESPN 300 commitments, Georgia starts the signing period with the No. 1 class in ESPN’s rankings. However, the top spot has not been locked down completely and has changed hands a few times this cycle. Most programs will sign the majority of their class this week, but recruiting is far from over. If a prospect doesn’t sign a national letter of intent by Friday, the next national signing day for this cycle begins Feb. 5, 2025.
We’re tracking the latest news, analysis, class rankings movement and more throughout Wednesday, with latest updates at the top:
coverage:
Class rankings: Top 50 schools
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