Mets add Montas to their rotation with a $34 million, 2-year contract, AP source says

NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Mets have added Frankie Montas to their depleted rotation, agreeing to a $34 million, two-year contract with the veteran right-hander.

A person familiar with the negotiations confirmed the deal to the AP on Sunday night on condition of anonymity because the agreement was subject to a successful physical.

The 31-year-old Montas is slated to make $17 million in each year of the contract. He can opt out after the 2025 season.

Montas went 7-11 with a 4.84 ERA and 148 strikeouts over 150 2/3 innings in 30 starts for the Cincinnati Reds and Milwaukee Brewers this year. He was 3-3 with a 4.55 ERA in 11 starts for the Brewers, who acquired him just before the trade deadline.

Montas declined his part of a $20 million mutual option last month, receiving a $2 million buyout.

Even with the addition of Montas, New York has more work to do with its rotation. Sean Manaea, Luis Severino and Jose Quintana became free agents after helping the Mets make a surprising run to the NL Championship Series this year.

New York also is looking for a couple of bullpen arms in front of closer Edwin Díaz, and longtime first baseman Pete Alonso became a free agent after slugging 34 homers this year.

Montas is 44-46 with a 4.09 ERA in 129 starts and 31 relief appearances in nine seasons, also playing for the Chicago White Sox, Oakland Athletics and New York Yankees.

He had his best season with the A's in 2021, going 13-9 with a 3.37 ERA and 207 strikeouts in 187 innings.

Montas' agreement with the Mets is part of a brisk start to the offseason for agent Scott Boras. Blake Snell ($182 million, five-year contract with the Los Angeles Dodgers) and Yusei Kikuchi ($63 million, three-year contract with the Angels) have agreed to new deals, and Nick Martinez, another Boras client, accepted a qualifying offer from Cincinnati.

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FILE -Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Frankie Montas throws during the first inning of Game 2 of a National League wild card baseball game against the New York Mets, Oct. 2, 2024, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash, File)

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Australian police seized a record 2.3 tons of cocaine and arrested 13 people in raids after the suspects' boat broke down off the coast of Queensland, authorities said Monday.

The drugs had a sale value of 760 million Australian dollars ($494 million) and equaled as many as 11.7 million street deals if they had reached the country of 28 million people, federal police said in a statement.

Investigators told reporters in Brisbane that the drugs were transported from an unidentified South American country.

The arrests on Saturday and Sunday followed a monthlong investigation after a tipoff that the Comancheros motorcycle gang was planning a multi-ton smuggling operation, Australian Federal Police Commander Stephen Jay said.

The smugglers made two attempts to transport the drugs to Australia by sea from a mothership floating hundreds of kilometers (miles) offshore, Jay said. Their first boat broke down, and the second vessel foundered on Saturday, leaving the suspects stranded at sea for several hours until police raided the fishing boat and seized the drugs, he said.

The mothership was in international waters and was not apprehended, Jay said.

Authorities have seized more than one ton of cocaine before, Jay said, but the weekend's haul was the biggest ever recorded in Australia.

Those charged are accused of conspiring to import the drug into Australia by sea and were due to appear in various courts on Monday. The maximum penalty under the charge is life in prison.

Some were arrested on the boat while others were waiting on shore to collect the cocaine, police said. Two were under age 18 and all were Australian citizens, they said.

“Australia is a very attractive market for organized criminal groups to send drugs such as cocaine,” Jay said.

This story corrects the dollar conversion to $494 million.

Australian Federal Police officers stand with approximately 350 kilograms (770 pounds) of seized cocaine at a press conference at the AFP headquarters in Brisbane, Australia, Monday, Dec. 2, 2024. (Jono Searle/AAP Image via AP)