Montas: Shoulder hurt before trade

Frankie Montas said Wednesday his shoulder wasn’t fully healthy when the Oakland A’s traded him to the New York Yankees at the trade deadline last season, but the righthanded starter said he tried to “push through” after joining his new team.

Montas went 1-3 with a 6.35 ERA in eight starts last season after being traded from Oakland. He is recovering from shoulder surgery that will keep him from throwing until at least late May.

“I was trying to push through,” Montas said in his first comments since the surgery. “I got traded to a new team and wanted to show what I could do. Things didn’t go the way I was expecting.”

The Yankees placed Montas on the injured list in late September after his second cortisone injection of the year, knocking him out of the AL Division Series. He was on the roster for the AL Championship Series but pitched only one inning in the opener against Houston.

While he tried to avoid surgery, he said that was the best option and that he is confident that he will pitch this season for the Yankees.

Rangers’ deGrom throws 100 mph

Two-time Cy Young Award winner Jacob deGrom is moving closer to his first game action with the Texas Rangers after bringing some heat to batting practice in Surprise, Ariz.

The Rangers held deGrom out of their first scheduled workout three weeks ago after he reported tightness in his left side. They are still being cautious, but the righthander has been throwing regularly and on Wednesday was at 98-99 mph with his fastball. He hit 100 mph on the last of his 35 pitches during BP.

Soto finally joins Phillies in camp

Gregory Soto, the hardthrowing lefty reliever the Philadelphia Phillies acquired in a January trade with Detroit, finally reported Wednesday to Tigers camp in Clearwater, Fla.

Soto had missed the first three weeks of camp while dealing with visa issues at home in the Dominican Republic. Because of the delay getting to spring training, Soto won’t play in the World Baseball Classic.