DALLAS — At MLB’s owners’ meetings last month, New York Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said his club could “never have enough pitching” when asked what his main priority was after re-signing Juan Soto.
With Soto off the board to the New York Mets, the Yankees have addressed Steinbrenner’s second priority: signing a major starting pitcher.
The Yankees and left-hander Max Fried agreed on Tuesday to an eight-year, $218 million contract, league sources told The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal. It is the largest guarantee for a left-handed starter in MLB history.
Fried has a 3.07 ERA in his eight-year career, all spent with the Atlanta Braves. Fried likely slots in as the Yankees’ No. 2 behind Gerrit Cole.
Here’s why the Yankees viewed Fried as one of their main targets this winter.
Why Yankees pursued Fried
Since 2020, no pitcher throwing at least 500 innings has posted a lower ERA than Max Fried’s 2.81. His 151 ERA+ is also the best in MLB over that span, 51 percent better than the league average.
Pairing Fried with Gerrit Cole at the top of the Yankees’ rotation gives them two of the most elite pitchers in baseball at preventing runs. After missing out on Juan Soto, the Yankees recognized that their offense would likely take a hit after losing the third-place finisher in the 2024 AL MVP race. With there not being the offensive talent available on the market to fill Soto’s departure, the Yankees decided to double down on a strength: their starting rotation.
Fried’s highest ERA since 2020 came this season, when he posted a 3.25 ERA over 29 starts for the Braves. With a more reliable No. 2 starter than Carlos Rodón, the Yankees should see a boost in their overall pitching performance.
While Fried has consistently ranked among MLB’s top starters since entering the league, his approach has been unconventional: he excels by having opponents put the ball in play. This strategy works because he is elite at generating soft contact on the ground, while also limiting hard contact in the air. Since 2020, Fried ranks fourth in hard-hit rate among starting pitchers with at least 1,000 batted balls in play.
2024 PitchingNinja Award for Deadliest Sinker. ☠️
Winner: Max Fried (vs. Luis Arráez) pic.twitter.com/pEaSxYPj1K
— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) November 13, 2024
Fried is a four-pitch pitcher, featuring a four-seam fastball, curveball, sinker and changeup. His most effective weapon is his devastating looping curveball. This season, opponents slugged just .285 against it, and his 41.3 percent strikeout rate on the pitch ranked eighth in MLB. His called strikes and whiffs on the curveball placed him in the 89th percentile.
One concern with Fried is his injury history. Though he has exceeded 30 starts only twice in his career, most of his injuries have been flukey, rather than indicative of recurring arm issues. He dealt with forearm injuries in 2023 and 2024 but finished this season without further complications. He also underwent Tommy John surgery as a prospect in 2015 while with the San Diego Padres. The most persistent issue in his career has been recurring finger blisters — he’s dealt with five such injuries since 2018.
As long as Fried can avoid a debilitating arm injury, he remains one of the safest bets on the market to produce at an elite level.
How Fried affects the rest of the Yankees’ rotation
Adding Fried impacts the Yankees’ starters in lots of ways.
It gives Cole a co-ace — and it gives the Yankees protection in case Cole continues to deal with the elbow injury that sidelined him for the first few months of last season. The Yankees, however, haven’t shown any concern over the status of Cole, who made all 10 of his scheduled starts over the final two months of the season and five starts in the postseason. The Yankees could also have chosen to let Cole go after he opted out of the final four years and $144 million on his deal after the World Series, but instead kept him.
Fried also potentially makes the Yankees’ other starters more expendable. It’s unlikely they would be able to move Rodón for a worthwhile return, but Nestor Cortes Jr., Luis Gil, Clarke Schmidt and Marcus Stroman stand out as trade candidates. Jettisoning one of them could help the Yankees fill needs elsewhere on their roster.
The most attractive may be Luis Gil, who was the American League Rookie of the Year last year. While he was dominant at times and went 15-7 with a 3.50 ERA in 29 starts, he faced durability and control concerns throughout the minors. He’s not slated to become a free agent until 2029.
Schmidt (5-5, 2.85 ERA, 16 starts) has another three years of control. MLB Trade Rumors projects Cortes (9-10, 3.77 ERA, 30 starts) to make $7.7 million in salary arbitration and he’ll be a free agent after next season.
The Yankees are surely motivated to try to move Stroman at some point this offseason regardless of Fried’s presence. The Yankees kept him off the AL Division Series roster and he didn’t pitch at all in the playoffs. He’ll make $18 million next season and his $18-million option for 2026 would kick in if he pitches 140 innings next year.
(Top photo of Max Fried: Daniel Shirey/MLB Photos via Getty Images)
