Yankees' acquisition of Max Fried strengthens the staff and opens up other potential roster opportunities
DALLAS – Because the Yankees’ agreement with star lefthander Max Fried won't become official until the 30-year-old passes a physical, general manager Brian Cashman declined to talk in specifics about the acquisition on Wednesday.
Manager Aaron Boone, on the other hand, didn’t hide his excitement around the addition, which strengthens an already strong area for the Yankees – their rotation.
“He’s a special talent,” Boone said Wednesday morning on the third day of baseball’s annual winter meetings.
The Yankees agreed to terms with Fried, 73-36 with a 3.07 ERA over the last eight seasons with Atlanta, on an eight-year, $218-million deal Tuesday night. Fried is expected to take his physical perhaps as soon as Thursday, with an official announcement coming soon thereafter.
He joins an already crowded stable of starters and will slot into the rotation behind ace Gerrit Cole. The other starters are Carlos Rodon, Clarke Schmidt, AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, Marcus Stroman and Nestor Cortes.
“I think our rotation’s currently a strength without any imports,” Cashman said. “We have depth, obviously, from the [farm] system, too…We’re deeper, we’re stronger, but do you have enough? Can you have enough? Or, if you import anything else, does it give you more flexibility in the marketplace to do other things? So that’s all the things we have to decide.”
Cashman repeated an oft-used line of his – and a trope used throughout the history of the game – that “you can never have enough” pitching. But, nonetheless, it's unlikely the Yankees hit spring training with all of those starters in tow.
“It’s about run prevention and run creation,” Cashman said. “I think our goal is always to try to collect as many of the best talented baseball players as we can.”
The Yankees have a slew of other needs and could, as Cashman hinted, dangle some of the aforementioned pitchers to address those areas. They are not averse to moving Stroman, due $18.5 million in 2025. But trading the righthander - who faded in the second half, was left off the ALDS roster and did not pitch in the ALCS or World Series - could prove difficult. Schmidt and Gil, conversely, are valued assets and could be offered in a bigger deal, such as one for Kyle Tucker, the Astros lefty-hitting outfielder in whom the Yankees have an interest. Cortes, owed $8 million next season in the last year of his contract, is also a trade candidate.
“There’s still a path that you’re going to go down in getting players. You don’t even necessarily know what that path is [or] where it takes you,” Boone said. “You may continue to add to strength, you may move things that allow you to address something else.”
The Yankees are in need of an outfielder (preferably leftfield as their desire is to shift Aaron Judge back to rightfield and give top prospect Jasson Dominguez every opportunity to win the job in center, if he isn’t included in a megadeal) and ) are in the market for a third baseman, first baseman and one or more, relievers.
The club was in flux on all that while waiting on Juan Soto to make a decision. Though, even before late Sunday when the outfielder agreed to a 15-year, $765 million deal with the Mets, the Yankees held Zoom calls with two of the top starters on the market, Fried and Corbin Burnes.
“Reserved, serious about his craft, you could tell that,” Boone said of his impressions of Fried, a three-time Gold Glove award-winner. “I think his competitiveness [came] through. Obviously, watching him from afar over the last several years, this is a guy that really competes well on the mound, and that came across in our meeting with him. I think he’s very serious about his craft and how he trains. Everyone’s a little bit unique in how they prepare and train, and you try to tap into how guys like to prepare, what guys need, and you just got kind of a good feeling about what kind of a pro he is.”