Max Fried signs eight-year deal with Yankees

Max Fried signs eight-year deal with Yankees

The New York Yankees have signed left-handed starter Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal with the New York Yankees, ESPN MLB insider Jeff Passan was first to report Tuesday.

According to Passan, this is the largest guaranteed contract for a left-handed starter, including the fourth-largest ever behind Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Gerrit Cole (now teammate) and Stephen Strasburg.

Fried was viewed as one of baseball’s top arms heading into this year’s free agency — as well as Corbin Burnes. He doesn’t miss many bats, but he keeps the ball on the ground and has a deep arsenal to work with–using a steady seven-pitch mix.

Fried has pitched below a 3.30 ERA in all but one season (min. 10 starts) over his eight-year career. Last year, he sported a 3.25 ERA across 174.1 innings, earning a 3.33 FIP with a 128 ERA+ and 166 strikeouts to 57 walks. In 2024, he also ranked in the 80th percentile or greater in hard-hit percentage (81st percentile), barrel rate allowed (89th), average exit velocity allowed (95th) and ground-ball rate (96th), according to Statcast.

That’s a lot of years for Fried, however, as he enters his age-31 season. Maybe he has a Charlie Morton career arc where his secondary propels him to have a long career if his fastball continues to deteriorate. His curveball and sweeper are excellent put-away pitches, and he has a pretty reliable sinker, changeup and slider. Generally, I don’t feel comfortable paying a starter deep into their 30s, but perhaps the Yankees can get at least 3-4 healthy, good years from him and figure the rest out.

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This is a breaking news story. Stay tuned for updates.

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