Report: The Yankees’ offer for Max Fried was ‘significantly’ better than rival Red Sox

Report: The Yankees’ offer for Max Fried was ‘significantly’ better than rival Red Sox

Heading into Tuesday, there were three reported finalists for the Max Fried sweepstakes, all from the AL East: The New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox and Toronto Blue Jays.

The Yankees ultimately came out on top. Despite reportedly being willing to go to seven years, they gave him an extra year on top of that–likely for AAV purposes–inking Fried to an eight-year, $218 million deal. Unlike the Juan Soto sweepstakes, we didn’t know the final offers for Fried, widely regarded as one of the top arms on the market.

Though WEEI’s Rob Bradford revealed Tuesday evening that the Yankees’ offer was “significantly” better than Boston’s for the two-time All-Star.

That report was later confirmed by MassLive’s Chris Cotillo and Sean McAdam.

“The Red Sox made a serious run at Fried, according to a source, but the Yankees’ bid was described as ‘significantly ahead’ of what Boston offered,” their report read. “It’s unclear if Boston preferred Fried to fellow top free agent Corbin Burnes, who remains unsigned. In any case, as of Tuesday afternoon, the Red Sox were readying an offer for Burnes, according to a source with knowledge of the talks.

“Burnes, who has also been linked to Toronto, San Francisco and other clubs, could sign rather quickly with Fried off the board.”

A few sweeteners–such as the additional year, plus zero opt-outs and a full no-trade clause–likely helped New York in negotiations. It’s not crazy to say the Yankees may have panicked to sign Fried after losing out on Juan Soto. They needed to make some sort of a statement, and bolstering one of their biggest strengths while leaning into run prevention–mitigating the gap lost offensively–is a way to do it.

The Red Sox, on the other hand, desperately need a frontline starter more than anyone. Heck, they need a big-time transaction more than anyone–especially after president Sam Kennedy was very open about Boston’s willingness to spend for the second consecutive offseason.

It’s time for the Boston Red Sox to start acting like … well, the Boston Red Sox. All due to respect to Tanner Houck, Kutter Crawford and Brayan Bello (who I remain very high on), they cannot go into 2025 as the answer atop the rotation. Should they miss out Burnes, they should be on the phones for Luis Castillo, Framber Valdez, Dylan Cease and Garrett Crochet, among others.

Breslow hasn’t given an antsy Red Sox fanbase much optimism over the last calendar year. Boston can’t continue to whiff on this many top-flight free agents; he’ll have to start closing legitimate deals instead of working around the fringes, especially with the arms race continuing to skyrocket.

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