Yankees add ace Max Fried on 8-year, $218M deal (source)

The Yankees and ace left-hander Max Fried have reached agreement on an eight-year, $218 million contract, a source told Mark Feinsand on Tuesday. The team has not confirmed the deal, which is the largest guarantee in MLB history for a left-handed pitcher.

Fried was one of the top free-agent pitchers available this offseason after an eight-year career in Atlanta that saw him go 73-36 with a 3.07 ERA in 168 games (151 starts), earning a place among the top arms in Braves history.

In fact, over the past 100 years, Fried's 3.07 ERA ranks third behind only Greg Maddux and Warren Spahn among Braves pitchers who made at least 150 starts.

His 2024 season was somewhat limited because of a forearm injury that sidelined him for most of July. He made 29 starts on the season, going 11-10 with a 3.25 ERA across 174 1/3 innings. However, his two complete games and one shutout were both tops in baseball.

Since 2019, Fried has established himself as a perennial Cy Young contender when healthy. He finished second in the voting in 2022, when he went 14-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 30 starts. That followed a top-five finish in 2020, when he went 7-0 with a 2.25 ERA in the shortened COVID season. His four shutouts since 2021 are tops in MLB.

But for as well as Fried has pitched, injuries have become a nagging problem for the two-time All-Star, who turns 31 in January. Issues ranging from blisters to illness to forearm discomfort have limited his availability and effectiveness in recent years, including in the postseason. Since becoming a full-time starter in 2018, Fried has made 30 starts in a full season just twice and has averaged 25 starts the past four seasons.

Still, when Fried is healthy, there are few starters more effective at limiting an opponent's offense. In 2024, Fried was among MLB's best at preventing hard contact. Opponents averaged just an 86.3 mph exit velocity off him, which ranked in MLB's 95th percentile. He also produced a 59.2 percent ground-ball rate, which ranked in the 96th percentile.

Fried is able to throw several pitches with consistent effectiveness. His four-seam fastball averaged 93.9 mph in 2024, but his best pitch is a devastating curveball that produced a whiff rate of nearly 37 percent in 2024 and held opponents to a .154 average. He also throws a strong changeup (.196 opponent average in '24), sweeper (.167 average) and slider (.220 average) to go with a sinker and a cutter.

Apart from his trouble staying consistently healthy in recent years, Fried's other bugaboo has been his performance in the postseason. Across 20 postseason games (12 starts), Fried has a 2-5 record with a lackluster 5.10 ERA and a WHIP of nearly 1.50. His latest struggle came in Game 2 of the 2024 NL Wild Card Series against the Padres, when he allowed eight hits and five earned runs in two innings.

But he does have one major standout start in October: Game 6 of the 2021 World Series, when Fried pitched six shutout innings against the Astros to help Atlanta clinch its first championship since 1995.