Max Fried wins arbitration battle, but Braves should avoid a war

Atlanta Braves pitcher Max Fried wins his arbitration battle but needs to play smart.

Max Fried got good news on Wednesday as he won his arbitration battle against the Atlanta Braves, but now he needs to put in some work.

He joins fellow teammate Dansby Swanson in winning their cases, as Fried was awarded $6.85 million instead of the $6.6 million that Atlanta initially offered.

Last season Fried was 14-7 on the mound with a 3.04 ERA and went 2-2 in the postseason. While $6.6 million isn’t a terrible offer, he is 100% worth what he got after winning this battle.

Now that he got the money he wants, Fried needs to get to work and appreciate his spot with the Braves.

He is currently 7-2 on the season with a 2.77 ERA, which isn’t a bad start to the season, but he needs to keep this up so that money looks deserving.

Fried is an Atlanta staple at this point, so seeing him get a win is great, but fans want more out of him — at least this Braves fan does.

Max Fried won the battle, but shouldn’t make it war with the Braves

Now that Swanson and Fried have sorted their money, they can focus on helping the Braves be as successful as possible.

Fried needs to keep throwing strikes and keep that ERA down, so he stays an asset and not someone in the bullpen taking up space physically and from a money standpoint.

Right now, the Braves are better with Fried, so this money isn’t an issue. The Braves should want to pay their players like Swanson and Fried, who helped get them that World Series win, the right amount.

Atlanta also doesn’t need to make this a war with Fried because they need him as much as he needs the Braves. It’s time to clean the slate and move on from this situation — hopefully, both can do that and see another deep postseason run.