When the New York Yankees lost out on Juan Soto to the New York Mets, there was reason to assume they'd pivot and attempt to sign a big bat, whether that hitter would've been Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso, or Anthony Santander. Instead, they wound up signing one of the best pitchers available, Max Fried, to an eight-year, $218 million deal.
The Yankees had a Soto-sized hole in their lineup, but had assembled one of, if not the best rotation in the American League, if not the sport as a whole. A one-two punch featuring Gerrit Cole and Fried is as good as it could possibly get, and the Yankees had reigning Rookie of the Year Luis Gil, Carlos Rodon, and Clarke Schmidt in place to round out the staff. Unfortunately, with Opening Day still more than two weeks away, the rotation already has a new look, and not in a good way.
Gil was the first domino to fall with a lat strain set to knock him out for several months. Not too long after, Cole suffered an elbow injury, which will require Tommy John surgery and rule him out for the entire season. All of a sudden, what looked like an elite rotation is now a shell of what it was supposed to be. Given that, it's a good thing that they signed Fried, isn't it?
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Max Fried signing looks even better now after Gerrit Cole injury update
Fried is not Cole, but he's an ace in his own right. The 31-year-old made 29 starts for the Atlanta Braves in 2024 and posted a 3.25 ERA in 174.1 innings of work. He wound up making the NL All-Star team for the second time in the process.
This outstanding season was nothing new for Fried, who has a career 3.07 ERA in parts of eight MLB seasons. For reference, Cole's career ERA is 3.18. Fried might not have a Cy Young on his resume like Cole, but he's accomplished just about everything else. He was even the runner-up for that award in 2022.
When healthy, Fried is one of the best pitchers in all of baseball. He's had some injury hiccups of his own, to be fair, but he's healthy now, and should be good to dominate in his first season in the Bronx.
This rotation might not be what it was supposed to be, but can you imagine what it might've looked like had the Yankees splurged on a position player and gone with what they had on the pitching front? It's really hard to picture a rotation led by the likes of Rodon, Schmidt, and a disgruntled Marcus Stroman doing much damage. Adding Fried to that group suddenly makes the Yankees look much better. They'll probably need to add a starter at the trade deadline if they want to make it back to the World Series, but having Fried in the mix will help them be competitive enough to even consider adding in July.
The Yankees are in a tough spot regardless, but it wouldn't be far-fetched to declare their season as over had they not signed Fried. Assuming the southpaw lives up to his end of the bargain, the Yankees still have an ace, and a path toward contention in a very weak American League.