Max Fried vs. Garrett Crochet: Did Yankees or Red Sox make the better move?

It wasn’t too long after the New York Yankees signed Max Fried to a $218 million deal when the Boston Red Sox fired back trading for Garrett Crochet. The four-player package for Crochet was enormous involving two of the MLB’s top 100 prospects.

Up until the last minute, the Red Sox appeared to be on the outside looking in as the Phillies, Mets, and Yankees competed for the emerging star. But as the Yankees signed one of their top targets, GM Craig Breslow decided it was time for a cutthroat decision.

With two of the off-season’s most coveted stars landing in the AL East thus far, the division is shaping up to be very competitive. Both the Red Sox and Yankees have some holes to fill, but when we look at both the starting rotations, it seems the Yankees currently have the clear upper hand with Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Luis Gil (supposedly). The Red Sox will enter next season with a dreaded 1-2 punch of Garett Crochet and Tanner Houck. But while these moves greatly improved both rotations, who got the better deal?

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Comparing the pitchers and their prices

For what they got in return, the Yankees and Red Sox will both likely come out of this as winners. But deal-wise, the Yankees spent $218 million, a record amount for a southpaw. As discussed before, the Red Sox parted with four players, two of which were on the MLB’s top 100 prospects list. In addition, if the Red Sox give into Crochet’s extension demands that he made at the trade deadline, it will cost them a significant amount of cash as well. So far, even with the exorbitant amount dumped on Fried, the Yankees appear to have made a better deal. But what about the pitchers themselves? We can never truly know who came out ahead without running through the numbers.

Max Fried

Max Fried does isn’t the type of pitcher that lights up the radar gun or induces a ton of strikeouts. His average fastball velocity sits at 93.8 mph. However, his low-speed repertoire results in plenty of soft contact. Speaking of his repertoire, Fried throws an expansive mix of seven different pitches. The results have shown how well he can keep hitters off balance.

Fried posted a 3.25 ERA last season, his highest ERA since 2019 when he first became a full-time starter. This bit of information should be relatively shocking as Fried’s performance has been elite. Over that period, Fried has received Cy Young votes twice coming as close as runner-up in 2022 with a spectacular 2.48 ERA. Adding to his accolades are his three Gold Gloves and a Silver Slugger, the latter of which is no longer relevant.

Garrett Crochet

Garrett Crochet is relatively new to starting. Unlike Fried, Crochet’s fastball does light up the radar gun averaging 97.2 mph. He is able to generate plenty of swings and misses and is one of the top strikeout pitchers in the game. Crochet has been on somewhat of a pitching limit since coming back from Tommy John, but the results as a brand-new starter have been impressive. Crochet finished the 2024 season with a 3.58 ERA, a staggering 35.1 strikeout percentage, and a minuscule 5.5 walk percentage.

Verdict

We haven’t seen enough of Crochet to come to an indisputable conclusion on his performance against Fried’s. Crochet is younger and by the looks of it, his talent is off the charts. That said, Fried has a spectacular track record, something Crochet doesn’t have. When we exclude everything else other than last season’s numbers, it appears the Yankees made the better move.

However, anything I could write beyond what we’ve already discussed would just be speculation. We won’t really know who won the war for pitching until we see what these two studs produce for their respective teams.