Max Fried puts ball squarely in Alex Anthopoulos’ court after latest comments

Alex Anthopoulos has established himself as one of the best executives in MLB in large part because of his ability to not only acquire, but keep talent in his organization for a long time. Virtually the entire Atlanta Braves roster is locked in long-term on team-friendly contracts, and the Braves are searching for their seventh straight NL East title thanks to that.

While Anthopoulos has mostly succeeded in getting stars to sign for less than they might be worth on the open market, his plan hasn't been foolproof. Freddie Freeman, the face of Atlanta's franchise at one point, departed for Los Angeles in free agency. Dansby Swanson left one year after for the Windy City. Anthopoulos did a nice job replacing them with Matt Olson and Orlando Arcia, but not everyone takes less as Olson and Arcia did.

Max Fried is another example of that. Fried has spent all eight of his MLB seasons in the Braves organization, establishing himself as a legitimate frontline starter in the process. With no extension agreed to, the southpaw is set to hit free agency at the end of the year.

Whether Fried stays in Atlanta or not remains to be seen, but the question of whether Fried wants to remain a Brave is one he made very clear. By doing so, he put the pressure on Alex Anthopoulos.

Max Fried puts pressure on Alex Anthopoulos with latest FA comments

"I 100 percent love the organization," said Fried. "Obviously, there's a lot of stuff that -- in the middle of the season, we're focused on a lot of other things. But I truly do, I have loved my time in Atlanta. I love it. Definitely would love to be here."

Fried went on about how much he loves the organization and said he would love to be here. He could be saying that just to keep Braves fans on his side, but there's no reason to believe Fried isn't being genuine with his remarks.

Assuming Fried does actually want to stay in Atlanta, it's on Anthopoulos to offer him a deal he deems acceptable. If he's paid like the ace he is, there's no reason to believe Fried won't re-sign or even sign an extension. However, if Anthopoulos tries to give him one of his usual offers, there's a good chance Fried will be in another uniform given the fact that he hasn't signed an extension.

Anthopoulos is very predictable when it comes to how he spends money. For example, when everyone was expecting the Braves to splurge in free agency for a starting pitcher, Anthopoulos instead of overpaying went to the trade market and acquired and then extended Chris Sale. That deal is looking quite good after Sale's dominant first half.

Whether Fried stays or goes, Braves fans should trust that Anthopoulos is doing what's best for the organization. For those wishing Fried stays though, his latest comments indicate that he's open to a deal, but it has to be the right one. It remains to be seen whether the Braves have any interest in keeping the 30-year-old around long-term.