Shortly after Max Fried agreed to the largest contract ever for a left-handed pitcher, the Yankees’ new ace did not consider splurging on a fancy car or a lavish home.
“The first thing that kind of popped into my mind was probably just, like, getting my dog a bunch of dog food,” Fried said Wednesday after his introductory press conference at Yankee Stadium.
That revelation, while worthy of a laugh, offered a glimpse into the focused personality that appealed so strongly to the Yankees during their pursuit of Fried.
Fried spoke Wednesday about how he connected with general manager Brian Cashman and manager Aaron Boone during a 90-minute Zoom call this offseason over a shared obsession with winning.
Cashman and Boone, too, came away from that call believing Fried would make an ideal fit in their clubhouse. Of course, it took more than aligning on values to reach an eight-year, $218 million mega-contract.
Since he became a full-time member of the Atlanta Braves rotation in 2019, Fried has been among MLB’s best and most consistent pitchers.
His 3.08 ERA over the last six seasons ranks third among starters who threw at least 800 innings, while his 71 wins rank second. New teammate Gerrit Cole is the only pitcher who has been better than Fried in both categories.
Fried has not posted an ERA higher than 3.25 in any of the last five seasons. He boasts two All-Star selections, three Gold Gloves and two top-five finishes in National League Cy Young Award voting.
And he hurled six shutout innings in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series on the night the Braves clinched the championship over the Houston Astros.
“He’s added to his repertoire, mastered that repertoire,” Cashman said. “He continues to emerge as someone that’s adjusting to the league as they adjust to him and finding ways to navigate it. I love the personality. Sounds like a warrior on the mound when he’s got the ball in his hand, and a very genuine, good, down-to-earth human being on the four days in between.”
The Yankees identified Fried, who turns 31 next month, as a priority despite beginning the offseason with at least six viable rotation options under contract.
Boone said Fried was atop their wish list at the Winter Meetings in Dallas.
“I heard the Yankees had interest, and I would say that I was fairly surprised at the beginning,” Fried said, later explaining he was aware of the team’s strong starting staff. “But when the Yankees say that they’re interested in you, you perk up and you listen.”
Fried adds a different dynamic to a Yankees rotation featuring power arms in Cole, Carlos Rodón and Luis Gil.
Although he’s averaged 8.8 strikeouts per nine innings through eight MLB seasons, Fried relies much more on inducing soft contact to dominate hitters. He throws seven pitches, including a fastball that cuts in on right-handed batters and a putaway curveball featuring -17 inches of induced vertical break.
“I have a lot of confidence in [pitching coach] Matt [Blake] and our pitching group that they can move the needle a little bit more and help him get better,” Boone said.
“You never want to stop working to get better. Look, he’s a frontline starter already, so how much can you move that needle? Hopefully we can. Just in the early stages of getting to know him, he feels like a guy to me that is thirsty for things that are going to help him.”
The Yankees turned to Fried after losing superstar slugger Juan Soto to the Mets in free agency, choosing to first bolster a strength before finding ways to reinvent their offense.
They have since added shutdown closer Devin Williams and first baseman/center fielder Cody Bellinger, whose above-average defense at both positions will also help with run prevention.
“I told all the free agents … that we had to wait on the Soto decision,” Cashman said Wednesday. “We certainly hoped it was going to come sooner, and there was a period of time I expected it to come sooner. It was actually conveyed that it was gonna come sooner, but then it took an extra 10 days, it felt like, and bled into the Winter Meetings.”
Cashman watched Blake Snell and Willy Adams come off the board before Soto reached a 15-year, $765 million pact with the Mets.
But Fried remained in play, agreeing to join the Yankees two days after Soto spurned them.
That was good news for Fried’s dog, Apollo Fried, who — despite his name’s coincidental similarity to fictional “Rocky” boxer Apollo Creed — is named after a Greek god.
It’s good news for the Yankees, too.
“We’re trying to chase down that championship,” Boone said, “and we feel like we’ve added a championship piece.”
