December 11, 2024

84 thoughts on “Yankees.com: Max Fried reportedly signs with the Yankees”

    1. I think Jeff might be right that the move is to pay down Rodon’s salary a bit and trade him. He’s SUPER useless now that Fried is here. What is Rodon, the #5 starter now? With Nestor the 6th and Stroman the 7th?

      Rodon at $80 million for four more years might have some real value out there.

  3. I like it. Unlike Rodon who has amazing stuff when he’s not battling health and mechanical issues, Fried has the mechanics dialed in and his health history isn’t *that* bad. I’m curious as to what Blake can do with him. I guess the White Sox were asking way too much for Crochet.

    Spend that cheddar, Hal!

    1. Crochet is a totally different kind of acquisition. If they can put the pieces together, and I think it’s entirely conceivable that they can, this deal doesn’t prevent that deal in any way, shape or form.

    2. Yeah, one of the things you have to love about Fried is that, like Cole, you just sort of assume he’s not going to fucking suck at any given moment. Heck, I’m probably MORE confident in Fried’s ability to avoid shitting the bed than Cole’s at this moment (Cole, of course, has the greater upside in any given game, as well).

    3. It is very rare when a player like this leaves a team and the fans of that team aren’t pulling sour grapes on the dude. Braves fans all LOVE Fried (Freddie Freeman was a similar situation, there was no, “Well, Freeman does this or that” when he left. Just, “Good luck, Freddie, thanks for everything.”

      That’s really nice to see.

    5. Jeff, yes, I was thinking along the same lines. Or just recognize that a partially-financed Rodon is an eminently flippable pick-up, so the third team could come in later.

  5. The deal itself in isolation is a good deal (AAV wise, the years are a little much) but there are 2 things that concern me. First is spending so much money on a starting rotation. Cole, Rodon, and Fried is a lot of money tied up in starters. Second is his age. I know you say his stuff ages well, but I don’t know if his health is going to age well.

    1. But they’re top starters, except for Rodon. Finance moving Rodon, as has been suggested here a bunch of times.
      If that money was invested not only in starters, it would still be the same money on a number of good players – why is it worse that those players are starting pitchers, potentially the most valuable player in any game?
      _
      Cole, Fried, Gil and Schmidt right now could be amazing. If you bumped one of them – Schmidt, although I’m not sure Schmidt can’t be better than Gil – for Crochet… they could be hit with a major injury and still dominate playoff series.

    3. It’s always fair to b e concerned about player health.
      But there is zero special concern related to the fact that these players happen to be starting pitchers. Or pitchers at all. Any group consisting of the same number players, in whom the same sum was invested, from whom you expect corresponding performance, would be the same kind of risk and justify the same level of concern.

    5. PW – Conventional wisdom has always been (and maybe this has changed) position players are more projectable than pitchers. I think that is typically why you see position players getting these long deals while pitchers get like 2/3rds the length. Look no further than Rodon for an example of a “Top pitcher” that didn’t work out well in free agency.

      On top of the conventional wisdom, SP are pitching less and less these days as well. I mean we lost the World Series to a team that basically didn’t have a starting rotation at all.

      3 big ticket pitchers over 30 signed until their late 30s isn’t ideal resource allocation. Now with Judge and Cole’s age, this is a win now team more than ever but with as many lineup holes as they have, money may have been better spent on position players.

      But like Brian said, let’s see what other moves they make. I doubt they keep this many pitchers so hopefully they have a trade lined up that cuts some money and gets them some offensive talent in return. But I just don’t think the Astros will trade with us right now when Cashman has been going out of his way to say repeatedly that their World Series was illegitimate.

    6. ds, the championship winning moves are those made w/o generalized fanfare (tucker). gimenez is a good example of this.

      on the gimenez note, the jays are in their last-stand swan song mode as of this generation at least. that’s promising for 2026+

    7. SD, I see what you mean, but… there are two ways to look at it.
      One is that the last few years of any of these deals are meaningless. Commenters all over the place are talking about it – the Yankees go for longer deals to lower the AAV and avoid luxury tax. It’s a bit like a kind of deferral. So really just pretend they’re paying them a bit more for fewer seasons… BUT since they don’t seem to be able to remember that when the tail years of these contracts actually roll around, you do have an argument.
      So… okay, I see your point.

  7. A few thoughts:
    The value of Volpe’s defense just went up.
    _
    Another thing boding extremely well for the Yankees’ future: “they don’t appear to be seriously considering Alonso, reports Feinsand.” So far this off-season, I’m totally on board with their evaluations. In part because they’re accurately seeing value in Fried that people here aren’t appreciating.
    _
    Reposting: for one thing, I actually have to thank Scott Boras: if the Yankees weren’t going to get Soto, I can’t express how happy I am that Boras didn’t drag it out until March. How miserably awful would THAT have been!

  8. Another reason NOT to stop pursuing Crochet: I’d love another lefty in this rotation. If they could swing Crochet, get rid of two or even all of Rodon, Stroman and Cortes, you’d surely lose at least Schmidt, who I really like a lot, adding two top-tier lefties for Yankee Stadium – that would also be a big deal, wouldn’t it?

  12. P-Dub, I’m picking up on sd’s reply above. Pitchers are absolutely more prone to injury than position players. The motion of pitching, especially as hard as players throw today, is something the human body wasn’t made for. Most pitchers could have their career end tomorrow. But the supply is scarce and you have to pay up and cross your fingers the medicals were right.

    You hear people complaining about why can’t pitchers throw 300 innings like they used to. The answer is that some pitchers could! But no team is interested in finding out, when the risk is so high, the investment so large, and relief pitching so good.

    1. Also, the idea that pitchers are throwing harder and maxxing out effort on damn near every pitch seems, on the surface, logical that it’d lead to more injuries. (No idea if data bears this out.)

      But it does seem like there’s organizational alpha if a team could change their entire philosophy on pitching to center on teaching their kids to be an army of Madduxes. Less stress, less injury variance, less raw stuff variance. Just Clockwork Orange them into steely, zombie-like dedication to flawless, repeatable, arm-slot-never-varies-a-half-a-degree mechanics.

      I’m sure no one else has ever thought of this incredibly simple thing, and I’m very clever.

    3. That’s all true, but it’s not like you’re going to not have starters, and it’s not like they aren’t at the center of every game. They’re worth that investment – and, as you point out, it’s NOT for as long or as much money as comparably dominant position players. So that logic is already baked into this situation and these numbers, already compensated for.
      The staff they’re within reach of building could withstand a major injury and still dominate. Or two, and still be really good. That’s huge.

    4. I’m also of the mind that pitching war is worth more than position player war. I can’t fully corroborate but it’s my strong suspicion

    5. Keith Law in the Athletic:
      “….despite missing 15-20 starts in that time span due to injuries…
      …I wrote in his free-agent capsule that I liked him as a long-term option because he doesn’t rely on velocity to get hitters out…
      …a pitcher whose way of getting outs depends on command and changing speeds and shapes, rather than pure power. Given that many pitchers lose velocity in their 30s, and that there’s at least some evidence now that pitching at your maximum velocity is connected to elbow problems, Fried seems like one of the best bets in free agency to hold his value.”

    1. if they sign roki that frees up another big trade piece. still need two quality rp as well as the positional needs you mentioned.

      Id much prefer bregman at 3b, jazz in cf (or Julio rodriguez in a 3-way!)

    3. just kidding up there.

      Moving Jazz to CF and Jasson to LF would be cool, too. Would just shift the positional deficit to 3B as you said, which Im not sure would be easier to plug.

      If they sign Bregman, that would be awesome, seems unlikely to me for the mid-Market Steinbrenners to sign another all-star this off-season, though.

    4. Just that, including “somehow get”, and… call it an off-season? Is that… what you want?

      What an odd suggestion.

    6. Jazz’s bat goes from advantage to subpar if you move him to CF. Just don’t do it. It’s a bad thing that he’s even able to do it if it makes them consider it.
      _
      If you put one of the Houston cheating participants at 3B, then you move Jazz to 2B.
      _
      I’d really like this to end with top-tier defense in LF, which I’m more concerned about than RF.

    7. I’m not tracking your if -> cf offensive implosion translation. providing jazz can translate his speed to coverage and become an above avg cf (which I pray that he can be), this would be a huge windfall for the team. id also really like to give durbin a shot at 2b. he’s ready and has all the making of a quality player (high bb, very low k, some pop, great base running, presumably decent defense)

    8. Jeff, not suggesting an implosion. But with no change, Jazz gives you decent offense for 3B. That same offense, with no change, is lousy for the outfield. Put differently, it’s far easier to upgrade from Jazz in CF than from Jazz at 3B.
      If you want to move Jazz, moving him to 2B, where his offense plays really well. Why on earth think of CF for him?

    9. I’m thinking of Alfonso sorianos transition to lf where he was like 25+ defensive runs. jazz profiles similarly. also, if jazz can hit 25+ he his nat plays anywhere.

      I hear your logic, but my premise of jazz in cf (barring a large resounding trade) is akin to the astros’ putting gurriel at 1b. roster optimization within the framework of what you’ve got. cant hurt to diversify and cultivate Jazz’s positional capabilities either

    10. If if we accept all that, moving him to 2B has to be far better than moving him to CF. The only argument, in the context of what you say, is if they had a great alternative at 2B and nothing comparable for CF. That could happen, but until we’re confronted with a specific hypothetical of that kind, let’s keep the guy where we maximize his value.

    12. well, durbin 2b + jazz cf (where I think he’ll eventually play-up) is > jazz 2b, durbin buried, bellinger (who I think largely sucks) or grisham in cf

  14. Looking at the hole at 2B and the free agent market, it makes it even more strange they didn’t offer arbitration to Gleyber. Was there a clubhouse problem we don’t know about?

    1. don’t sleep on durbin. he’s a very capable 2b prospect imo. id want him to assume that position

    2. I totally lost an overview of the farm system as my baseball watching time has waned over the years. Any sites or articles you can recommend?

    3. well, just look at his 2024 AAA numbers and his 2024 afl numbers. he was the MVP of the afl and his AAA numbers were really strong.

  15. i’m very happy with Fried. for some reason Cashman has a better record with pitching than hitting too. I’d like to see the FO earn their salt and do something the shape up the rest of the rotation. They have some extra parts and i’d still like them to get sasaki.

    losing soto was a huge blow but the lineup has sucked in general the last few years. like brian noted in the last thread, we have something like 10 bwar (im adding in gleyber) to make up across like five positions. that seems doable.

    and even with juan and judge, if they didn’t come through we were basically waiting for the lineup to turn over. it’d be great to see a few additions and a few players taking steps forward so it’s more of a team.

    and no, i will never miss gleyber. i can’t forget about him dropping the throw at second that allowed shohei to move up. game 1 was a must win and i pin the loss on him not bringing his* brain to the game.

    *and boone

  16. so roki’s team is emphasizing endorsement money as the primary monetizing vector which essentially liberates the Yankees to go hog on signing qo rejecting players like fried, bregman, Walker, etc despite losing picks and, to my point, $1mm int bonus money per player.

    this is another huge bargaining chip for Japanese players coming to the Yankees as he’d make a shit ton of endorsement money especially as the face of the rising Yankees rotation.
    #17 -> (eventually) #18

  17. I like the signing. It seems they have a pitcher or two too many and we assume Cashman has a deal he’s working on. Which is what we thought when he traded Monty for Bader. And he though he had a deal but it didn’t happen. So he ended up being an idiot. I can see that happening again. Bevause I think he’s past his time. It happens to players, to managers and to GMs.

    Rocky Colavito died. A few All Star appearances, some MVP votes, and a career that was basically by age 32 because there were no steroids.

  18. I’m coming around to acquiring tucker even though he’d be shitty in left. gil would be a massive overpay but for a few extra pieces + tucker I can see a deal. would need to extend tucker immediately

    1. I doubt he’d sign an extension with the kind of stupid money that was being thrown around for Soto, but he shares representation with Jeter … so maybe?

    2. With Cashmans multiple public comments calling the Astros illegitimate, would they even trade with the Yankees unless they severely overpay what they can get from other teams?

    4. Shitty in left, if that’s true, + a few extra pieces… not sold. The Yankees are largely constructed of extra pieces. They need fewer of those and a lot more of {the opposite of shitty} in left field.

    5. there’s also tuckers looming free agency as well… As far as the extra pieces are concerned, I meant lottery ticket type milb prospects similar to durbin

  19. Codify Baseball
    ‪@codifybaseball.bsky.social‬
    Statcast started tracking swords this season and Max Fried was the first pitcher to get six of them in one game. ⚔️
    Be a swinging strike
    Have the bat cross the front face of home plate
    Be an incomplete swing
    Have bat speed that is in the 10th percentile or lower
    Be no more than 20 mph in the final tracked frames

    2. Is he a better player as a second baseman (or even 3B) or as a centerfielder?
      By just a bit, or significantly?
      You know the answers.

  22. MLBTR The Red Sox are reportedly “on the verge” of trading for left-hander Garrett Crochet in a deal that includes top catching prospect Kyle Teel, according to a report from Julian McWilliams of The Boston Globe. According to ESPN’s Jeff Passan, the deal is in the medical phase but not yet official.

    2. I’ve been saying for a while that they always made the most sense for Crochet. The Sox just have too many high level prospects.

      I will enjoy hearing how Teel isn’t actually that good now that he’s gone. Red Sox fans have been hyping the shit out of Teel for awhile now, but I assume now it’ll be, “Whatever.”

  23. The A’s were one of the most aggressive bidders for Fried. They need to add salary to get their competitive balance tax number up to $105M, it’s currently at $78M. Does Stroman have a no trade clause?

  24. With them talking about Walker, they really must actually have something planned for Tucker or some other lefty on that level, because Walker is a righty, and they really need a middle of the lineup lefty bat.

    Bregman 3B (R)
    Judge RF (R)
    Tucker (or some other lefty hitter) LF (L)
    Walker 1B (R)
    Wells C (L)
    Stanton DH (R)
    Dominguez CF (S)
    Jazz 2B (L)
    Volpe SS (R)

    Holy shit, would that be a great lineup.

    1. breg is r. that aside, this lineup would be remarkable. if they sign roki and fortify the pen you have a championship caliber team

    4. Bregman, Walker, and Volpe are all Gold Glove-level defenders at their positions, Jazz is a good second baseman, Judge is a great right fielder and Tucker HAS been a great left fielder, but he’s lost a bit of a step over the years. The move from Judge to Dominguez in center, and Soto to Judge in right is a big improvement.

      It would be a very good defensive team, but there would obviously be some aging concerns with Bregman, Walker, Tucker, and Judge.

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