Former World Series Champion Signs with Yankees

Former 2021 World Series Winner Max Fried has signed with the New York Yankees. The deal is worth $218 million over eight years. This is the largest guaranteed contract for a left-handed pitcher in MLB history. This will be a great pickup for the Yankees, as Fried is more than capable of providing the team with quality innings throughout the season. Many should expect the 30-year-old left-hander to pitch near the top of the Yankees rotation for many seasons to come.

Max Fried is a pitcher who can do a little bit of everything. Through eight seasons with the Atlanta Braves, Fried has won two Gold Gloves, a Silver Slugger award, made two All-Star appearances, and has finished top five in Cy Young award voting twice. Posting 174.1 innings, including 11 wins, 166 strikeouts, and two complete games while maintaining a 3.25 earned run average last season, Fried will look to improve on his numbers this year with the Yankees. Additionally, Fried has been quite a durable pitcher as of late. In three of his last four seasons, he has made at least 28 starts, with the only outlier being his injury riddled 2023 campaign. 

At age 30, Fried is poised to have many great years ahead of him. Coming into the 2025 season, Fried is 137 strikeouts shy of 1,000 for his career and is also looking for his first career Cy Young award, finishing fifth in 2020 and second in 2022. With these two factors in mind, expect Fried to come out strong in the 2025 season. Whether Fried is able to obtain the award or not, he has proven to be a reliable top of the rotation arm that will have made for a good addition this offseason. Above all else, this will address the Yankees’ need for pitching as they look to contend in the postseason, with Fried looking to win his second career ring.