Atlanta Braves News: Left-handed starting pitcher Max Fried has landed a monster free-agent deal with the New York Yankees. The deal is worth $218 million over eight years. It is the largest contract ever given to a left-handed pitcher and the fourth-largest deal (in terms of total guaranteed dollars) for any pitcher, regardless of which hand they throw the baseball with.

The average annual value is $27.25 million. Fried has a no-trade clause and there will be no deferred money. That’s great, I hate deferred money.

Fried joins a stacked Yankees staff that features Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon, Luis Gil, and Clarke Schmidt.

Don’t Roll Your Eyes at Max Fried’s Yankees Contract

Some didn’t hesitate to scoff at this deal or called it “insane.” $27.25 million per year for a pitcher the caliber of Max Fried sounds about right to me. If he had settled for a shorter-term deal, I wouldn’t have been surprised to see him push that average annual value even higher. That’s why we knew from the beginning that the Atlanta Braves would not re-sign Max Fried.

Granted, Fried is entering his age-31 season but this is where the free-agent market is for star players. Locking in the golden years comes with the territory. Players want security and kudos to Max Fried for getting it. That’s the price to get the remainder of the prime years. The Yankees must believe that Fried’s pitching style will age well.

Fried earned this deal and I’m happy for him. I’m also happy the Braves aren’t the ones with the eight-year commitment to a 31-year-old pitcher. This is not how the Braves roster has been built under Alex Anthopoulos.

Max Fried’s Time with the Atlanta Braves

Max Fried was drafted by the San Diego Padres with the seventh pick of the first round in the 2012 draft.

On December 19, 2014, the Braves traded Justin Upton and Aaron Northcraft to the Padres in return for Dustin Peterson, Jace Peterson, Mallex Smith, and Max Fried.

Fried debuted with the Braves in 2017. He spent eight seasons with Atlanta and will go down as one of the greatest Braves pitchers of all time. He leaves with a career 3.07 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP over 884.1 innings pitched with the Braves.

Fried made two All-Star teams with Atlanta (2022 and 2024), and would have made it in 2020 had there been one. Fried finished in the top five in Cy Young voting in 2020 and 2022. He won three-straight Gold Gloves between 2020-2022 and is a World Series Champion.