Some risks pay off like a scratch-off ticket. Others hit like a buried treasure finally unearthed.
For the New York Yankees, signing Max Fried has turned into a full-blown gold rush.
Filling an ace-sized void in the rotation
With Gerrit Cole sidelined for the entire 2025 season, the Yankees desperately needed someone to stabilize the rotation.
Enter Max Fried, who signed a massive $218 million deal and is now delivering every bit of value that contract promised.
The 31-year-old has been untouchable through eight starts, posting a pristine 1.05 ERA across 51.2 innings.
He’s struck out 47 batters, maintained a 52% ground ball rate, and sits in the 83rd percentile in limiting hard contact.
That’s not just “good for now” production — it’s elite by any standard in modern baseball.
Masterclass outing against a red-hot Padres lineup
On Wednesday, Fried showed why the Yankees gave him the bag, shutting down the surging San Diego Padres over seven strong innings.
He gave up just five hits and one earned run, a solo home run to Jackson Merrill that stood as his lone mistake.
After reaching 100 pitches, Fried exited the game with eight strikeouts and his team in position to win.
While the bullpen nearly let it slip away, the Yankees survived in the 10th inning thanks to a J.C. Escarra sacrifice fly.
Still, the narrative of the night belonged to Fried, who continues to make hitters look lost.
More than a stopgap — he’s the new ace
There’s no sugarcoating the loss of Cole, but Fried hasn’t just filled the void — he’s redefined the top of the rotation.
He’s pitching like someone on a Cy Young trajectory, showing command, maturity, and a consistent ability to control the tempo of games.
Even more impressively, he’s done it against some of the league’s toughest lineups, keeping the Yankees afloat during a rocky injury stretch.
This is the kind of leadership that goes beyond the box score. It’s setting a tone the rest of the staff can follow.
The problem is, Fried has a history of injury himself, and the Yankees need to be careful managing his workload.
In addition, his curveball is has way off this season, and if he fastball production wavers, his numbers could fluctaute.
Fried’s curveball hosts a .281 batting average, not exactly the dominance he’s used to. Sometimes it’s better to simply look the other way when a player is red hot.
A glimpse at a terrifying future rotation
If Cole returns to full strength next year and the rest of the rotation holds, the Yankees will have one of the deepest staffs in baseball.
Pairing Cole and Fried at the top is a dream scenario — the kind of one-two punch that can carry a team deep into October.
It’s rare for a free-agent deal this size to pay off so quickly, but Fried is proving worth every dollar and then some.
And with the Yankees clinging to wins and dodging bullpen drama, his steadiness is becoming their most valuable asset.
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