
If Fried does sign an extension, then, it’s going to be a massive contract that reflects the top-tier pitcher he has become.
#Max fried baseball free#
He’ll make even more in free agency the winter after that. He’s all but assured of earning a big payday in arbitration next winter. The player gets a raise over what he might have earned in his early arb years, while the team gets some cost certainty and a discount on what they might have had to pay in free agency.Īt this point, Fried is close enough to the open market that he has little incentive to sign a team-friendly deal. A major selling point of these deals for both player and team is that the extensions buy out all of the player’s remaining arbitration years. However, as Fried gets closer to free agency, his chances of signing an extension with the Braves are dwindling. Fried is a major part of Atlanta’s core, so you’d think he’d be a perfect candidate for one of those extensions Alex Anthopoulos love to hand out. To top it all off, he was the winning pitcher in the deciding game of the 2021 World Series.

He himself is an All-Star, a Gold Glover, a Silver Slugger, and a Cy Young finalist to boot. He ranks seventh in the NL with 13.2 fWAR over that time, by far the highest total among Atlanta’s pitchers.

Since 2019, Fried has thrown 572.2 innings with a 3.06 ERA.

The list of Braves signed to long-term extensions includes All-Stars, Gold Glovers, and Silver Sluggers, but perhaps none have been more important to the team than Max Fried.
