Free Agent Profile: Max Fried, SP

Max Fried

Position: SP B/T: L/L
Age: 30 (1/18/1994)

2024 Traditional Stats: 11-10, 3.25 ERA, 1.16 WHIP, 174.1 IP, 166 SO, 57 BB, 29 GS
2024 Advanced Stats: 3.5 bWAR, 3.4 fWAR, 128 ERA+, 3.64 xERA, 3.33 FIP, .282 BABIP, 23.3 SO%, 8.0 BB%

Rundown

After injuries limited Max Fried to 14 starts in 2023, he returned to workhorse form, taking the ball every fifth day for Atlanta as he had consistently from 2019-2022. He made the All-Star team for the second time this year but wasn’t as effective as he was the last time he made the squad in 2022, when he pitched to a 2.48 ERA and finished second in the Cy Young voting.

The eight-year veteran doesn’t throw hard (his fastball averaged 93.9 mph this season), but he effectively mixes six pitches (fastball, curve, sinker, change, slider, cutter) to keep hitters off balance. He is 73-36 for his career with a 3.07 ERA and 1.16 WHIP. He has accumulated 24.1 bWAR.

“He does a lot of little things,” Atlanta manager Brian Snitker told The New York Times during spring training. “Controlling the running game, fielding his position – all the peripheral things he’s really good at that winning pitchers do. He’s got (three) Gold Gloves, the ability to spin the ball and he’s a great athlete. If he wasn’t a pitcher, he’d probably be a center fielder.”

Lefties slashed .321/.395/.464 versus Fried this year (140 at-bats) while he held righties to a .200/.266/.273 line (505 ABs). It could be an anomaly since lefties have hit just .244/.314/.371 against him for his career.

He has scuffled in the postseason, too. He’s 2-5 with a 5.10 ERA in 20 appearances (12 starts) and gave up five runs on eight hits in two innings in a Wild Card game loss to the Padres last month.

Fried was drafted seventh overall by the Padres in 2012 and traded to the Braves in 2014 in a package for Justin Upton. He made his MLB debut in 2017. The Mets are familiar with him. He is 9-5 with a 2.48 ERA in 23 appearances (18 starts) vs. New York.

Contract

The Athletic projected Fried for a five-year, $140 million deal ($28 million AAV). Spotrac pegged his market value for six years and $136 million ($22.7 million AAV). Fried pitched on a one-year, $15 million deal in 2024. He should get one of the more lucrative pitching deals this winter.

The Braves made a qualifying offer to Fried so the team that signs him will incur a draft pick penalty.

Recommendation

Yes, please. (And we will keep our fingers crossed that he turns it around in October.) His upside is an ace and his downside is somewhere around 2024 Sean Manaea. He would fill a hole in the rotation and create one for a division rival. The Mets should do the max to get Fried. The Mets should make sure Max is freed from Atlanta. (The Mets should also come up with more inspiring wordplay to announce the signing.)

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