The Braves and Max Fried agreed to a $15MM contract to avoid arbitration, reports Robert Murray of FanSided (X link). That’ll avoid a hearing in his final year going through the process. Fried is represented by CAA Sports.
Fried, who turns 30 next week, put up a 2.55 ERA in 2023. He made 14 starts spanning 77 2/3 innings, enduring a three-month absence for a forearm strain. The abbreviated season resulted in a $1.5MM raise for the lefty.
This represents Fried’s fourth and final time through arbitration, as he achieved Super Two status after the 2020 season. He reached an agreement with the Braves for ’21, won a hearing against them for ’22, and lost a hearing against the club for ’23. Fried had submitted a $15MM figure at his hearing nearly a year ago, but the arbitration panel instead chose the team’s $13.5MM figure. So now in 2024, he will earn the amount he was hoping to earn in ’23.
Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in December that the Braves discussed an extension with Fried’s agency prior to the ’23 season. Braves president of baseball operations and general manager Alex Anthopoulos has given out 18 extensions since being hired in November 2017, according to our MLB Contract Tracker. His longest deal for a pitcher was Spencer Strider’s six-year pact, though Strider had one year of MLB service at the time. Otherwise he hasn’t given a multiyear deal to any starting pitcher, if you don’t count Reynaldo Lopez as one. Though they’ve signed many players to extensions, the Braves did ultimately let Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson leave as free agents, as noted by Toscano.
Fried is a special case, given a run of success for the Braves that has included Cy Young votes in the 2020 and ’22 seasons as well as the clinching win in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series. Starting pitchers who signed deals worth $100MM+ with five years of service in the last decade include Clayton Kershaw, Homer Bailey, Stephen Strasburg, Jose Berrios, Joe Musgrove, and Luis Castillo. After back to back years of arbitration hearings, perhaps Fried reaching an agreement for ’24 can be viewed as a mild positive in his relationship with the team.
If he reaches the open market, Fried would be one of many interesting starting pitchers in the 2024-25 class. You can check that out here.
Nice to avoid conflict going into free agency.
Good. Arguably the most underrated city, stadium, and sports team in the entire country.
yankees better
When was your last WS ?
Yea the Bronx is so much better lol
The Braves are not an underrated team lol
Must’ve missed their 90s run.
I watched a YouTube series called remembering the 90’s. =))
Half their fan base were born after the 90’s.
Nope. More the half the Braves fan base lived through the late 80’s when TBS brought the Braves into homes with cable all around the country. I think the Braves and Cubs were the only teams that were nationwide for free with most basic cable packages. Prior to that, in many parts of the country you were lucky to get one or two games a week on TV (for all of MLB .. typically via the ‘Game of the Week’ on ABC).
The 90’s might have been their best run, but many Braves fans were well in place prior to that.
TBS snagged me in 1994. Became a fan at a special time.
@UGA Steve: Yep. Been a Braves fan since 1966 when they moved to Atlanta. I was 9 years old and grew up 15 miles away from Fulton Co. Stadium—The Launching Pad. Couldn’t keep me away from games there after I got my drivers license. Saw a lot of really bad baseball from 1966 until 1991. (except 1969 and 82-84.) Loved all of it.
What?!? Lol
White, Tromp, Risario, Olson, etc.
Pretty sure the Battery is the gold standard these days showing teams other revenue sources from their stadiums. They turned the ballpark area into an experience. They are not under rated either. I’ve been a Braves fan my whole life and so has anyone across the world who could get TBS.
Orioles are under rated, AZ was under rated.
Might be the case, but their tv deal is atrocious. They can generate revenue with ballpark attractions, but they need to get out of that Bally contract lol. They could spend like the Dodgers if they had a better deal.
That’s a whole other can of worms….there needs to be a streaming service just for baseball. MLB ticket doesn’t provide that. I get blacked out for all games in the west so I have to have Hulu too. They should do it like OnX. X amount of dollars for 1 team and X amount of dollars for whole league. Get rid of all the local station stuff.
As a publicly traded company with deep deep pockets they could now. They develop well though and seem to continually pump out a quality product and experience. No need to spend like the tax dodgers.
@FOTU,
Already moved on from lovin’ St. Louis?
Arcia, Riley, Harris, Ozuna. etc.
I think the Braves aren’t underrated; I live in California and been to Braves games in Oakland; Los Angeles and San Francisco. The right day and game the Braves have more fans than the home team. Seen it in all 3 stadiums.
I think the Braves; dodgers and Yankees have the most across the board fans across the country.
Strider, Iglesias, Sale, Acuna, Morton, etc.
I would have taken the Braves to arbitration in an attempt to end my career with a winning record in Arbitration
Fried was hurt last year so would be hard pressed to pass that mark. I would think he wants to leave a good relationship with the Braves. If they have had contract talks as recently as last year they may not be as far apart in a deal.
I hate it but I don’t see Fried returning next year.
Sadly, I agree. But anything can happen.
Agreed. It isn’t because he’s not an upper echelon pitcher, but that forearm strain is unfortunately a harbinger for a near future 18-month absence. Ultimately not a wise long term investment.
I doubt this has much to do with any extensions (I wish it did), but it’s good to see the two sides agree on this before going to a hearing. Good vibes going into the final year of the contract can only help the clubhouse, etc.
AA is playing 15 dimensional chess.
Tear up this years 15million, 1 year pact, and replace it with 6/180 with an opt out after year 4.
6/180 is a lot of money; especially when if the dodgers or giants try and sign him the difference in taxes swings the Braves way.
The idea would be you get age 30, 31, 32, and 33 and then he opts out. If he has another TJ injury he’s out for 18 months. 4/120 for those years is a deal. Let someone else pick him up after that. Pretty sure that’s close to what Rodon signed for.
Rodon is not fried though. Fried is consistent but I’m afraid he will need TJ again soon
8/180 Sounds a lot better
dude will be 30 next week, as much as I like him, I don’t want him signed to age 38
Essentially it would be a 6/180 deal with the 2 extra years added to lower the CBT hit. At least that’s the way I see it.
I was just thinking of the AA rule of 22, as in $22M per year for 8 years, with a $4M signing bonus or buyout
of you mean 7 years on top of this arb year, I wouldn’t hate it
Y’all haven’t posted that the braves and aj minter have avoided arbitration and agreed to a 6.22 million dollar deal for the 2024 season.
@B_s_c,
I believe the correct spelling is ‘Yous’.
It’s Yous above the Mason Dixon line And Y’all below the line
Thanks, BB-H. Y’I understand.
Y’all are a trip lmao
They have it marked on their Arbitration Tracker post with a link to a tweet on X (formerly known as Twitter)
If anyone thinks the Braves will give Fried $180-200m at age 31 next year they haven’t been paying attention since AA’s arrival.
I’ve been preoccupied watching AA’s 18 dimensional chess match.
Now let’s extend him Ten years $225 Mil!!!!