The Atlanta Braves have extended young stars more often than not, but Max Fried isn’t one of them. Has the window for blocking the left-hander already passed?
Atlanta Braves general manager Alex Anthopoulos and the rest of the front office have been praised for the organization’s ability to sign star players to extensions, especially those who have changed the game for the team. Whether it’s Ronald Acuña Jr, Austin Riley, Matt Olson, Michael Harris II, Spencer Strider or even more recently Sean Murphy, this group has given a masterclass.
For work as phenomenal as the franchise’s, however, that’s still not a perfect record. In the past two seasons, two big stars have broken free: Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson. And now these two players have contracts elsewhere.
The big key for the Braves was to start extension negotiations early. They mastered the art of identifying future players and signing them to contracts long before free agency. That didn’t happen with Freeman and Swanson, and the Braves weren’t willing to pay the proverbial free agency fee to keep them.
And that’s what has some fans worried about the team’s ace pitching, Max Fried.
The Braves may be too late to work on a Max Fried expansion.
Fried, who will turn 29 at the start of the 2023 season, has two years left on his contract before becoming a free agent at the end of the 2024 season. The Braves don’t have a contract extension for the lefty, which could be bad news for them if they want to keep their ace.
Again, the key for the Atlanta front office and Anthopoulos was getting those extensions early, well before they had just two years left on their contract before free agency. From that point of view, they are far past the time frame where they could have ideally closed the deal.
The other factor is that Fried has been way beyond performance level for too long for the Braves to realistically expect him to make a huge cut to stay in Atlanta. He’s been a real ace for this team in recent years, and with what we’ve seen in the starting pitching market for players far bigger than the 31-year-old Fried will be when he’s a free agent, that means a monstrous salary awaits him. on the free market.
While the ideal scenario would be for Fried to agree to an extension with Atlanta, the largest AAV they’ve given out thus far in their recent deals is about $21 million a year to Austin Riley and Matt Olson. Fried will cost significantly more, so it seems highly unlikely that the two sides will reach an agreement.
Does this mean the Braves are starting to explore the possibility of trading Fried? Is this the first time the southpaw has truly broken the bank to keep a star? We do not know. But given recent history, Fried will be free after the 2024 season, which seems like the more likely outcome right now.
