There were real reasons for the Atlanta Braves to not sign Max Fried to a similar deal that he ended up getting from the Yankees. Longer deals for pitchers that are already in their 30’s almost never end well, Fried dealt with injuries the last couple of years, and the Braves have already tied up so much money in other players or planned to. Everyone was in agreement that, health permitting, Fried was probably going to be good in 2025 and reasonable people could disagree after that.
Unfortunately, Fried has been more than good with the Yankees. He has seemingly leveled up in New York as his stuff is better than ever, each of his pitches showing tangible improvement, and he has adjusted his pitch usage.
The Braves can be forgiven for deciding not to hand out an ill-advised contract for terms longer than they are comfortable with. However, it is a bit less forgivable that Atlanta weren’t the ones that unlocked Fried’s full potential on the mound and raises some questions about how the Braves coach pitching.
Could the Braves’ pitching program be being left behind right now?
Atlanta has typically been considered a pitching factory and there are some recent success stories in terms of pitcher development that you can point to including Spencer Strider and Spencer Schwellenbach. Chris Sale came over and won a Cy Young immediately and Fried himself turned into one of the better lefties in all of baseball with the Braves.
However, there are some signs that the Braves’ pitching program doesn’t work as well for everyone. Multiple first round picks in recent years have not worked out and/or couldn’t stay healthy with others still to be determined as to whether they will turn things around. Kevin Gausman famously stunk when he left the Braves only to become one of the better pitchers in the league almost as soon as he left.
So what gives? Well, the reality of pitching is that with so many different types of deliverys and ways pitches are thrown, not every type is going to be a perfect fit with every organization. It isn’t like the Yankees have been infallible as they almost certainly regret Carlos Rodon’s deal and they have both Luis Gil and Gerrit Cole on the shelf for a while.
At the end of the day, Fried would be the first to tell you that he learned at lot from the Braves. While Atlanta may have a pitching program that does things, as Yankees coach Matt Blake was quoted in an article from The Athletic saying, “in a little more traditional way,” they still hit a lot on the types of arms they want on their staff. It certainly sucks to see Fried show out with the Yankees this year and he could end up being awesome until the day he retires, but that doesn’t mean that the Braves’ thought process was right or wrong. One does hope that they take this development and at least learn from it, though.
