The Yankees’ efforts to re-sign Juan Soto have dominated headlines within the Bronx this offseason, however they’re additionally laying the groundwork for different free agent potentialities. The Yankees held a 90-minute assembly with longtime Braves lefty Max Fried this week, as first reported by the YES Community’s Michael Kay, who provides that the speak went nicely and the 2 sides are anticipated to fulfill once more. Mike Puma and Joel Sherman of the New York Publish additionally report that the 2 sides met, with the Yankees’ contingent consisting of GM Brian Cashman, supervisor Aaron Boone, pitching coach Matt Blake and as many as six different workforce officers. Puma and Sherman additional add that the Yankees met with Corbin Burnes late final month.
Soto, in fact, stays the Yankees’ high focus. It appears unlikely that they’d signal him to what more and more seems to be a $600MM+ contract after which put down greater than $150MM on certainly one of Fried or Burnes — although the Yanks actually have the assets to take action. Nonetheless, it’s solely pure for any Soto suitor to be doing homework on potential contingency plans within the occasion that he indicators elsewhere. Loading up on high-end beginning pitching and addressing the lineup in different methods could be one such chance. (Notably, the Yankees have additionally lately been linked to infielder Willy Adames, who’s keen to play third base or second base with a brand new membership.)
The Yankees have already got probably the most costly staffs within the sport. Gerrit Cole, Carlos Rodon and Marcus Stroman are owed a mixed $81MM subsequent yr. Nestor Cortes is projected by MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz to earn $7.7MM. Righty Clarke Schmidt is projected at $3.5MM. Newly minted Rookie of the Yr Luis Gil remains to be in his pre-arbitration years. There’s been hypothesis concerning the Yankees transferring both Stroman or Cortes this winter, each of which appear believable. Including somebody the caliber of Fried of Burnes would make a commerce elsewhere within the rotation a digital inevitability.
Both Burnes or Fried would be part of Cole proper atop what may very well be a powerhouse Yankees rotation. Each pitchers rejected qualifying affords from their former golf equipment, that means each would value the Yankees their second- and fifth-highest draft choices, along with $1MM of house from their 2025 bonus pool in worldwide free company. For a pitcher of both caliber, that’s a small value to pay.
Fried, 31 in January, has rattled off 659 innings of two.81 ERA ball courting again to the 2020 season. He’s third amongst all certified beginning pitchers in ERA in that point, trailing solely Brandon Woodruff (2.76) and Clayton Kershaw (2.79). Fried has thrown almost 200 extra innings than each these pitchers. His 2024 season wasn’t his finest, however solely relative to his lofty requirements. He made 29 begins, totaling 174 1/3 innings, and notched a tidy 3.25 ERA.
Fried doesn’t miss bats just like the prototypical ace however has a barely better-than-average 23.6% strikeout charge over the previous 5 seasons. He sports activities a powerful 6.3% stroll charge in that point and is among the many recreation’s perfect in relation to minimizing arduous contact and avoiding opponents’ barrels. He additionally racks up grounders at a plus charge (54.2% since 2020) — highlighted by a career-best 58.8% mark in 2024. Fried has typically been sturdy, though he was restricted to 14 begins in 2023 because of a forearm pressure that didn’t find yourself requiring surgical procedure. He missed three begins in 2024 because of a nerve challenge in that very same forearm, however that’s ostensibly a unique challenge than the one which sidelined him in ’23.
Burnes is sort of a full yr youthful, having turned 30 about 5 weeks in the past. He’s solidified himself as a real workhorse, rating third within the majors in innings pitched over the previous 5 seasons and sitting narrowly behind Fried with a fourth-ranked 2.88 ERA in that very same span. Burnes was traded from the Brewers to the Orioles final offseason and proved himself towards most of the exact same AL East lineups he’d be dealing with as a Yankee. He made 32 begins and pitched 194 1/3 innings of two.92 ERA ball for the O’s, including eight innings of one-run excellence in Baltimore’s temporary postseason foray.
Dominant as Burnes has been at instances in his profession, his current work bears some resemblance to that of Fried. That’s not a foul factor, in fact, however his as soon as sky-high strikeout charge now sits at a roughly league-average charge (23.1% in 2024). Like Fried, he’s countered the diminished strikeout tendencies with sharp command and a knack for dodging arduous contact. Burnes doesn’t generate grounders on the similar stage, however his 46.9% profession mark and 2024’s 48.8% charge are each nonetheless comfortably above common.
The final considering has been that Burnes will signal the biggest contract of any pitcher this offseason. He’s two years youthful than Blake Snell — who signed for 5 years and $182MM with the Dodgers (albeit with some deferrals) — and a yr youthful than Fried. His mix of sturdiness and effectiveness is unmatched amongst this yr’s crop of free brokers. Fried, nevertheless, ought to command a deal nicely north of $100MM himself — fairly presumably approaching and even exceeding the $162MM the Yankees promised to Rodon two winters in the past.
The Yankees at present challenge for a payroll round $230MM, per RosterResource. They’re at present beneath the luxurious tax threshold, however solely nominally so. Even minor additions in free company or on the commerce market will push them into luxurious territory. They’ve been a tax payor in every of the previous three seasons, nevertheless, and their pursuits of varied high-end free brokers makes it clear they’re comfy not solely paying the tax for a fourth straight season however maybe pushing into the best tier of penalty once more — a minimum of for the 2025 season.
Managing accomplice Hal Steinbrenner has mentioned that trotting out a payroll of that magnitude each season isn’t sustainable in the long term. Nevertheless, that’s in all probability the fact for the rapid future, as long as the Yanks are paying Aaron Decide, Cole and Rodon a mixed $103MM yearly by way of 2028 (to say nothing of weighty commitments to Giancarlo Stanton, DJ LeMahieu, Stroman and any forthcoming free agent/commerce additions).
