The Braves and Max Fried agreed to a $15 million contract to avoid arbitration, FanSided's Robert Murray reports (X Link). This will avoid a hearing in his final year going through the process. Fried is represented by CAA Sports.
Fried, who turns 30 next week, posted a 2.55 ERA in 2023. He made 14 starts over 77 2/3 innings and suffered a three-month absence with a forearm strain. The shortened season resulted in a $1.5 million raise for the left-hander.
This is Fried's fourth and final time through arbitration as he reached Super Two status following the 2020 season. He agreed with the Braves in '21, won a hearing against them in '22, and lost a hearing against the club in '23. Fried had presented an amount of $15 million at his hearing nearly a year ago, but the tribunal instead settled on the team's amount of $13.5 million. So now, in 2024, he will earn the amount he hoped to earn in 23.
Justin Toscano of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported in December that the Braves discussed an extension with Fried's agency before the '23 season. According to our MLB Contract Tracker, Braves President of Baseball Operations and General Manager Alex Anthopoulos has issued 18 contract extensions since being hired in November 2017. His longest contract for a pitcher was Spencer Striders six-year contract, even though Strider had been on MLB duty for one year at the time. Otherwise, if you don't count that, he hasn't given any starting player a multi-year contract Reynaldo Lopez as a. Despite signing many players to contract extensions, the Braves ultimately let it happen Freddie Freeman And Dansby Swanson left as free agents, as Toscano noted.
Fried is a special case considering the Braves had a winning streak that included Cy Young votes in the 2020 and '22 seasons as well as the decisive win in Game 6 of the 2021 World Series. Starting players who have signed contracts worth over $100 million with five years of service over the last decade include: Clayton Kershaw, Homer Bailey, Stephan Strasburg, Jose Berrios, Joe MusgroveAnd Luis Castillo. After consecutive years of arbitration negotiations, Fried's deal for 24 can perhaps be seen as something positive in his relationship with the team.
If he hits the open market, Fried would be one of many interesting starting players in the 2024-25 class. You can read that here.