Max Fried’s move to the Yankees looked like the kind of swing that could change everything. Instead, after Wednesday, he’s staring at the same kind of October mess he left behind in Atlanta.
New York took its second straight ALDS exit, and the fallout sounded awfully familiar. Yankees fans were venting the same way Braves fans did after their own elimination, with the chorus turning quickly to offseason change. And there was Fried, the former Brave who took the loss in Game 3, watching a division rival celebrate on the Yankees’ field as New York slid into the same early-exit purgatory Atlanta knows too well.
The numbers tell part of the story. Fried’s regular-season ERA sits at 3.01, while his postseason ERA is 5.11. That 2.10-run gap is bigger than Clayton Kershaw’s 2.09.
There are probably 218 million reasons Fried chose the Bronx, and nobody can blame him for taking the kind of contract that changes a life. But the postseason payoff he probably imagined hasn’t shown up. His first year in New York was strong individually - he finished fourth in AL Cy Young voting - yet the Yankees still didn’t go where he wanted them to go.
Atlanta, meanwhile, had been searching all season for starting pitching help. If Fried had stayed, he would have been lined up with Chris Sale and would have had a chance to anchor the rotation.
He also had the kind of Braves legacy path that could have made him a Hall of Fame-level figure in Atlanta someday. And because he already won a World Series in 2021, he wouldn’t have carried the same pressure to deliver one again.
Now he’s dealing with the New York spotlight, where every October stumble comes with a fresh round of questions. The Yankees have clear offseason needs, too, with an aging supporting cast around an oft-injured superstar.
It’s hard to blame Fried for taking the money, especially when Alex Anthopoulos never seemed likely to get anywhere near that deal. But if the move was supposed to deliver a cleaner postseason life, it hasn’t worked out that way.
Then again, outside of the Dodgers, who has really enjoyed much recent October success? The Braves haven’t, and because of that, Fried may not be feeling all that bad after all.
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Braves Shortstop Debate Is Back And One Name Sits At Center
The Braves are already sorting through an offseason shaped by an NL Division Series exit at the hands of the Dodgers, and the list of decisions is longer than just a few roster tweaks. With Tyler Mahle and Mauricio Dubon among the players heading toward free agency, Atlanta may have some priorities on the retention side, but the most intriguing discussion may be the one surrounding shortstop and whether the club wants to keep leaning on Ha-Seong Kim.
Kims year did not give the Braves much reason to settle the debate quickly, and that leaves the position squarely in play as the front office maps out the next step. Atlanta has options to weigh and other areas to address, but shortstop now feels like one of the spots where a new direction is at least on the table, making this one of the more revealing choices of the winter. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Offseason Mistakes Left Atlanta Exposed When October Finally Hit
Atlantas postseason unraveling against the Dodgers did not happen in a vacuum. It traced back to the way the front office tried to patch together the roster last winter, from searching for a shortstop answer to trying to stabilize left field and build enough starting pitching depth to survive October.
Ha-Seong Kim was supposed to help solve one problem in the infield, while Jurickson Profar was part of the outfield plan, and the Braves also bet they had enough on the mound to carry them through the grind. Instead, the offense never found the kind of rhythm Atlanta needed in the NLDS, and the pitching staff did not have much room for error when the games tightened up against Los Angeles. [Read more 🡒]
Braves Offseason Could Turn On A Few Familiar Free Agent Calls
The Braves offseason may end up coming down to a handful of familiar names, and that makes the decisions feel both practical and precarious. Ha-Seong Kim, Raisel Iglesias, Mauricio Dubon and Tyler Mahle are all in the mix as pending free agents, giving Atlanta a set of options that ranges from dependable bullpen help to versatile depth and rotation upside. With a lockout looming and free-agent spending still clouded by uncertainty, even straightforward roster planning could get pushed into a waiting game.
Among those possibilities, the Braves are weighing performance, fit and cost against a market that may not make life easy. Kim brings a different type of roster flexibility, Dubon offers versatility, and Mahle represents a pitching gamble that could quickly get pricey. Atlanta has reasons to keep talking to several of them, but the real challenge may be deciding which familiar call is worth making first when the market finally opens up. [Read more 🡒]