With Spencer Strider out, Braves need to extend Max Fried more than ever
Outside of Strider, there isn’t another proven starting pitcher committed to Atlanta long-term, and now his future is cloudy. Opting to go the internal brace surgery over Tommy John provides a glimmer of hope that he can be ready at some point before the All-Star break next year, but the Braves can’t go into the season expecting him to return at full strength right away. There has to be insurance, and a lot of it, because the rest of the rotation might not be around.
This very well may be Charlie Morton‘s last season. In fact, I would say the odds that it is are close to 80-90%, but I’ve been surprised before. Reynaldo Lopez has looked nice in his first two starts, but he hasn’t been a full-time starting pitcher since 2019. Who knows how sustainable that success is over a full season, and of course, Max Fried is set to become a free agent at the season’s end.
The Fried contract situation is a storyline that will be discussed all season and into the offseason if it’s not taken care of, and there are a few new developments that have shifted that conversation over the last month or so.
On the one hand, Fried just watched two of the best left-handed starting pitchers — Blake Snell and Jordan Montgomery — settle for well below market value and sign one-year deals. That’s not an encouraging sign for a pitcher hoping to land something around $200 million next offseason.
