While the loss of long-time ace Gerrit Cole has no doubt harmed the New York Yankees’ hopes in 2025 and stripped them from a steadying presence at the front of the rotation, they do have another ace ready to step into that particular breach. Yes, depth will be a leading concern for the Yankees as Opening Day approaches, but their marquee offseason addition, lefty Max Fried, is more than capable of being the Yanks’ No. 1 starter in the season to come and as Cole recovers from Tommy John surgery.
The decision to sign Fried to an eight-year, $218 million free-agent contract back in December was always a canny one. At the time, it was a major investment meant to, in some ways, parry the loss of Juan Soto to the crosstown New York Mets. Now, though, it’s even more vital in a roster-specific way with the loss of Cole. This, of course, isn’t lost on Fried.
“At the end of the day, no one is Gerrit Cole, right?” Fried said on Tuesday, via MLB.com. “I’ve got to take the ball every time that I take the ball. It doesn’t matter if he was on the mound or not. Realistically, it’s just about doing my job. It’s going out there and making sure that, when I take the ball, we have a really good chance to win that day.”
In a way, nothing about the loss of Cole changes Fried’s outlook or forecast. When healthy, he’s one of the best starting pitchers in baseball. Across his eight seasons in MLB, Fried boasts an ERA+ of 140, which means his park-adjusted ERA is 40% better than the league-average mark. That’s an exceptional figure for a starting pitcher. Among active starting pitchers with an ample career innings total, just Jacob deGrom and Clayton Kershaw have higher ERA+ figures. Fried’s also got an uncommonly deep repertoire, an established capacity to limit hard contact off the bat, and some of the strongest ground-ball tendencies found among starting pitchers. Going into his age-31 season, the skills are intact, and Fried – again, health permitting – should be a frontline force for years to come. Any team needs that, and the post-Cole Yankees especially need it.
“For me, I have to be Max Fried,” the southpaw said. “I can’t try to fill anyone else’s shoes. I’ve pitched with a lot of really great teammates and stuff like that. I have to know what makes me successful and not try to be someone I’m not.”
In a sense, they’ve been here before. Last season, Cole missed the first two and a half months because of nerve irritation in his elbow. Upon his return, he was good but not his vintage self across fewer than 100 regular-season innings. Yes, the 2024 Yankees had Soto, but they didn’t have the likes of Fried backing up Cole.
The Yankees, of course, need others to step up behind Fried. Carlos Rodón needs to find the kind of sustained excellence he flashed before joining the Yankees two years ago. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year Luis Gil needs to get back from his lat strain in keeping with optimistic timelines and resume pitching as he did in his debut season. And, yes, the front office may need to look outside the organization to find a fitting replacement for Cole’s innings. The ace part, though, they have in Fried.
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