The Braves announced today that left-hander Max Fried has been placed on the 15-day injured list, retroactive to July 18, with left forearm neuritis. Lefty Dylan Dodd was recalled in a corresponding move.
At this point, it’s unclear how significant Fried’s injury is or when it occurred. His most recent outing for Atlanta saw him throw six innings against the Diamondbacks on July 11. He was selected to the National League All-Star team and then tossed a scoreless inning against the American League in that game. Until he was placed on the IL, there had been no public reporting that anything was amiss.
More information will likely be forthcoming but this figures to be a significant development either way. Atlanta came into this season with a front five in their rotation of Fried, Spencer Strider, Charlie Morton, Chris Sale and Reynaldo López. Strider required UCL surgery in April and is done for the year.
For as long as Fried is out, the club will be down to a rotation nucleus of Morton, Sale and López, who are each having great years but with some lingering concerns. Sale has been frequently injured in recent seasons and his 110 innings thrown this year are the most for him since 2019. López started earlier in his career but was moved to the bullpen a few years ago. Atlanta has moved him back to the rotation with success but he has also thrown more innings this year than he has since 2019. Morton continues to find success but is now 40 years old and his strikeout rate is down for a third straight year.
Atlanta is currently 54-43 on the year, 7.5 games back of the Phillies in the East division but currently holding the top Wild Card spot. Given their rotation situation, they were probably going to be looking for upgrades before the July 30 deadline but it’s possible that search will now ramp up with this injury to Fried. Some potential trade candidates include Jack Flaherty, Yusei Kikuchi, Garrett Crochet and many more.
In the meantime, they will have to cobble things together behind Morton, Sale and López. They don’t have an off-day between now and the deadline and played a double-header against the Cardinals yesterday. Neither Hurston Waldrep nor Huascar Ynoa will be able to help out, as both of them are currently on the IL. Ynoa started a rehab assignment on July 16 but only tossed two innings and probably needs a few more outings to build up.
Spencer Schwellenbach is having a good start to his career and should stick around, though it’s also only been eight starts so far. Ian Anderson underwent Tommy John surgery last year but has been rehabbing lately, with five starts on the farm in recent weeks. Bryce Elder, AJ Smith-Shawver, Allan Winans, Darius Vines and Dodd are also on the 40-man and could be in the mix to help out.
For Fried personally, he is headed for free agency at the end of this season and was trending towards a nice payday. He has over 800 innings on his track record with a 3.08 ERA, 23.7% strikeout rate, 6.7% walk rate and 54.1% ground ball rate, with health not being a huge factor for most of the time. From 2019 to 2022, he made at least 28 starts in each full season and also took the ball 11 times in the shortened 2020 campaign. He also added just under 60 playoff innings in that four-year stretch.
He did miss about three months last year due to a left forearm strain, in addition to missing time due to a hamstring strain and a blister. He only made 14 starts last year but had been putting together a nice season in 2024 prior to this injury. He has already thrown 108 innings over 18 starts with a 3.08 ERA. His 21.5% strikeout rate is down a bit but he’s made opponents pound the ball into the ground at a 59% clip.
Fried placed fifth on MLBTR’s recent Free Agent Power Rankings, the #2 pitcher behind Corbin Burnes. He could still maintain that kind of earning power if he returns after a relatively brief absence and continues putting up strong numbers, but a more significant departure would obviously have an impact there as well.
Oof
This season has just been brutal with the injuries for the Braves. I’m not familiar with neuritis, but I looked it up. It says it is usually a quick recovery, but weakness and numbness can last for months. Hopefully that won’t be the case, but if it is, that’s probably the final blow to the Braves’ WS chances this year.
I hope Fried’s injury isn’t serious and that he recovers quickly.
That said, your reasoning is totally sound, but I thought the same thing about the Braves’ World Series chances in ’21 when they lost Acuña. MLB playoffs are so hard to predict.
But this time no Strider & No Acuna Jr plus if they lose Fried then its a long hill battle. They don’t have the top prospects to go out & get a Skubal or Crochet
WS chances? With Albies down for 2 months, they have 3 starters (all with question marks), an OF of Kelenic, Duvall and waiver wire rejects by WASH and CLE and an IF of Riley, a sub .700 OPS 1B, a sub .600 SS and a rookie 2B who has never played 2B. They will struggle to make the playoffs.
They should probably retool for 2025. In their shoes, I might trade BP assets for AAA position players that would be upgrades in the IF and OF, try to sneak into the playoffs and focus on 2025, when Strider, Acuna and Albies will be back.
They don’t need a teardown, but they shouldn’t be “buying” for this season.
Fried is baked
The anti-wordplay crowd is going to be steamed.
Boiling with frustration.
The anti Coldplay crowd tho
I’m a Braves fan and I thought that comment still got a laugh from me.
No I’m baked
There is your yearly Fried injury. Dude is hurt too much to warrant a large contract.
“Warrant a large contract”…Fried is obviously an above average pitcher, but there’s no way I’d commit huge dollars or 5+ years to him because he seems so frail and injury prone. The guy I compare him most to is former Houston lefty Dallas Kuechel.
Yeah, that’s my point. He’s gonna ask though.
And recieve from some team
I may be in the minority, but I’d have zero issues with whatever dollar amount the Braves offered if it meant getting him signed. I’m with you on not going more than 5 years though.
“More than 5 years”…I agree. 5 years is probably a risk you have to take to get good pitchers, but more than 5 years is an unacceptable risk that any team will regret making.
Yea I seriously doubt at this time that Fried is re signing with the Braves. We’ve seen this same song and dance played with Freeman and Swanson. If Fried was going to stay he would have re signed by now imo. The Braves are not going to be the highest bidder in FA nor should they be imo
This may increase ATL’s chances on re-signing him — giving him a pillow prove it deal, unless he really does want to test the FA waters with forearm issues in the last 2 seasons. LAD could backload a contract with an opt-out that ATL typically doesn’t offer.
I agree with most of the posts on here that would stay away from anything over a 5-yr deal with Fried this off season. For example, the Yankees are only in year 2 of the 6-yr $162-million deal they gave to Carlos Rondon. They will be paying him just under $28-mill/year for the next 4-years(25-28). And if the Yankees were given to chance to get out of that deal today they would do it in a heartbeat. I don’t understand why team’s don’t start offering shorter term deals with a higher AAV to guy’s? Similar to what the LAD did with Teo this off season. These massive 10+yr deals teams are giving guy’s are all going to end terribly and a lot of them already are! I mean what kind of production do the Padres expect to get from Machado and Bogaerts by the end of their deals?! They’re barely getting league average production from them this year, imagine what it’s going to be like in 2026 and beyond.
@get. That’s true of most pitchers these days. It’s almost pointless to say that now.
You don’t have to though. . The Braves are not obligated to sign him to some ridiculous contract. He’s going to ask for something ridiculous and no one should do it.
Absolutely. I think this could be a year where you see productivity and injury risk start bringing contract lengths and value over all down a some
Flaherty should start looking for an apartment in the Atlanta area
I see Atlanta as a fit for him (among many other teams), depending on what they are willing to give up. The Tigers need a SS who is close but it sounds like the Braves need the same thing so Nacho Alvarez is likely out. Maybe Drake Baldwin and a flier?
No to both of you. Maybe you don’t remember him coming out against the Braves and their use of the tomahawk and other jabs at the team when the all star game got pulled but a resounding No on Jack coming to Atlanta. He will do more harm to them than good.
Yeah, a 0.96 WHIP and 127k’s sure is harmful. Besides, he doesn’t have a no trade clause so regardless of his feelings toward whatever or whomever, he has zero say. He’s not going to sabotage his career by purposely pouting and throwing middle middle meatballs while playing for his next contract just because he gets traded to the Braves.
You’re thinking of Helsley
I was about to say Flaherty didn’t sound right. Helsey makes more sense….that mental move really did work, Braves pulled all their foam tomahawks and preceeded to get their butts whooped. Good Ol’ Cancel Culture at it’s peak lol
Chicago White Sox can save the whole year right now if Atlanta is ready to do what needs to be done. You get two bites at the apple with these guys. Everybody is signed through next year at complete bargain rates.
Atlanta receives: Garrett Crochet, Erick Fedde, Luis Robert
White Sox receive: JR Ritchie, Owen Murphy, Jose Perdomo, Luis Guanipa, Cade Koehler, Jhancarlos Lara, Douglas Glod
not a single prospect to the white sox for their three best players?
He just named seven of top 15 Braves prospects to go to the White Sox.
and not 1 top prospect in the bunch. They are asking for spencer jones for just one of those guys. Shoot 1 spencer jones would prob be a better offer than all of the 7 prospects combined. and he is not even rated as their top prospect.
Tell us you have no idea what you’re talking about without telling us lol
@barry there is no way the Sox do that trade. They have a horrific offense and not many top positional prospects, but a bunch of arms. And they will sell them separately to maximize value. And they wouldn’t even get either of the top Braves propects?
I suspect the Sox and Braves aren’t really a good match in a trade unless it’s something like Fedde for Nacho Alvarez and a bit more.
Robert and Crochet are probably too rich unless the Sox change their stance and go for even more arms.
Don’t get me wrong, as a Braves fan, I’d love it if Chicago would do that trade- but they wouldn’t. It wouldn’t make any sense for them to package Crochet with anyone when he’d command a monstrous return on his own. Plus, if Crochet goes anywhere, it’d be Baltimore or the Dodgers because they have the deepest prospect pockets.
This is the first year Crochet has thrown more than 65 IP/season ever, and he’s at 107.1 already. I’m all for stretching him out, but how much more can you really count on him in the 2nd half AND postseason for a buyer? You’re thinking more about the next 2 seasons, and CWS will want to be paid like he’ll contribute in a postseason run, and let the buyer worry about his IP.
Dodgers aren’t that deep in prospects. Two in MLB.com’s top 100, and their top one, Rushing, is a C, one of the very few positions the Sox don’t need an upgrade. Baltimore would be nice, but I doubt they part with Mayo or Kjerstad.
That would give ATL 4 ex-Sox in their starting rotation.
Do the Braves have anyone looking out for pitcher health?
As they’re getting Cy Young-returns from Sale who has been broken since 2019…Fried has had forearm issues last year, as well. People are still going to get hurt regardless, but it didn’t help he pitched in the least important game of the year (AS Game).
Don’t pretend that the Braves are the only team whose pitchers get injured. It’s the nature of pitching. They’re always one pitch away from an injury. Every one of them.
Another gaping hole that needs to be filled.
The need to get rid of him
What able Kyle Hendricks of the Chicago Cubs
Free agent after this year so you pay out should not be to bad with salary and prospects.
Hendricks would be perfect for batting practice to Olson & Friends to get those cold bats heated up for games. I like where your heads at.
Cubs can keep Hendricks. Can’t throw more than 4 innings without getting tagged and he’s injured.
How many TJ issues did we have when Leo Mazzone was the pitching coach ??
Smoltz was the first ever TJS to get into the HOF. I recall Avery having TJS, but I could be wrong. Glavine/Maddux were unicorns in that they didn’t rely on velo that’s typically synonymous with TJ — and the one pitcher that did: Smoltz that did rely on it more, had to have it. I don’t think you can coach against, it’s really what guys excel at, and the game has gone by way of velo, where you’re more at risk. If anything, ATL looks to embrace the trend, possibly getting discounts on guys having it early, rehabbing it properly and letting them go, knowing the risk of it happening again. Strider in the 4th round (having it at Clemson) is a recent example, though there’s many.
Avery didn’t have TJS. His career was derailed by a shoulder injury. Smoltz has said that he believes his use of a splitter led to his elbow troubles.
Cortisone shot and 15 days rest.
Ian Anderson got absolutely rocked in AAA last night. Not looking good in ATL.
and now Ozzie’s on the IL