Are the Los Angeles Dodgers really going to bully the rest of Major League Baseball again?
It wasn't enough that the Dodgers spent well over a billion dollars last weekend. And it's apparently not enough that they just won their second World Series in five years. All signs point towards the Dodgers aggressively spending in free agency once again, in pursuit of a new baseball dynasty.
Plus, the Dodgers have a real weakness to worry about fixing. Their starting rotation was the most injury-decimated of any team in the league this season, and although a bundle of All-Stars will be returning once healthy (Shohei Ohtani, Tyler Glasnow, and Tony Gonsolin), it would be nice to add some insurance.
If the Dodgers are going to enter the blockbuster free-agent pitching sweepstakes, there's one name that makes a ton of sense, in part because he's an LA native: the Atlanta Braves' Max Fried.
Recently, Ryan Finkelstein of Just Baseball predicted that the Dodgers would ink Fried to a massive seven-year, $190 million contract to become their next superstar starter.
"If not for having the qualifying offer attached to him, Max Fried might be considered the second-best starting pitcher in this free agent class. Between Fried and Blake Snell, teams are picking between two electric southpaws, who can easily lead your rotation," Finkelstein said.
"Whoever lands Fried is getting a pitcher who has a 3.07 career ERA (and) has eclipsed 165 innings pitched four times in the last five full seasons since 2019. If the Braves were going to keep Fried, it feels like they would have signed him to an extension by now."
Fried, 30, attended Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, where he was teammates with Dodgers 2024 hurler Jack Flaherty. In a fitting swap, the Dodgers could let Flaherty walk in free agency and sign the more dependable Fried to shore up the top of their rotation.
Though $190 million is nothing to sneeze at, the Dodgers have all sorts of financial flexibility thanks to Ohtani's heavily deferred contract. That allows them the bandwidth to bring Fried into the fold and once again enter the season as heavy favorites to take home the crown.
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