Yankees general manager Brian Cashman met with reporters at the general managers’ meetings in Las Vegas today and revealed that left-hander Max Fried has undergone surgery to remove a bone spur from his throwing elbow. Fried will be able to start throwing in December and is expected to be ready for a normal spring training. Greg Joyce of The New York Post and Chris Kirschner of The Athletic were among those who relayed the details.
Fried has dealt with some arm issues over the years, like all pitchers these days. In 2023, while still with Atlanta, a forearm strain sent him to the injured list for about three months. The following year, forearm neuritis put him on the shelf for a couple of weeks.
The Yankees were undeterred by those issues and signed Fried to an eight-year, $218MM deal going into 2025. He stayed healthy in the first season of that pact but a left elbow bone bruise sent him to the IL twice in 2026. He was limited to 20 starts this year but the results were still very strong, with Fried posting a 2.80 earned run average in those. He made two more starts in the postseason.
Ideally, this procedure will allow Fried to put those elbow issues behind him going into 2027. It’s perhaps worth noting that this year’s labor dispute could disrupt things for Fried a bit. It is widely expected that the league will lock out the players when the collective bargaining agreement expires at end of day on December 1. During a lockout, players are not allowed to communicate with team personnel. Fried will therefore have to begin his throwing program without any guidance from the club’s medical staff, though there will presumably be many conversations before the lines of communication go dark.
Assuming everything goes smoothly with Fried’s recovery and the lockout ends in the first few months of 2027, then Fried should be penciled into next year’s rotation alongside Cam Schlittler, Gerrit Cole and Carlos Rodón. One spot would be available for someone like Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, Clarke Schmidt, Elmer Rodríguez or Carlos Lagrange.
It has been speculated that the Yankees could look to trade from that rotation surplus in order to address other parts of the roster. Perhaps a bit of added uncertainty around Fried could make trades less likely but it doesn’t seem like the concern is too great.
Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images
