The Yankees made their biggest move of the winter official, announcing Tuesday that theyve signed left-hander to an eight-year contract. The CAA client will reportedly be guaranteed a staggering $218MM on the deal, which does not include an deferrals or opt-out provisions but does include a full no-trade clause. Fried receives a $20MM signing bonus Andre Roberson Jersey thatll be paid out in two equal in January 2025 and 26. Hell make $12MM in salary for each of the first two seasons and be paid $29MM annually between 2027-32. Fried is set to be introduced at a pre s conference on Wednesday, which is scheduled for noon ET. After losing the sweepstakes, the Yankees had plenty of money to outspend the rest of the field for his services and made use of those resources. Jon Morosi of the MLB Network earlier this evening that the Yanks were willing to offer Fried seven years, but they were evidently willing to going beyond that to get the markets top unsigned southpaw on what is the largest contract for a lefty pitcher in MLB history, outbidding the clubs fellow finalists for Frieds services in Boston and Dallas. Its not hard to see what they like about the southpaw. Dating back to his first full season in 2019, Fried has a 3.07 ERA in 824 2/3 innings pitched. Only one pitcher in baseball has bested him in both categories during that time: , who hell now share the front of the Yankees rotation with. That track record of dominance and durability that made Fried such an appealing target in the Bronx given the question marks that surround the rest of the clubs deep but flawed rotation mix. has been utterly dominant at times throughout his career, but hes looked uneven in two seasons with the Yankees as hes pitched to a 4.74 ERA and 4.77 FIP in 46 starts. Veteran righty has a long history of solid mid-rotation work, but hes entering his age-34 season and did not make an appearance during the clubs run to the World Series this postseason. offers similar mid-rotation stability but struggled as recently as last year and is just one season away from free agency. Reigning AL Rookie of the Year winner and fellow youngster both turned in promising seasons in 2024 but have checkered injury histories and minimal track records in the big leagues. By contrast, Fried is the whole package. Since breaking out as a front-of-the-rotation arm with Atlanta, Frieds 2.81 ERA is the third-best figure in all of baseball among qualified starters, bested only by and . While his 23.6% strikeout rate during that time doesnt exactly jump off the page, his 6.3% walk rate is well above average and hes also generated grounders at an impre sive 54.2% clip that only , , and have bested. The southpaws grounder-heavy approach should serve as an excellent complement to Coles power-pitching reputation and form a fearsome combo at the top of the Yankees rotation for years to come. That combination was sufficiently intriguing to the Yankees that they were willing to go well over the top to land their man. The #6 ranked free agent on list, Fried blew away the six-year, $156MM pact we predicted for him as well as other projections around the baseball world. Todays pact is surely exciting news for and agent Scott Boras, to whom anyone hoping to land a top-of-the-rotation free agent this winter will now have to turn with both Fried and off the board. reports the Red Sox already began preparing an offer for Burnes this afternoon. The Blue Jays, , have also in Burnes. Burnes landed as MLBTRs #2 free agent of the winter behind only Soto and was predicted to land a seven-year, $200MM contract at the outset of the offseason but it would hardly be a surprise to see his camps asking price increase in light of Frieds deal. Turning back to the Yankees, their projected payroll for 2025 now sits at $257MM (per ). Thats still $46MM below last years total. Meanwhile, their $265MM luxury tax payroll is above the first two CBT thresholds; last season it sat above the fourth and highest threshold for penalties. In other words, the Yankees should still have plenty to spend on impact free agents to try to fill the Soto-shaped hole in the roster. However, its worth keeping in mind that signing Fried will cost the Yankees their second- and fifth-highest picks in the 2025 draft in addition to $1MM in international bonus pool money. They might be hesitant to sign a second QO-rejecting free agent and therefore forfeit their third- and sixth-highest draft picks as well. A look at reveals that while the Yankees signed three players who declined a QO during the 2022-23 offseason, two of them ( and ) were their own free agents and therefore did not cost the club anything beyond a hypothetical compensation pick. To find the last instance of the club signing multiple qualified free agents hailing from other teams in a single offseason, you would have to turn towards the 2013-14 offseason when the club landed , , and . With that being said, some have compared the clubs approach to the free agent market in a post-Soto world to their approach that offseason, when they failed to re-sign star second baseman . That could suggest at least some level of willingne s to continue pursuing qualified free agents, particularly given the fact that theyll receive a compensatory pick for the lo s of Soto to help mitigate the lo ses. , , , and are among the other qualified free agents to which the Yankees have been connected since Soto signed in Queens. One other avenue for improving the club signing Fried opens up is dealing a different starting pitcher, and with the clubs rotation now featuring seven starters its difficult to imagine the club not moving at least one if not two of their starters below Fried and Cole on the pecking order. Rodons weak results in the Bronx and hefty contract would appear to make a deal coming together involving him unlikely, but any of the clubs other four starters could reasonably be moved. Stroman and Cortes have frequently found their names in the rumor mill this winter as potential trade targets, though health question marks surrounding Cortes and Stromans lackluster 2024 campaign could hamper the potential return for either hurler. Schmidt and Gil would both surely bring back a far more interesting return but its unclear if the Yankees have much of an appetite for moving on from either youngster. While the club could dangling one or more of its starters in exchange for big league talent, its also po sible that trading from the rotation could supplement the farm system and make the Yankees more comfortable losing the draft picks a sociated with additional qualified free agents signings. ESPNs Jeff Pa san the agreement and the terms of the deal. and came through with additional details. had the specific salary breakdown. Aleksej Pokusevski Jersey