Baltimore Orioles Named Potential Fit for Max Fried in Free Agency

The Baltimore Orioles have entered the offseason as a team to watch after another solid campaign in 2024.

For the last two seasons, the Orioles have been one of the best teams in the regular season with over 100 wins in 2023, and over 90 wins in 2024. While they are having a lot of success in the regular season, that hasn’t quite translated yet to the postseason.

However, Baltimore is still a young team and the future can be bright for them. While the future might be bright, they have a lot of important decisions to make this offseason.

One of the most important will be regarding their ace Corbin Burnes. The free-agent right hander is the best pitcher available this winter and is going to command a lot of money.

Whether the Orioles are going to spend in order to keep is going to be one of the biggest questions of the offseason. However, he’s not the only great pitcher left even with Blake Snell off the board.

Recently, Zachary D. Rymer of Bleacher Report ranked the top free agents left available and potential fits for them. For starting pitcher Max Fried, he had the talented southpaw ranked third overall and named the Orioles as a potential fit.

When considering the fit, Rymer pointed to Fried's ERA the past five seasons (2.81), his near 4-to-1 stirkeout to walk ratio and ability to generate ground balls.

“The six-year, $162 million deal that Carlos Rodón got two winters ago should be a target for Fried, and perhaps as a floor rather than a ceiling," he wrote. "He could even chase Aaron Nola's seven-year, $172 million contract from last winter.”

Depending on the price difference between Burnes and Fried, an argument can be made that the southpaw is a more likely target for Baltimore. While he might not be a Cy Young award winner like Burnes, Fried has had a nice career with the Atlanta Braves so far.

He finished second in Cy Young voting in 2022, was a Top 5 finisher one other time and has two All-Star Game berths along with three Gold Gloves.

Even though injuries have been a bit of an issue over the last few seasons, Fried has had an ERA under 3.00 in three of the last five years. When healthy, he can be an elite pitcher and an ace on a pitching staff.

While at 31 years old, he is older than the current ace of Baltimore, he might sign for a significant amount less over the course of the contract, which could make him an appealing target.