Another Boston Red Sox free-agent target came off the board late Tuesday afternoon, with the rival New York Yankees reportedly agreeing to an eight-year, $218 million deal with left-handed pitcher Max Fried.
Fried was one of the top starters left on the market, and someone the Red Sox had been linked to for weeks. In the end, though, the Yankees made a “significantly” better offer than Boston, a source told WEEI’s Rob Bradford.
Andy Hart and Christian Arcand reacted to the news right after it broke on WEEI Afternoons.
“Not happy,” Hart said. “Not that this is the be all, end all. [Corbin] Burnes is still out there. [Garrett] Crochet is still out there. But the musical chairs, there's chairs being pulled away, and you don't have a seat. And he went to the Yankees. You said it yesterday: The Yankees were going to be reactionary to the Soto loss.
“Who are you, Boston Red Sox?” Hart continued. “Who do you think you are? But who are you? Because I think you think you're something, Craig Breslow, that you're not. You did not react today. Nothing happened today. Oh, sorry, something happened: There were reports that you were in the mix. So, you had interest. Awesome.”
“You were interested in Max Fried,” Arcand said. “You're interested in Teoscar Hernandez. There was a report about interest in Nolan Arenado. So, we're getting lots of interest. Lots of interest. The only thing that we've closed on so far, though, has been Aroldis Chapman.”
As Hart alluded to, there are still a couple frontline starters the Red Sox could go get, namely Corbin Burnes (via free agency) and Garrett Crochet (via trade). Boston has been linked to both. Arcand says they need to go sign Burnes now after missing out on Fried (and Blake Snell last week).
“Get Corbin Burnes now,” Arcand said. “Now you have to get Corbin Burnes.”
“Or Crochet,” Hart chimed in.
“Get them both, fine, but spend your money,” Arcand said. “Go out there, spend your money, and outbid everybody on Corbin Burnes. Just do it. I don't want to hear any more about how you’re interested. Just go out and friggin’ do it.”