The New York Yankees are getting a key arm back earlier than expected. Max Fried will skip his final minor league rehab assignment and instead start Wednesday night at home against the Pittsburgh Pirates. Manager Aaron Boone didn’t sugarcoat the reasoning.
“He’s ready to go. It’s just about building him up at this point,” Boone told reporters Tuesday, via SNY Yankees. “Max was way on board with it. I think it makes a ton of sense, and we can continue to build him this way. It kind of works out nice.”
Fried has been sidelined for the last couple of months with an elbow injury. The left-hander was originally scheduled for one more tune-up in the minors, but the Yankees decided that throwing major league innings — even if he’s not at full workload — was the smarter path. Boone added that the team will still need to manage his pitch count across his next few starts.
The bigger picture in the Bronx
The Yankees’ rotation has held up reasonably well without Fried. But getting him back allows the staff to breathe a little. It also shifts attention to other areas of the roster that are hurting more.
Aaron Judge is out of the lineup with an undisclosed issue, and there’s still no timetable for Giancarlo Stanton’s return. Stanton has missed about three months now with a lingering calf problem that just won’t seem to clear up. The team has been quiet about when they expect him back.
Fried’s return also raises a natural question with the August 3 trade deadline looming. Does this change what Brian Cashman does? On one hand, having a healthy ace-caliber arm reduces the urgency to swing a blockbuster deal for a starter. On the other, the Yankees still have holes in their lineup with Judge and Stanton both banged up. The front office hasn’t tipped its hand yet.
For now, though, the focus is on Wednesday night. First pitch is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. ET at Yankee Stadium. Fried will face a Pirates team that’s been scrappy but inconsistent. The Yankees will take it one start at a time with their lefty, but the message from the dugout is clear: he’s ready.
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