Max Fried Clears One Hurdle, but the Yankees Still Aren’t Done Being Careful

The New York Yankees have been without Max Fried since mid-May. That’s over a month now, and the team’s slide — eight losses in their last nine games — only makes his absence louder. But there’s finally some real movement on the recovery front.

Fried threw a live bullpen session Saturday that went well. Manager Aaron Boone told ESPN’s Jorge Castillo the left-hander will throw one more bullpen either Thursday or Friday before heading out on a rehab assignment. That’s the plan, anyway.

Nobody is rushing this. And with good reason. Elbow injuries for pitchers are the kind of thing that get teams extra cautious. One more bullpen session doesn’t sound like much, but it’s how the Yankees are making sure Fried’s bone bruise is truly healed before he goes out and competes against real hitters again. They aren’t taking shortcuts. The team has not confirmed an exact timeline for his rehab assignment, but if the next bullpen goes clean, that’s the next step.

What the Yankees Are Waiting On

The extra session isn’t just a formality. It’s about testing Fried at max effort, seeing how the elbow responds to game-intensity throwing. Pass that, and he’ll start a rehab assignment that could last a few starts. Boone said the Yankees want to make sure Fried is truly ready before he comes back. They’ve been careful all along, and there’s no reason to change that now.

Before the injury, Fried was having a solid season. Over his first 10 starts, he posted a 3.21 ERA with 50 strikeouts and 19 walks. That’s not quite the All-Star level he showed in his New York debut — a 2.86 ERA with 189 strikeouts over the full season — but it’s still strong. The Yankees know what they have in him. A frontline starter who can take pressure off the bullpen and give them a chance to win every fifth day.

The Bigger Picture for New York

The Yankees are 49-39. That’s still a winning record, but the recent skid has turned a comfortable season into something more tense. The offense has gone cold. The bullpen has been overworked. Fried alone won’t fix all of that. But his return would change the energy around the team. A guy who can go six or seven innings and keep runs off the board — that’s the kind of boost a slumping team needs.

If he gets through this next bullpen session without issues, he’ll head out on a rehab assignment soon after. Then it’s just a matter of building up pitch counts and getting his feel back. The Yankees hope to have him back before the All-Star break, but they’re not going to force it. They’ve been down this road before with pitcher injuries. They know the cost of rushing back too soon.

For now, Fried is on track. One more bullpen. Then the real work starts.