{"id":667489,"date":"2026-05-13T21:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667489\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T21:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T21:15:11","slug":"max-fried-departs-game-with-elbow-soreness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/667489\/","title":{"rendered":"Max Fried Departs Game With Elbow Soreness"},"content":{"rendered":"

3:20pm: Fried spoke with reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com<\/a>, after the game. He said he thinks it\u2019ll be a short-term issue and that he is hoping to make his next start.<\/p>\n

2:00pm: The Yankees removed starter Max Fried<\/a> from today\u2019s game after just three innings. It was later announced that he was lifted due to left elbow posterior soreness. He will undergo imaging tomorrow. Chris Kirschner of The Athletic<\/a> was among those to relay the news.<\/p>\n

At this point, it\u2019s too early to know if this is simply a precautionary move or if this will ultimately prove to be a serious issue. Fried does have some elbow issues on his track record, as most pitchers do these days. He had Tommy John surgery way back in 2014, when he was a minor leaguer. In 2023, a forearm strain caused him to miss about three months of the season. In 2024, he had a much briefer IL stint related to his arm, as forearm neuritis put him on the shelf for about two weeks.<\/p>\n

It was after that 2024 season that he became a free agent and signed with the Yankees on a huge eight-year, $218MM deal, the largest guarantee ever given to a left-handed pitcher. The deal has been working out great so far. In 2025, the Yankees lost Gerrit Cole<\/a> to Tommy John surgery but Fried stepped up as the ace. The southpaw made 32 starts last year with a 2.86 earned run average. He finished fourth in Cy Young voting behind Tarik Skubal<\/a>, Garrett Crochet<\/a> and Hunter Brown<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Here in 2026, the Yanks are still waiting for Cole to return. They also began the campaign without Carlos Rod\u00f3n<\/a>, who underwent surgery to remove loose bodies from his elbow last fall. The Yanks have started the year strong with a 27-16 record. Coming into today, their 3.07 rotation ERA was just a hair behind Atlanta\u2019s 3.06 for best in the majors. Fried has certainly done his part, with a 2.91 ERA coming into today\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

The rotation has done so well that the Yankees seemed to be trending towards some tough decisions. Rod\u00f3n came off the IL a few days ago. Making room for Rod\u00f3n was fairly easy since Luis Gil<\/a> had struggled enough to get optioned down to Triple-A. But Cole is also trending towards a return. Between Fried, Rod\u00f3n, Cam Schlittler<\/a>, Ryan Weathers<\/a> and Will Warren<\/a>, the Yanks had a full rotation.<\/p>\n

Rod\u00f3n hasn\u2019t really had a chance to put up any numbers yet this year but has a strong track record. The other four have all been throwing the ball well, with no one in the group having an ERA above 3.42. Weathers, Warren and Schlittler have options but it would be tough to tell one of them to head down to the farm when they\u2019re pitching so well. Going to the bullpen would arguably be more palatable but still a bit awkward. If Fried ends up needing some time on the IL, the decision would become quite easy, as Cole could just step into Fried\u2019s spot.<\/p>\n

That probably wouldn\u2019t happen right away. Cole made his most recent rehab appearance on May 10th and got to five innings pitched but the Yankees have said they expect him to make one or two more rehab appearances after that. Perhaps Fried hitting the IL would make them expedite the process but they probably don\u2019t want to rush anything with a pitcher as important as Cole.<\/p>\n

If Fried needs an IL stint and if Cole stays on his rehab for a bit longer, the Yanks will have to figure out a short-term rotation plan. They are off tomorrow but then play 13 days in a row after that. Recalling Gil won\u2019t be an option because he was just shut down in the minors with some shoulder inflammation and won\u2019t throw for three weeks. Elmer Rodr\u00edguez<\/a> and Brendan Beck<\/a> are on the 40-man and could be recalled. Paul Blackburn<\/a> and Ryan Yarbrough<\/a> have starting experience and each pitched multiple innings of relief after Fried departed today, so they could perhaps be part of some kind of patchwork solution.<\/p>\n

For the Yanks, the greater concern will be the long term. In an ideal world, they would probably have Cole, Fried, Rod\u00f3n and Schlittler lined up as an excellent rotation for a playoff series. Hopefully, Fried\u2019s issue proves minor and he can come back in time to make that a reality. Any alternative outcome would be a blow to the club\u2019s season.<\/p>\n

Photo courtesy of Mitch Stringer, Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"3:20pm: Fried spoke with reporters, including Bryan Hoch of MLB.com, after the game. He said he thinks it\u2019ll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":667490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[435],"tags":[49,48,13648,462,82],"class_list":["post-667489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mlb","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-max-fried","tag-mlb","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=667489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/667489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/667490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=667489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=667489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=667489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}