Late Tuesday night, the news broke that two-time Cy Young winner, Blake Snell was signing with the defending World Series champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, on a five-year, $182 million deal.
While we could talk about how baseball isn't fair because it doesn't enforce a salary cap or salary floor, that would just fall on deaf ears. Life's not fair. Instead, we must look into how teams are going to pivot and compete with the Dodgers.
For the Boston Red Sox, the answer is simple. Bob Nightengale of USA Today reports that Boston will pivot to another southpaw in free agency: Atlanta Braves starter Max Fried.
"The Boston Red Sox, who were in on Blake Snell, now are focusing on Max Fried to upgrade their rotation," Nightengale wrote.
There are also numerous reports indicating that Boston was interested in signing Houston Astros pitcher Yusei Kikuchi before he signed with the Los Angeles Angels.
The theme of these three pitchers is quite clear. The Red Sox are heavily targeting a left-handed pitcher, making the Fried fit even better.
While Fried doesn't have the shiny Cy Young awards that Snell has, he's arguably been the most consistent pitcher in baseball over the last five or six seasons. The lefty holds a career ERA right around 3.00 and he hasn't really had a down year in his career.
Spotrac projects Fried to sign a six-year, $136 million deal, but after Snell got $182 million over five years, it's hard to imagine Fried settling for that low. I'd expect the lefty to come off the board soon and for over $150 million.
More MLB: Dodgers World Series Star Projected To Land $100-Plus Million Contract In Free Agency
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