The Braves won against pitcher Max Fried in salary arbitration, as a panel of arbitrators ruled in the club’s favor Saturday, multiple people familiar with the matter confirmed to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
In 2023, Fried will make $13.5 million – the figure the club filed – instead of the $15 million he sought in his third year of arbitration.
Last year, Fried won in arbitration and earned $6.85 million. Fried and the Braves settled at $3.5 million to avoid arbitration for 2021.
Fried is in his third of four arbitration years. Players usually have three years of arbitration, but Fried carries the “Super Two” designation, which he earned by amassing enough service time toward the beginning of his career.
When the Braves and Fried didn’t settle on a salary figure at the deadline last month, Fried’s side officially filed at $15 million after a season in which the left-hander posted a 2.48 ERA and eventually finished second in National League Cy Young Award voting behind Miami’s Sandy Alcantara.
In salary arbitration cases, a panel of arbitrators hears arguments from both sides before selecting either the player’s salary figure or the team’s salary figure. An important distinction: The panel chooses only one of those two figures – never a figure in between them.
A panel heard Fried’s case Friday. Its decision came Saturday.
Fried, who will become a free agent after the 2024 season, is the Braves’ ace. Over his career, the 29-year-old Fried has a 3.09 ERA over 632-1/3 innings. He has three Gold Glove Awards and has gone to an All-Star game. He even won a Silver Slugger when pitchers hit.
Fried will lead a rotation that includes Spencer Strider, Kyle Wright and Charlie Morton. Mike Soroka and Ian Anderson are the two most prominent names in the competition for the fifth spot in the rotation.
Because of the lockout last year, this arbitration hearing marked Fried’s second in around seven months, as the first occurred in June 2022.
Other than Fried, the Braves settled with all of their other arbitration-eligible players, meaning they won’t have any more hearings this year.
