Tampa – Max Fried and Jerit Cole are two very different pitchers on the mound, but they have talent and a drive for success.
So the two new rotation mates have so far cast it out in spring training.
“I'm trying to do as much as I can to be as I can, so that I can sit down and see how he does work and his routine and prepare him,” Freed said on Thursday. He spoke at Brenner Field. “At the end of the day, we're here to win. I'm listening to everything I can learn from him that I can add to my game.”
Freed is a whimsical left-hander pitching to get in touch, but Cole is right that has overwhelmed the batters with dominant fastballs as a strikeout artist (though his strikeout per nine players) has been down in the past two seasons).
But they are two of the top pitchers of the game, and now the Yankees are the owners of the two biggest contracts given to pitchers, and should be teammates until at least 2028.
Cole is in the middle of a nine-year, $324 million contract, with Fried signing an eight-year, $218 million contract this offseason.
As soon as Freed signed with the Yankees in December, Cole contacted a friend who was a left-handed teammate of the Braves to get a snapshot of him before the two began talking.
“Just a great addition,” Cole said. “There's a really unique talent and a lot he can do with baseball. He's an outlier in some respects, and his highly regarded teammates. He talks over texting and phone throughout the offseason, and then I'm here It was fun to get to know him throughout the five or six days I was in. It was a joy to see him do his job.”
Freed arrives in Tampa a few weeks early and begins to become familiar with his new organization and teammates, and is pleased with his early impressions.
The Yankees are likewise encouraged by what they have seen.
“What's exciting for me is seeing how attractive he is,” said manager Aaron Boone. “He's really open to so many different things since he got over it. [the player development complex] A few weeks ago. He really emphasized interacting with teammates, interacting with them and getting to know everyone. I was hoping for a massive free agent acquisition to come [would be]. He seems happy and comfortable, and certainly shows his talent. ”
