Mets Deemed Possible Threat To Sign Braves All-Star

The Atlanta Braves have turned their focus to the 2025 season.

Atlanta was knocked out of the playoffs and now finds itself in an uncomfortable position. Luckily, the 2025 season should be better. The Braves have one of the best rosters in baseball and months to get healthy after an unlucky season.

While this is the case, the biggest question now facing the team is the future of All-Star pitcher Max Fried. He will be among the top pitchers available in free agency and will have plenty of suitors. He should be the Braves' top priority this winter, but Bleacher Report's Zachary Rymer also mentioned the New York Mets among "potential fits."

"He does everything he can to not only limit damage, but actively suppress it," Rymer said. "He's typically good for around one strikeout per inning, and he's walked only 2.3 batters per nine innings since 2020. He's also incredibly difficult to square up, where you're going off his hard-hit rate or simply his ground-ball rate.

"Fried's injury history is simultaneously relatively harmless and ever-so-slightly alarming. He hasn't spent much time on the IL as a big leaguer, but he did have Tommy John surgery a decade ago and he's had forearm issues in each of the last two seasons. Even still, doubt that Fried will do well in free agency is basically nonexistent. He has every right to be looking at Carlos Rodón's six-year, $162 million deal and wondering if he can do just as well, if not better. Potential Fits: New York Mets, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants."

New York would be a tough team to compete with. The Mets have more money than anyone and could give Fried a bigger deal than Atlanta could. Hopefully, the Mets spend elsewhere for someone like Juan Soto or Corbin Burnes and avoid Fried.

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