2024 has been a brutal year to be a Los Angeles Dodgers starting pitcher.
The Dodgers rotation has been ravaged by injuries on a scale few teams have ever experienced. 11 pitchers have started at least four games for L.A. this season, and all 11 have missed significant time due to injury (even the one they traded away, James Paxton).
With Shohei Ohtani, Tony Gonsolin, and Dustin May all hoping to return from injury in 2025, the Dodgers already expect their rotation to have a completely new look in 2025. But they're also the Dodgers, so it seems a foregone conclusion they will look to add more starters in free agency.
If they do go after starting pitchers, there's a certain hometown hero that could fit perfectly into the Dodgers' plans for years to come.
Jon Heyman of the New York Post recently ranked the top free agents of the upcoming class. He listed Southern California native Max Fried of the Atlanta Braves as the fifth-best free agent, and the Dodgers were the only team he mentioned as a possible fit.
"(Fried's) 2.89 ERA is the lowest among qualified starters since 2021, and he’s ninth all-time in ERA-plus with a 139 mark (125 starts minimum)," Heyman said. "His Harvard-Westlake teammate Jack Flaherty is thriving in L.A., so why not him?"
Fried, 30, made his second All-Star team in 2024, although his 3.49 ERA is the highest of his career since 2019. He's thrown 159 2/3 innings as of Friday, a welcome sign after injuries cut his 2023 short, and opposing batters are hitting just .232 against him this season.
Signing Fried won't come cheap. Tim Britton of The Athletic predicted earlier this year that his contract value would be roughly seven years and $195 million.
For the Dodgers, though, that price tag would be money well spent as long as Fried could stay healthy. And the allure of adding another L.A. kid to restore their rotation to prominence cannot be underestimated.
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