Shanks: Max Fried can be a free agent after 2024. The Atlanta Braves need to avoid that

Something tells me the San Diego Padres fans watching the game with the Atlanta Braves Monday night did so with a pit in their stomach.

It was probably similar to what Detroit Tigers fans had to feel watching John Smoltz lead off SportsCenter with impressive highlights every five days for years and years.

Max Fried was once a Padre, drafted seventh overall in the 2012 draft. He was just up the road,literally, in Los Angeles. A star at Harvard-Westlake High School with a couple of guys in hisrotation named Lucas Giolito and Jack Flaherty.

But like Smoltz, drafted by the MLB team near his home in Lansing, Michigan, Fried’s tenurewith the Padres didn’t last. He was traded two-and-a-half years after being drafted to the Bravesin a deal that sent Justin Upton to San Diego.

Fast forward to now, eight-plus years later. Like Smoltz, Fried is now an ace pitcher for theBraves. Okay, there were a couple of other aces in the Atlanta rotation that Smoltz had to sharethe spotlight with. But Fried leads this generation’s Braves team trying to copy the formula thatSmoltz and his gang did 30 years ago.

Fried is not just a number-one starter. He’s an ace. There is a difference. Julio Teheran, with alldue respect considering Teheran did have great success, was a number one. But Fried is an ace,putting up legendary performances and stellar numbers even before he’s reached the age of 30.Game six in Houston. 2021 World Series. The Braves were trying to finish the series. Fried tookthe mound, and the second batter, Michael Brantley, accidentally stepped on Fried’s right anklerunning to first base. Some may have had to exit the game, but not Fried.

He stepped back up on the mound and looked like a man possessed. His velocity was in theupper-90s. His breaking stuff had a bite that was quite different from his Game Two outing whenhe allowed six runs on that same mound.

Fried pitched six shutout innings in the game the Braves clinched the World Series. He lookedmore like Sandy Koufax or Steve Carlton doing it, like a man that no cleat being pressed downhard on his ankle would keep him from helping his team clinch a championship.

So, Monday night, after missing two-plus weeks with a strained hamstring, Fried climbed backon the mound in San Diego. Who knew if he would be limited, or if we would all cringe if hehad to bounce off the mound for a grounder. Well, all he did was pitch five shutout innings. Hedidn’t walk a batter, and he struck out four.

Of course, he did. He’s Max Fried.

The numbers Fried has put up in his Atlanta career are unbelievable in today’s game. He’s 55-25with a 3.06 ERA in 127 games, 110 starts. The days of seeing starting pitchers hover around anERA of 3.00 or below seem long gone, but not with Fried. That’s just how good he is.

I’ve buried the lead here. Why are we making his case, like we’re Perry Mason in a court case?Fried can be a free agent after the 2024 season. So, it’s April 2023. Why worry about it now, right? Well, it’s bothersome because the Braves have just lost two stalwarts of the organization, Freddie Freeman and Dansby Swanson.

They cannot afford to lose Fried.

Freeman was replaced by Matt Olson, and the Braves won 101 games last season. The team isoff to a great start this season, not really seeing much of a loss with Swanson now in Chicago.Sure, those players were great, and no one wanted to see them go. But the Braves moved on.

That can’t happen as easily with Fried.

Again, Fried is an ace. He’s the first one the Braves have had since the “Big 3” of Smoltz, TomGlavine and Greg Maddux, three Hall of Famers, left. Tim Hudson was great. He’s a Braves Hallof Famer. But Fried is on track to have an even better Braves career than Hudson if he remains in Atlanta.

Now, it’s easy for all of us to say, “Just hand Max a check and let him sign it. Fill the thing outand just stay.” But the Braves must know how valuable it is to find – and subsequently keep anace pitcher. They do not come around that often. Maybe an Owen Murphy or J.R. Ritchie, twoyoung pitchers currently in Low-A Augusta, are going to be that good. But isn’t that a roll of the dice?

Fried is a tremendous young man. He’s someone who can define this organization, and itssuccess, for the next decade. There would be no one better to have, along with Olson, Austin Riley, and Michael Harris, to be the face of this franchise than Fried.

Fried is the kind of pitcher you can build your rotation around, year after year. He is a leader, andthe older he gets the more respect he will get from younger pitchers. In spring training, when Iinterviewed Owen Murphy, for example, the young pitcher spoke of emulating Fried, not Smoltzor Glavine. Fried is now the one every young pitcher will want to be like if they wear an Atlantauniform. Years ago, young pitchers wanted to be like Smoltz, but now it’s Fried.

Smoltz got to Atlanta and found a home, not leaving until the end of his career when he wastrying to hang on. Fried needs to stay, as well. He will be in the same conversation as the greatswho have wore the Atlanta uniform. His number 54 will hang from the rafters one day.

Fried may have to compromise, knowing he likely could get more money on the market, and theBraves need to, as well. They got sweetheart deals with the others who have signed long-term, but Fried’s contract will approach $30 million per year, $8 million or more than the other deals.

And, Fried is worth it. He’s an ace, and they just don’t come along very often. If he were toleave, it would be so much worse than when Freeman or Swanson left. Replacing him would notbe as easy as trading for Olson was, or even lettering Orlando Arcia take over shortstop. There should be no bigger priority for Atlanta’s front office than to make sure Fried never leaves.

Listen to The Bill Shanks Show weekdays at 3:00 pm ET on TheSuperStations.com. Youcan email Bill at TheBillShanksShow@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: The Atlanta Braves need to lock up Max Fried longterm