The Yankees made their first move since losing the Juan Soto sweepstakes, signing left-handed pitcher Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract. New York had expressed interest in the former Braves starter in recent weeks and officially signed him to the largest deal for a left-handed hitter in MLB history on Tuesday. The Soto turnaround was inevitable, and now it’s here.

The term jumps out immediately here – eight years is a very long deal for a starting pitcher, especially one on the other side of 30. MLB trade rumors predicted six years for Fried, à la the Carlos Rodón deal, which the Yankees only signed in two offseasons. Of course, it’s one of those contracts where the back half of the deal is largely irrelevant – the Yankees knew they had to make a big move, and the soon-to-be 31-year-old and his agent had all the leverage. It’s been a somewhat surprising free agent boom market – $34 million for Frankie Montas, $64 million for Luis Severino, $182 million for Blake Snell, etc. – and the rising tide has certainly lifted Fried’s ship. But make no mistake; The Yankees acquired an excellent starter (and also blocked him from a division rival).

While New York’s rotation can’t exactly be called a “weakness,” it wasn’t a particular strength after the first few months of the season. Rodón, whose first year in New York was a disaster, stabilized in his second year but was not spectacular. Marcus Stroman, last season’s notable free agent signing, failed down the stretch and was irrelevant in October. Luis Gil had an excellent first half and Gerrit Cole found his breakthrough in the second half, but they, as well as Clarke Schmidt and Nestor Cortes, missed significant playing time due to injury. There were quite a few fans who held their breath every time someone other than Cole took the ball in the postseason.

Fried’s main selling point is that he has proven particularly durable in this environment, where pitchers are all about throwing fast and breaking things. He is heavily involved in games and has rarely been on the injured list. That’s probably what made Cashman so comfortable signing him to such a long contract.

Availability is a skill advantage until it isn’t – look at Cole and Lucas Giolito last season for proof of that. Fried is not Superman; He has his own elbow issues and any pitcher can go down at any time. But if current career trends continue, the Yankees should be able to rely on Fried for about 160 to 180 innings per year. And those innings were representative of an elite starter — over the last four seasons, Fried had a 2.87 ERA and a 3.11 FIP in just over 600 frames.

Fried’s contract allows for comparisons to Rodón, but his profile is more similar to a better Stroman. He is a soft-contact specialist who keeps opposing batters on the ground. At his best, he sends batters back to the dugout with ruthless efficiency, avoiding increased pitch counts and mitigating the heinous penalty imposed on the third pass through the order. Fried’s skillset is superior to Stroman’s, and while he doesn’t light up the radar gun, his curveball and slider are elite breaking pitches that should keep batters off balance for years to come. It’s always easier to envision long-term success for a starter well into his 30s when he’s less reliant on more regression-prone fastballs.

Fried also has plenty of playoff experience, capping the 2021 World Series for Atlanta with a spectacular six-inning shutout performance. He showed his strength in that game when he was kicked on his leg in the first inning and still defeated the Astros. His overall playoff performance has been spotty, but there will always be some noise in small samples.

While the obvious term and dollar figures signal the high risk that is always associated with signing a free-agent pitcher, Fried actually represents the safer choice than Snell, whom the Dodgers signed to a deferred five-year contract earlier in the offseason , had a rather checkered career path and more volatile characteristics in his profile. Fried has a multi-year track record of longevity, consistency and a few playoff heroics. As for why they didn’t go for a hitter who could get a deal in that price range, well, the options probably weren’t that great on the pitching side. Alex Bregman, Pete Alonso and Anthony Santander all have their own red flags, so the Yankees will likely adjust their lineup with other hitters available.

It’s impossible to separate this move by Brian Cashman and the Yankees from the loss of Juan Soto; There were no surprise signings that would bolster the rotation if they had managed to bring Soto back. (They even told then-free agent Snell that they wouldn’t be signing both Soto and someone like him.) Undoubtedly, their work to build a more competitive roster following his departure won’t end there. For now, the Yankees have made their first splash of the offseason in the form of a fairly effective pitcher to pair with Cole.