When the Yankees failed to sign Juan Soto, attention immediately turned to Plan B. How would the team reallocate the money earmarked for Soto to ensure they remained competitive in his absence? Brian Cashman promised that the team would be aggressive for the rest of the offseason, but not act like “drunken sailors.”

We have a first look at what this Plan B entails: The Yankees sign Max Fried to an eight-year, $218 million contract as their first major deal this winter. As ESPN’s Jeff Passan noted in his breaking news tweet, this is the largest contract signed by a left-handed pitcher in MLB history.

It’s a stunning investment in a player who has pitched more than 180 innings just once in his eight-year MLB career, and that came just two years after the Yankees signed fellow lefty Carlos Rodón to his own big deal. One could draw parallels between their availability and their injury history, but in Fried the Yankees finally have their true No. 2 starter, as he has shown sustained excellence in run prevention with a career 3.07 ERA in 884.1 innings.

Tomorrow, my colleague Nick will provide a more detailed analysis of the pitcher the Yankees just signed, tasked with determining the impact of that signing on the Yankees’ payroll, roster and future moves. Note that no deferrals or opt-outs need to be considered.

Fried’s deal is worth an average annual value (AAV) of $27.25 million, the second-highest among pitchers on the team behind Cole and just ahead of Rodón. Fried is 11 months older than Rodón at the time of the signing and is coming off a three-year streak in which he amassed 10.2 fWAR, while Rodón had 11.2 wins in the two seasons prior to his signing. However, Fried has had a more consistent track record throughout his MLB career, and as the Blake Snell signing and Winter Meetings quotes showed, starting pitching will be a priority this winter, so Fried got a two-year deal longer.

The Yankees reportedly offered Juan Soto a 16-year contract worth $760 million for an AAV of $47.5 million. The Soto offer is just the roughest template for what the Yankees were/are willing to spend this winter – and there’s no guarantee they intend to reallocate all of those funds to other signings after missing out on Soto – but we do can still guess with an approximate remaining budget now that Fried is involved.

Subtracting Fried’s AAV of $27.25 million from Sotos leaves the Yankees with just over $20 million per year for one or more future contracts. According to FanGraphs’ RosterResource, the Yankees’ 2025 CBT payroll is now just under $265 million, assuming they sign all of their arbitration-eligible players to contracts roughly in line with MLB Trade Rumors projections. This gives the Yankees about $36 million to spend before they hit the fourth and final CBT limit – the “Steve Cohen tax” – under which every dollar spent would be taxed at a 110 percent rate . Principal owner Hal Steinbrenner has reiterated his reluctance to cross that final threshold on many occasions, calling a $300 million year-over-year payroll “simply not sustainable.” So unless he suddenly changes his tune, the Yankees have between $20 million and $36 million to spend the rest of the winter unless they get creative.

Let’s move on to the shape of the roster: The Yankees’ 2025 starting rotation currently features Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, Carlos Rodón, Luis Gil and Clarke Schmidt, with Nestor Cortes and Marcus Stroman waiting in the wings. Additionally, the 40-man roster will increase to 37 players, allowing three more players to be added before naming incumbents has to be considered.

Rotation is far less of a priority, although the team may still be dealing with White Sox starter Garrett Crochet. Given the glut of starters at the back end of the rotation, the Yankees could consider listening to offers for Cortes and Stroman. Cortes is young enough and has shown enough potential to earn a return, while Stroman and much of his $18.5 million would be taken off the books, giving the front office even more flexibility to upgrade other parts of the roster . Additionally, with another rotation spot locked up for much of the next decade, the Yankees could consider gauging other teams’ interest in their top pitching prospects, including Chase Hampton, Will Warren and 2024 first-round pick Ben Hess.

The most pressing remaining priorities remain the right side of the infield and the outfield corners. The Yankees currently do not have a true first baseman on the active roster and have been linked to free agent Christian Walker and trade target Cody Bellinger in recent weeks. Brian Cashman called Caleb Durbin the “odds favorite” to start at second base after his strong performance in the Arizona Fall League, but it would be quite a gamble to cede the starting spot to a player who has only played 82 games in his career Has completed triple -A under his belt. They’ve even considered a possible Nolan Arenado trade that would allow Jazz Chisholm Jr. to move back to second and even play center on occasion.

As for the outfield, Cashman said the plan is to move Aaron Judge back to his more natural right field, freeing up Jasson Domínguez as the Opening Day starter in center. That would leave the Yankees with just one corner outfield spot to fill, and we recently learned they’ve inquired with the Astros about Kyle Tucker’s availability – perhaps a long shot from actually being assigned, but careful consideration is required. If Steinbrenner is determined to stay under the final CBT cap of $301 million, he will be hard-pressed to bring in two of Tucker, Walker, Bellinger and Arenado without losing a contract on the books.

The Yankees’ business this winter is far from complete if the goal is another deep playoff push. However, signing Max Fried represents a positive first step toward reinvesting the money they were willing to pay Soto.