With the New York Yankees end to their 2026 postseason run now more than a month in the past, the Bronx Bombers are looking toward next year. On Tuesday, they received some concerning news on one of their most important starting pitchers.
Left-hander Max Fried underwent surgery to remove a bone spur from his left elbow, New York Yankees general manager Brian Cashman revealed Tuesday.
With spring training about three months away, the procedure raises the question of whether the left-hander’s long-running elbow trouble is finally behind him or just getting started again.
Cashman made the announcement at the general managers’ meetings in Las Vegas. The operation targeted the bone spur alone. It was not a second Tommy John surgery, the ligament reconstruction Fried underwent in 2014, and the ligament was not part of the procedure.
Recovery will take about six weeks, Cashman said. Fried starts a throwing program in the second week of December and is on track for a traditional spring training, Cashman said, according to SNY. Camp typically opens in mid-February, about two months after that first throw.
The Yankees have watched a recovery like this up close. Carlos Rodón had elbow surgery last October and did not make his 2026 debut until early May, with a hamstring issue also slowing him.
Max Fried’s Injury-Shortened Season With the New York Yankees
Fried made just 20 regular-season starts, covering 112 2/3 innings. When he pitched, the results held up, with a 5-5 record, 2.80 ERA, 0.99 WHIP and 104 strikeouts against 33 walks.
Two stints on the injured list cost him the rest. The first began May 13 in Baltimore, when Fried left after three innings with posterior elbow soreness. An MRI and CT scan revealed a bone bruise, according to ESPN, and Dr. Neal ElAttrache, a leading Tommy John surgeon, reviewed the imaging.
The bruise, Fried said, came from hyperextending the elbow and “banging the two bones back there, and it just irritated a little bit.”
The “ligament looks good,” Fried said, as quoted by the Associated Press. He returned in July after missing a little more than two months.
The bruise came back in August. Fried landed on the injured list again, retroactive to Aug. 14, and returned Aug. 29 after missing about 13 games.
His postseason started well. On Sept. 30, Fried gave up one run on three hits over six innings in a 9-2 wild-card win over the Boston Red Sox, his first postseason victory since he clinched the 2021 World Series for Atlanta.
Then came Game 3 of the American League Division Series on Oct. 7. Fried allowed four earned runs on seven hits over 5 2/3 innings in a 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, who completed a sweep. Victor Mesa Jr.’s go-ahead two-run homer in the sixth was one of two home runs Fried surrendered.
“It’s not the way that we wanted it to end,” Fried said, according to the Associated Press.
Across both playoff starts, Fried went 1-1 with a 3.86 ERA and struck out 13 in 11 2/3 innings. His elbow was re-imaged after the season. “We think he’s in a good spot,” manager Aaron Boone said, according to MLB.com.
Max Fried’s Career and Contract With the New York Yankees
Fried is a 6-foot-4, 190-pound left-hander born Jan. 18, 1994, in Santa Monica, California. He attended Harvard-Westlake High School in Los Angeles, and the San Diego Padres drafted him seventh overall in 2012.
He needed Tommy John surgery in August 2014, missed all of 2015 and was traded that December to the Atlanta Braves in the Justin Upton deal. He debuted in 2017 and won the 2021 World Series, earning the Game 6 victory.
The Yankees signed him in December 2024 to an eight-year, $218 million contract. In 2025, his first season in New York, he went 19-5 with a 2.86 ERA over 195 1/3 innings and made a third All-Star team.
The deal runs through 2032 and averages $27.25 million per season. Fried turns 33 on Jan. 18, and the elbow’s first test since the operation comes when he picks up a baseball in December.
Yankees $218 Million Lefty Starter Max Fried Suddenly Undergoes Elbow Surgery