It was always going to hurt the Atlanta Braves to lose Max Fried, but it's made worse by how brilliant the left-hander has been for the New York Yankees.
Fried, the two-time All-Star, has started 6-0 in the Bronx, with an MLB-best 1.24 ERA through 10 starts. If the season ended today, he'd be the American League's Cy Young Award winner, and the frustrating part for Braves fans is that it never felt like Atlanta had a chance to bring him back.
Spending big money on free agent pitchers simply hasn't been the Braves' way of doing things under president of baseball operations Alex Anthopoulos.