Rafael Devers unleashes on Red Sox brass, plus Pittsburgh’s stark reality

From my latest notes column:

It’s almost as if Max Fried is a different pitcher. By design.

What impressed Yankees coach Matt Blake most about the left-hander, from the first time they spoke via Zoom during free agency, was his openness to new ideas.

The number of adjustments the Yankees suggested to Fried might be perceived as excessive for a successful pitcher joining a new organization on an eight-year, $218 million contract. But Fried, according to Blake, essentially said, “Keep going. What do you got? Keep giving it to me.”

The Yankees gave Fried the information. Fried, 31, implemented it to maximum effect. And his 1.05 ERA, best in the majors, represents Fried’s best eight-start stretch in a single season.

Fried throws seven pitches in all, and Blake said he has improved many of them on the margins.

For insight into how he has changed, I asked The Athletic’s Eno Sarris what he sees in the data. And man, Eno had plenty to offer:

• Fried’s sinker has four inches more drop, and his usage of the pitch is at a career-high 18.8 percent.
• His curveball and changeup also have more drop even though he is throwing the curveball a mile per hour faster (75.6 mph).
• Fried is throwing his sweeper more to righties than he did in his previous two seasons of usage. Generally pitchers use sweepers as a weapon against same-side hitters, but it also can be a back-foot option against them.
• And the big one: According to Stuff+, Fried’s mix is the best it has ever been, and his curveball and sinker are the best they’ve ever been.

“Obviously, Atlanta has got a really strong pitching program. But they go about it in a little more traditional way,” Blake said, referring to Fried’s former club.

“He just was interested in exploring some of the data and tech that is available now. That’s what we’ve leaned in towards. Just really understanding how the pitches are moving, why they’re moving, what his body is doing to make those pitchers move.

“Combined with what he learned in Atlanta — the game-skill component, understanding hitters, reading swings, understanding how to turn lineups over multiple times — he’s going as deep into the game as anybody right now. Just knowing how he’s going to navigate seven pitches three times through the lineup, sometimes four.”

More notes here.

The Pittsburgh Pirates are 12-26. I’m not sure (former) manager Derek Shelton is the reason why, but he’s the one who took the fall — the team dismissed Shelton and promoted Don Kelly yesterday.

A few notes on what Pittsburgh did to put Shelton and the team in a position to succeed (all numbers from Spotrac):

• Spent $19.95 million on free agency last offseason.
• $34.05 million the offseason before that.
• $30.38 million the offseason before that.
• $16.23 million the offseason before that.
• $4.57 million (!!) the offseason before that.
• $6.25 million the offseason before that — Shelton’s first on the job.

That’s just $111.43 million, all in one-year deals — equal to about one Anthony Santander five-year deal and a Patrick Sandoval two-year deal — since Shelton took the job before the 2020 season.

One might argue: They have some great young talent in Paul Skenes, Bryan Reynolds, Oneil Cruz and others. Isn’t this a team on its way up?

Great. That was true last year, too. What have they done to supplement that talent? Where’s the track record to suggest they’re going to start now?

One might argue: The Pirates’ situation illustrates a growing problem of income imbalance between the big-market and small-market teams.

We can talk later about how baseball has always been the best metaphor for life, but for now: Since the last time the Pirates made the postseason (2015) the Brewers have been to the playoffs six times. The Rays, five. The Twins, four. The A’s — who left Oakland after last season — and Padres have gone three times. The Marlins, twice. The Reds, Mariners and Royals, once each.

The Rockies — the Colorado Rockies — have gone to the playoffs twice since the Pirates’ last appearance.

Operating in a small market only gets you so much leeway.

The only team with a postseason drought longer than the Pirates (nine years): the Angels (10). If you look around a list and the only other inhabitants are the Angels, you should make it an urgent goal to get off that list.

It would seem they have this in common with the Angels, too: Owner Bob Nutting — who can’t easily fire himself — hasn’t put anyone in the organization in a position to succeed.

As for Kelly, the team announcement did not include the word “interim” when describing his role. GM Ben Cherington addressed it thusly:

“It’s permanent for 2025. We’re focused on 2025 and not getting past 2025. Because it became clear that it’s permanent for 2025, we chose not to use any other words to describe it. I have a lot of confidence in him doing that job for 2025.”

So it’s a (nearly) one-year deal? Color me shocked.