Pedro Martinez did not mince words when he sketched out how the New York Yankees should line up their pitchers for October.
In a social media post, the Hall of Fame pitcher and TBS analyst named Cam Schlittler first, Carlos Rodón second, and Gerrit Cole third for the Yankees’ playoff rotation. That was the entire list. Max Fried was not on it.
The omission lands with extra weight because Fried has been one of the more reliable arms the Yankees have used all year. He is a veteran left-hander who has taken the ball every fifth day and given the club innings it could count on.
When Martinez, a pitcher who once defined October excellence, publicly ranks three starters and stops there, the message is unmistakable: Fried is not viewed as one of the three best options for a short series.
The context makes the slight sharper. Aaron Judge is expected to miss the upcoming Wild Card round with a calf strain.
The Yankees’ offense will be thinner, which means the starting rotation has to do more than simply eat innings. It has to dominate.
Martinez’s ranking treats that reality as settled. Schlittler has been the breakout story. Rodón has the stuff and the strikeout pedigree. Cole is, well, Cole. Fried, in this telling, is the one who can wait, or move to the bullpen, or pitch only if the series stretches.
That is a harsh verdict on a pitcher who has done little to earn it in the regular season. Fried’s numbers have been solid rather than spectacular, but solidity is often what October rotations are built on.
Managers like Aaron Boone have historically valued experience and command in October as much as peak velocity. Martinez, speaking as an analyst rather than a manager, is applying a different filter: who gives you the highest chance of winning Game 1, Game 2, and Game 3 right now. In that frame, Fried is the fourth man.
The practical effect is that Fried now sits in an awkward middle ground. He is too good to ignore and, according to one of the game’s most respected pitching voices, not quite good enough to start in the first three games of a best-of-three.
Boone still has to decide whether to stretch the rotation to four starters or keep it tight and use Fried out of the bullpen. Martinez has already made his preference clear. He would rather see the three names he listed and leave Fried on the outside looking in.
For Fried, the next week becomes a referendum. Either he forces his way into the conversation with another strong outing, or he accepts that a Hall of Famer looked at the Yankees’ staff and decided three names were enough.
The article that circulated Martinez’s comment treated the ranking as tactical advice.
For Fried, it reads more like a public ranking of who belongs in the most important starts of the year and who does not. That is the part that will linger.
