zitothebrave
Connoisseur of Minors
3.5 years younger is pretty significant. And while Cole has had a better career, what's more important is likely future performance, which is where age is important.
Also, over the last 4 years, Fried's 16.3 bWAR is only slightly behind Coles 17.7 (and Cole has 83 more IPs). The quality of Frieds innings have actually been slightly better over this time frame.
Any particular reason you stopped at 4 years not 5 years? How about 6 years ago?
Fried throws less innings than Cole even with Cole having some injury sisues. That's not a selling point for fried. Max "can't pitch into the 7th inning" Fried isn't a selling point. If that was a massive selling point, Blake Snell despite getting a Cy Young couldn't sign a massive contract, and Max Fried is no Blake Snell