At some point while being courted in free agency, Max Fried heard what the Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees were offering and how their respective front offices were discussing their organizations.

It was a rare bidding war between the rivals in recent years since until this past offseason the Red Sox opted to step back from major free agents since their most recent World Series title in 2018.

While a spring training game hardly offers a real taste of the rivalry that still exists but might have hit a lull recently, it still is a rivalry encounter and the most interesting sub-plot on Tuesday was Fried pitching in the game.

The Red Sox were reportedly willing to offer Fried $190 million over seven years, though it is unclear how much would have been deferred like how they handled signing Alex Bregman. After losing out on Fried, the Red Sox pivoted to acquiring Garrett Crochet for four prospects, signing Walker Buehler and eventually adding Bregman.

“They were interested and I met with the coaching staff and front office,” Fried told reporters in Tampa. “Really nice, great people and I definitely considered them.

“I was open to meeting and hearing from any team that was interested. Whoever was interested in me, I was very much willing and open to meeting with everyone and see where it went.”

In his first taste of rivalry, albeit it in an exhibition game setting, Fried pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings of two-hit ball. It was a 68-pitch outing and his four-seam fastball was sitting in the low to mid-90s while 13 outs were on the ground, living up to his past history of being someone who pitches to contact and is joining a team who believes their infield defense is improved from last year.

“He knows what he’s doing,” Cora said “He comes from an organization [the Braves] that, that’s what they do, right? They pitch. It was good to talk to him and understand what drives him and how he operates on the mound. Actually, he knew what he was talking about because he mentioned our defense. He’s a guy that’s going to put the ball in play, so you have to play defense behind him. We actually told him, ‘We’re going to be better defensively.’ It just didn’t happen.”

The Yankees ultimately won out on landing Fried, signing him for eight years, $218 million, adding him as their third big ticket free agent since the end of the 2019 season and doing so in the aftermath of Juan Soto signing his massive contract with the crosstown New York Mets. And with recent developments, the Yankees are glad they did since Fried for the next year or so is essentially the number one starter.

After his outing, Fried said going to the Yankees was a “gut feeling.”., which allows Aaron Boone to constantly praise the attributes of someone who won 73 games for the Atlanta Braves

“Every time I watch him, and even watching him the last couple years when we’ve had to see him, looking at him as a hitter trying to face him, it’s just hard to get a bead on him,” Boone said. “He just does so many things with the ball. The way he sinks it; his four-seamer’s not real straight, it kind of has a cut to it; changeup is really good; slow you down with the curveball; good slider; and pitches everywhere in the zone.

Fried is assuming the number one role after Gerrit Cole went from not feeling right in his recovery from a rough spring training outing to undergoing Tommy John surgery that will keep him out for this season and possibly into the middle of next season. If all goes well, he will be getting constant ground ball outs and the Yankees can survive Cole’s absence while fending off the Red Sox and others for control of the AL East.

“That’s who I am; I’m a ground-ball guy,” Fried said. “If I can get predominantly ground balls and get some weak contact, then things are going right.”

It is a statement the Yankees hope to hear often from Fried and their other starters, who held the fort decently during Cole’s 75-game absence from last year’s elbow injury.