Purportedly, the New York Yankees agreed to terms on an eight-year, $218 million deal with Max Fried last Tuesday at the MLB Winter Meetings. No one has acknowledged a snag in the physical. Things seem to be progressing as anticipated. And yet … the Yankees leapt at the chance to announce Devin Williams’ presence, while slow-playing the Fried move on all their social channels.

Why the delay? There’s plenty of 40-man space to go around. John Smoltz has already had his say, calling Fried’s move to New York “the best thing the Yankees could have done.” And they did … they did do it, right?

Ideally, the Yankees are doing us all a favor here and forcibly doing away with Zoom welcomes. Enough of this. Just because we can do them doesn’t mean we should do them. Fly Fried and his family to New York first-class. Feed them grapes. Make them feel welcome. Let him touch a jersey and put it on rather than glitching out as a gust of wind hits the house.

Still, a tweet from the official Yankees account could coincide with a Fried press conference … but it doesn’t have to. The pitcher himself has said goodbye to Atlanta already, taking a break from his social media hiatus to post a highlight video of his Braves tenure with a heartfelt caption. This was posted on Saturday. And, notably, the caption doesn’t say hello to anyone.

Yankees haven’t announced Max Fried signing despite Fried’s Instagram goodbye to Atlanta Braves

Obviously — obviously — he’s gone. And we know he’s headed here! So … again, just a simple tweet. Simple tweet would really help.

Bizarrely, this is standard behavior for the Yankees, who waited even longer to announce the Gerrit Cole and Aaron Judge moves themselves.

Two reasons why I’m not worried about Max Fried:

1. We would’ve heard about a failed physical by now.

2. The Yankees take FOREVER to announce signings. pic.twitter.com/qJyBQ58oyw

— Papa G (@papa_gardner11) December 16, 2024

The easiest answer is usually the best one, though. In this case, given Fried’s farewell to the ATL and the Yankees’ ongoing negotiations elsewhere, they’re probably hoping to announce several big moves in tandem. Christian Walker. Alex Bregman. Cody Bellinger. There won’t be a press conference for one of them until there can be a presser for all of them. Devin Williams will have to join, too.

But … again, we’re not asking for a presser. We’re asking for a tweet. The Yankees have announced plenty of different winter sales and charity drives, but they’ve yet to acknowledge the left-hander we all know they’ve added. Annoying in an age of paranoia, to say the least.