Smith highlighted the decision to keep Karl-Anthony Towns – named to the All-NBA Third-Team earlier in the day – on the bench for most of the fourth quarter.
There has been rampant speculation that the spiraling Pirates might be better off trading the best young pitcher in MLB for a haul of prospects to boost their offense.
The flip side is that beyond Fried, the Soto-less Yankees invested in many walk-year players with a lot to perform for this year beyond just helping the team — notably Bellinger and Goldschmidt, but also Devin Williams, Grisham and Stroman, and also Luke Weaver.