Red Sox and Brayan Bello agree to a contract extension (report)
The Red Sox and right-handed pitcher Brayan Bello have agreed to a six-year, $55 million contract extension, per ESPN’s Kiley McDaniel. The deal also includes a seventh-year club option for $21 million.
According to MassLive’s Chris Cotillo that Bello’s deal begins for this season. The deal also includes a $1 million signing bonus and escalators that could increase the overall value of the deal.
Bello’s extension is the second Red Sox have given to a pitcher with less than two years of service time since Garrett Whitlock signed a four-year, $18.75 million extension before the 2022 season.
The talks of Bello and the Red Sox talking about an extension first surfaced at the start of camp. Bello told Cotillo both sides were talking and was hopeful a deal would get completed.
Bello’s new deal covers all of his arbitration-eligible years.
The timing of the Bello extension aligned as the Red Sox are prepared to play the Rays in the Dominican Republic. Boston plays the Rays on Saturday and Sunday for a pair of Spring Training contests at Estadio Quisqueya in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.
Since joining the big league club, Bello owns a 14-19 record with a 4.37 ERA over 214 1/3 innings. Last season he led the team in innings pitched with 157. He made his season debut for the Red Sox against the Angels on Patriots Day and then put together an impressive 13-start stretch through the All-Star break. The young righty posted a 2.56 ERA over 77 1/3 innings.
Bello struggled in the second half of the season, pitching to a 5.49 ERA over his last 14 outings. He struggled during day games specifically and allowed a whooping 13 runs over nine frames in his final two starts.
Red Sox CEO Sam Kennedy spoke with reporters during spring training and spoke about the importance of signing the club’s young home grown talent.
“We need to do a better job of making it personal,” Kennedy said on Feb. 19. “And (new chief baseball officer Craig Breslow) is probably the absolute perfect person to do that, expressing what it means to be a career Boston Red Sox player. The only thing an organization is show the commitment to winning and the commitment to wanting players to be here for their career. I think building those personal relationships and the connections with these guys — because they have choices and they have options — is something that Brez is focused on.
“Starting earlier, is probably a lesson. We’ve not had a ton of success in extending our own guys. We have in the past and it’s been a great recipe for success. But I think starting those conversations earlier is a great idea.”
Bello has been training with pitching legend Pedro Martinez and is expected to lead the rotation with Nick Pivetta this season.
