Red Sox likely to approach Brayan Bello with an extension this winter?
The Red Sox season will come to end at the conclusion on Sunday. The disappointing campaign saw the club struggle all season, deal with injuries, make no significant improvements at the trade deadline and Chaim Bloom was relived of his duties.
Boston will look to turn the page on a disappointing season this winter. They’ll hire a new head of baseball operations, whatever his or her title will be and they could look to extend young ace Brayan Bello.
The 24-year-old finished his second season in the majors making 28 starts, with a 12-11 record, 132 strikeouts, 4.24 ERA over 157 innings of work.
Bello looked at his 2023 season as something he can build off of as he prepares for 2024 this winter in the Dominican Republic. He’s expected to mix in regular workouts (roughly every week or two) at the Sox’ Dominican Academy, according to The Boston Globe’s Alex Speier.
“I don’t want to stop working,” Bello said through a translator to Speier in Baltimore. “We’re going to try to improve my body and also try to improve on the things that didn’t go well this year to try to be in a better shape and a better state overall when I report to spring training.”
The future Red Sox ace is looking to build strength in order to pitch a full MLB season. He would also like to improve upon his slider by allowing it to work both sides of the plate.
“I’m still young,” Bello said. “I still think that I can improve a lot and that’s something I’m looking forward to in this offseason.”
Bello is also open to discussing a long-term deal with the Red Sox once a new baseball leader has been put into place.
The door’s always open to talks. [The Sox] know that,” Bello said. “If they want to do something, my agent can obviously talk to them and bring me any offer. I’m open to it, obviously, but I’m not too [caught up] in that. I just let my agents handle the situation.”
With little rumblings from the Red Sox beat and national reporters of potential trade targets this winter and the now the change of a Bello extension could lead to an internal promotion. The Red Sox have reportedly cast a wide net as they search for Bloom’s replacement, but no public traction on the search has been announced.
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