While the Boston Red Sox pitching staff took a hit this week with the injury to Lucas Giolito, Boston appears to be close to an extension with one of their other starting pitchers.
Alex Speier of the Boston Globe reported Wednesday that the team is in “advanced talks” with 24-year-old starting pitcher Brayan Bello on an extension.
Interestingly, Bello isn’t set to be a free agent until after the 2028 season. As we’ve seen throughout the past decade in MLB, however, teams have gotten more and more behind the idea of rewarding your young players with big contracts early on rather than going through the arbitration process year after year.
The right-hander also mentioned as far back as January 2023 that he “would definitely listen” to any extension talks from the team.
Bello made his MLB debut with the Red Sox in July 2022 and went 2-8 in 11 starts through the rest of the season. He was viewed as one of the team’s top prospects prior to making his debut.
Adjustments to the higher level and injuries hampered Bello a bit, but he bounced back strong in 2023. Bello pitched a team-high 157 innings and went 12-11 with a 4.24 ERA for the fledging Red Sox.
Details of the proposed extension are unknown, but Speier did report that it’s expected to take Bello past the 2028 season.
