{"id":505041,"date":"2026-01-04T11:31:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T11:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/505041\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T11:31:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T11:31:19","slug":"brayan-bello-has-become-the-red-soxs-most-underrated-trade-chip-red-sox","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/505041\/","title":{"rendered":"Brayan Bello Has Become the Red Sox&#8217;s Most Underrated Trade Chip &#8211; Red Sox"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\n\tRight after Christmas, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mlbtraderumors.com\/2025\/12\/brayan-bello-receiving-trade-interest-from-rival-teams.html\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">MLB Trade Rumors<\/a> reported that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bellobr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Brayan Bello<\/a> is receiving trade interest from other teams around the league. They went on to report that the Red Sox have \u201cquietly shopped\u201d the young right-hander throughout the offseason, although the source that shared the information pushed back on that report. While it may seem odd that the team would be either shopping or entertaining trades involving Bello at first, it makes some sense when you think about the additions the team has made this offseason.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tSo far, the Red Sox have acquired RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/g\/grayso01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Sonny Gray<\/a>, RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oviedjo01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Johan Oviedo<\/a>, and RHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=watson002rya,watson000rya&amp;search=Ryan+Watson&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Ryan Watson<\/a>. While Watson will figure into the bullpen moving forward, both Gray and Oviedo should be fixtures in the starting rotation. Currently, Gray slots into the number two slot in the rotation, but Oviedo is a pitcher in the same vein as Bello. Having two groundball-dominant, low-strikeout type of pitchers throwing back-to-back in the same rotation isn\u2019t the most ideal situation for any club, but especially one that has question marks at either second or third base as of right now.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWhat makes Bello intriguing for other clubs is his contract. He has four years left of a six-year, $55 million contract with a club option for 2030. He\u2019s young, cost-controlled, and has the ceiling of a poor man&#8217;s number two starter. Those reasons are why it\u2019s a bit surprising that the Red Sox are willing to entertain trades involving him, but this the point of building up depth.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIt\u2019s fairly obvious at this point that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/breslcr01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Craig Breslow<\/a> has a preferred type of starter that he wants to sign. Breslow seems to prefer tall, heavy, lanky starters with a plus option for a fastball. Bello, standing 6\u20191\u201d and 195 lbs with a fastball that tops out at 95mph but is the fifth option in his pitch mix, is the opposite of that profile. He&#8217;s a dependable arm in the rotation, but if the right deal is on the table, he\u2019s not irreplaceable by any means.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe other factor that could be prompting the Red Sox to look to trade Bello is that there are other names coming through the system that will need playing time sooner or later. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tollepa01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Payton Tolle<\/a> showed just how high his ceiling can be during his cup of coffee with the big-league club, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/e\/earlyco01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Connelly Early<\/a> was given a much longer leash in the Wild Card round than Bello was, and recently-acquired LHP <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/search\/search.fcgi?pid=bennet007jak,bennet007wil&amp;search=Jake+Bennett&amp;utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jake Bennett<\/a> is the ideal type of pitcher Breslow wants working with pitching coach <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bailean01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Andrew Bailey<\/a>. The Red Sox have traded some of their pitching depth this offseason to acquire Gray and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/c\/contrwi01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Willson Contreras<\/a>, but they are still in a position to promote young arms to fill Bello\u2019s vacated spot if he\u2019s dealt.\n<\/p>\n<p>\n\tIf Bello is moved in a deal, it would have to be in a trade for someone who can solidify one of the option infield spots or in a deal that nets the Red Sox a true number two starter. Would a team like the Royals be interested in Bello in addition to someone like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.baseball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranja01.shtml?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=talksox.com&amp;utm_campaign=2026-01-02_br\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Jarren Duran<\/a>? Would the Nationals or Marlins? The answers to those questions remain to be seen right now, but it&#8217;s clear the Red Sox&#8217;s wheeling and dealing is far from done this offseason.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Right after Christmas, MLB Trade Rumors reported that Brayan Bello is receiving trade interest from other teams around&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":505042,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2375],"tags":[5,141,48,2542,5172,4,89,2543],"class_list":{"0":"post-505041","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boston-red-sox","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-boston","10":"tag-boston-red-sox","11":"tag-bostonredsox","12":"tag-brayan-bello","13":"tag-mlb","14":"tag-red-sox","15":"tag-redsox"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/115836609298759359","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505041","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=505041"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/505041\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/505042"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=505041"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=505041"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=505041"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}