The Red Sox are optioning right-hander Brayan Bello to Triple-A Worcester, reports Dan Roche of WBZ. Boston will add recently acquired lefty reliever Joe La Sorsa to the active roster for tomorrow’s series opener in The Bronx.
Bello was knocked around again this afternoon, giving up eight runs over five innings to take the loss against the Orioles. He’s now sitting on a 6.34 earned run average over 61 frames on the season. He’s striking hitters out at a career-low 15.6% rate. Bello has a career-worst average exit velocity allowed while giving up a lofty 1.48 home runs per nine innings.
The primary issue is that Bello has had no answers for left-handed batters. They carried a .323/.384/.554 line with nearly as many walks as strikeouts in 147 plate appearances into today’s start. He hasn’t been good against right-handed hitters either, but the numbers against lefties are completely untenable. That was also an issue for Bello early in his career.
Boston has tried to work around that by using a left-handed opener in front of Bello on four occasions. He has pitched very well in those outings, but the opener (Jovani Morán or Tyler Samaniego) has allowed at least one run in each. The Sox have gone 1-3 in those games despite Bello having a combined 0.71 ERA across 25 1/3 innings.
The 27-year-old righty was asked about the stark difference between his performance as a bulk arm versus starts. He was clearly unhappy with the question.
“First of all, just stop talking about bullpen and starting games,” he said in Spanish via the team’s interpreter (link via Jen McCaffrey of The Athletic). “I’ve always been a starter, and when I’ve been successful as a starter, no one asks your question (about) whether I have to be in the bullpen or starting games. So, just starting from there, just stop that talk, because I’m just having a bad season. That’s it. It’s not whether I’m a starter or I’m a reliever. It’s just, having a bad season. I know that I can turn it around.”
Marcos Grunfeld of El Emergente, a native Spanish speaker on the Boston beat, directly translated Bello’s comments a little more firmly:
“First of all, just stop talking about this bullpen-starter crap because when I’m pitching well as a starter, nobody talks about it. Now that I’m having a bad season as a starter, everybody wants to talk crap about it. The first thing is that we should stop talking about it and focus on the good things. Yes, I’m having a bad season as a starter, but I believe things are going to get better.”
In any case, the Sox probably would’ve proceeded with the demotion based on Bello’s performance alone. He’s in the third season of a $55MM extension signed in Spring Training 2024. Bello posted a 4.49 ERA that year and had a career season in 2025. He turned in a 3.35 mark across 166 2/3 innings, albeit with a drop in strikeouts that has only heightened this year. Bello is playing on a $6MM salary and guaranteed $44.5MM from 2027-29 (including a buyout on a 2030 club option).
Pitchers must spend at least 15 days on an optional assignment unless they’re recalled to replace an injured player. Boston can carry an extra reliever until his next scheduled start on Tuesday. Rookie southpaw Jake Bennett, who made his first two career starts earlier in the season, seems the likeliest candidate to come up. He owns a 1.60 ERA with plus strikeout and walk marks in Triple-A.
The Red Sox still need to create a 40-man roster spot to select La Sorsa’s contract. Garrett Crochet could move to the 60-day injured list, assuming he won’t be back from his low-grade lat strain within the next three weeks. A transfer would backdate to his initial April 26 placement.
About time.
Eyes – Just think about all the money being pissed away right now in recent longterm extensions.
Bello
Anthony
Campbell
Crochet
And Rafaela could be next
What a horrible track record of trying to emulate the Braves.
Finally
Hopefully, he can reset his mind at Worcester. It seems all mental with him
roland – Throughout his career his struggles have always been mental.
Last year he overcame them, it’s unfortunate he relapsed.
great 2025 season
what happened?
that’s the first step- a change of organizational scenery should be next.
Bello. Bello. Daylight comes and he wants to go home
Breslow complied
soooo whos the other starter. we cant have a bullpen game
Jake Bennett comes to mind
They didn’t really have any choice after today.
Meow – Well, coulda continued going with an opener but one who can actually pitch a good inning.
The 7 innings against Atlanta was one of the most dominant performances by a Sox pitcher this season.
Gotta love replacing Bello, who has been lights out at some points this season maybe they should just I don’t know stick with the opener, with a guy who a team looking for bullpen help didn’t want on their roster (he was a pirate). Smart smart smart.
mlbtraderumors.com/2026/06/pirates-pursuing-bullpe…
This is both really surprising to me and not surprising at all.
Doesn’t a run or two seem like a small price to pay for Bello’s outstanding bulk relief? Certainly a better price than a 6-run 1st inning to start.
I don’t see how the innings get filled in a better way.
Red Sox doing red sox things. Watch him end up with the Braves and play a critical role as a bulk reliever
This story makes it quite clear on the two issues that seem to be plaguing Bello .. Left handed hitters and right handed hitters.. otherwise he should benefit from a stint in the minors… I guess as much as they would like to .. Worcester can’t just say , no thanks .
Say hi to the other high flying unproductive contract Kristian Campbell…….way to go locking up this talent. It’s also paying off for the oft-injured Roman Anthony. Thank god they didn’t give Casas a big contract. A ‘win” for doing nothing. Yay!
Lastly KC is only hitting .229 with 2 dingers at AAA, can they option him back to AA where he was successful and start over? I think they can but I’m unsure.
They offered Casas an extension. That big-brain thought it wasn’t inline with his value. Dude has to be kicking himself these days.
““First of all, just stop talking about this bullpen-starter crap because when I’m pitching well as a starter, nobody talks about it. Now that I’m having a bad season as a starter, everybody wants to talk crap about it. ”
Yes, that’s how the world works. When you’re doing your job poorly, management considers having someone else do the job.
Braying and Bellowing won’t help him pitch better…
Playing with your hair on the mound tells me your focus on your pitches are poor and immature. This guy should have been sent down weeks ago!
I haven’t watched him pitch. But it seems like he’s been pitching great when he has an opener start the game according to the article and stats.
I wish I still had the screenshot of the guy who said he was the next Pedro Martinez. What an absolute imbecile.
They didn’t say what age Pedro…