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Sox: Bello Reaps $55m Extension

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FORT MYERS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston Red Sox right-handed starter, Brayan Bello, agreed to terms on a six-year, $55 million extension, multiple media outlets reported. Per The Boston Globe, the deal includes a $21 million club option for a seventh season.

The reported contract comes on the heels of Red Sox offseason acquisition Lucas Giolito’s potential season-ending injury. ESPN reported Tuesday that initial imaging revealed a partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his pitching elbow for Giolito.

Bello, who turns 25 in May, posted a 12-11 record with a 4.24 ERA in 28 games (all starts) last season. He struck out 132 batters in 157 innings but gave up 24 home runs.

That’s still an improvement from his first season with Boston in 2022. He was 2-8 with a 4.71 ERA in 13 games (11 starts).

“He’s an exciting, young starting pitcher that was acquired and developed internally. I think he embodies exactly what we’re trying to do,” chief baseball officer Craig Breslow said recently, per The Globe.

“We still think that his best years are ahead of him. We recognize some opportunities to further optimize the repertoire and we’re super excited about having him.”

–Field Level Media

Red Sox: Giolito Injured; Torn UCL

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Boston Red Sox right-hander Lucas Giolito could miss the entire 2024 season after initial imaging revealed a partially torn UCL and flexor strain in his pitching elbow. If Giolito requires surgery as opposed to extensive rehab, he’s likely to miss up to 10 months.

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The news would be a potentially significant blow to the Red Sox, who signed the former Chicago White Sox ace to address their starting pitching depth. He signed a a two-year contract worth $38.5 million.

Giolito, 29, became a free agent after spending time with three clubs during 2023.

Giolito produced a cumulative 8-15 record with a 4.88 ERA in 33 total starts last season with the White Sox, Los Angeles Angels and Cleveland Guardians. He allowed 41 home runs, the second-highest total in the majors, but struck out 204 batters over 184 1/3 innings.

Giolito was an All-Star in 2019 and received American League Cy Young Award votes in three straight seasons (2019-21). Across eight MLB seasons with the Washington Nationals (2016), White Sox (2017-23), Angels and Guardians, Giolito is 61-62 with a 4.43 ERA and 1,077 strikeouts over 1,013 2/3 innings of 180 appearances (178 starts).

While with the White Sox, Giolito tossed a no-hitter in 2020 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Acquire C.J. Cron

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FORT MYERS – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox signed veteran first baseman C.J. Cron on Sunday to a minor league contract and invited him to spring training.

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Cron began working with the team Sunday, and Red Sox manager Alex Cora said the right-handed hitter likely will make his spring training debut on March 11 against the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Cron, 34, was a free agent after playing last season for the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels. He was limited by back issues and batted a combined .248 with 12 home runs and 37 RBIs in 71 games.

A first-round selection (17th overall) by the Angels in the 2011 MLB Draft, Cron has played 10 seasons for the Angels (2014-17, 2023), Tampa Bay Rays (2018), Minnesota Twins (2019), Detroit Tigers (2020) and Rockies (2021-23).

Cron has batted .260 with a .320 on-base percentage, .471 slugging percentage to go along with 187 homers and 604 RBIs in 1,049 games. His best season as a power hitter was in 2022, when he was selected to the All-Star Game and posted 29 homers and a career-high 102 RBIs.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Sign Liam Hendriks

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Boston Red Sox and All-Star closer Liam Hendriks have agreed to a two-year deal worth a guaranteed $10 million, multiple outlets reported Monday.

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The deal is pending a physical for the right-hander, who is coming off Tommy John surgery in August and is not expected to pitch much, if at all, in the 2024 season. If he does return, it would be well after the All-Star break, per the reports.

The deal is loaded with incentives, which could put the value at $20 million and includes a mutual option for 2026, per the reports.

Hendriks, 35, pitched just five games for the Chicago White Sox after returning last May from stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Hendriks went 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA across five innings. He also had one save before undergoing surgery to repair a torn ulnar collateral ligament.

Hendriks began the 2023 season on the IL. He completed lymphoma treatment on April 3 and announced he was cancer-free 17 days later. He was diagnosed in the fall of 2022.

Hendriks, a three-time All-Star, is 33-34 with a 3.82 ERA and 116 saves in 476 career appearances (44 starts) for five teams, including the Oakland A’s (2016-20) and White Sox (2021-23).

The Red Sox are expected to start the season with Kenley Jansen as their closer, though he has been the subject of trade rumors.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Acquire Sandlin from KC

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Kansas City Royals acquired right-handed reliever John Schreiber from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for minor league righty David Sandlin on Saturday.

Also, the Royals placed right-hander Kyle Wright on the 60-day injured list.

Schreiber, who turns 30 on March 5, posted a 2-1 record with one save and a 3.86 ERA in 46 games (two starts) last season with Boston. He struck out 53 batters in 46 2/3 innings.

Schreiber owns an 8-6 record with nine saves and a 3.58 ERA in 139 career games (two starts) with the Detroit Tigers (2019-20) and Red Sox (2021-23).

Sandlin, 22, went 4-2 with a 3.41 ERA in 15 games (all starts) split last season with the Class-A Columbia Fireflies and the High-A Quad Cities River Bandits. He had 90 strikeouts in 68 2/3 innings.

Wright, who was acquired from the Atlanta Braves for fellow right-hander Jackson Kowar on Nov. 17, is recovering from surgery to repair a torn capsule in his throwing shoulder. He is expected to miss the 2024 season.

Because of injuries in the 2023 season, Wright appeared in just nine games (seven starts), posting a 1-3 record with a 6.97 ERA in 31 innings.

Wright, 28, led the majors in 2022 in wins when he posted a 21-5 record in 30 starts in his first full season. He had a 3.19 ERA and struck out 174 batters in 180 1/3 innings.

In 60 career games (51 starts) since 2018, Wright is 24-16 with a 4.45 ERA in 281 1/3 innings.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox: Former Skipper Williams, 80

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BOSTON – Longtime baseball man Jimy Williams, who won 910 games as a major league manager and was the 1999 American League Manager of the Year, has died at the age of 80. Two of the teams that Williams skippered, the Toronto Blue Jays and Boston Red Sox, announced his passing. No cause of death or other details were reported.

“We are saddened to learn of the passing of former Blue Jays manager Jimy Williams,” the Blue Jays said in a satement. “His impact on our organization will forever be remembered.”

Williams went 910-790 in 12 seasons managing the Blue Jays (1986-89), Red Sox (1997-2001) and Houston Astros (2002-04). He took the Red Sox to the postseason in 1998 and 1999, going 5-9. He was manager of the year for Boston in 1999.

“Jimy Williams was a true staple and leader of the Red Sox,” Boston said in a news release to media.

Williams won two World Series rings as a coach, in 1995 as third base coach of the Atlanta Braves and 2008 as bench coach of the Philadelphia Phillies.

Williams played in just 14 games as a middle infielder in 1966 and ’67 with the St. Louis Cardinals. He went 3-for-13 in his career, with his first hit coming off Hall of Famer Juan Marichal.

He joined the Blue Jays as a base coach in 1980 after managing in the minor leagues for six years.

–Field Level Media

Sox Dump Sale and Cash for Prospect

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BOSTON – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The Atlanta Braves acquired All-Star left-hander Chris Sale and cash considerations from the Boston Red Sox on Saturday in exchange for infield prospect Vaughn Grissom.

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Sale waived his no-trade clause to make the move to the National League for the first time, with the Red Sox set to send $17 million to the Braves in order to offset Sale’s 2024 salary.

A seven-time All-Star, Sale is owed $27.5 million in 2024, with a $20 million club option for 2025. If the 2025 option is exercised, $5 million of that is deferred until 2040.

Sale, 34, has dealt with injury issues in recent seasons, making 20 starts last season and 31 combined starts over the past three seasons. Sale did not pitch in 2020 after undergoing Tommy John surgery. He had a stress fracture in his ribs in 2022 along with a finger fracture and a broken wrist while reportedly riding a bicycle.

Last season, Sale dealt with a stress fracture in his scapula, going 6-5 with a 4.30 ERA in his 20 starts with 125 strikeouts and 29 walks.

In 13 seasons with the Chicago White Sox (2010-16) and Red Sox, Sale is 120-80 with a 3.10 ERA, 2,189 strikeouts and 416 walks. He was an All-Star in seven consecutive seasons starting in 2012 and finished as high as second in American League Cy Young Award voting in 2017, and third in 2014. He has seven top-six finishes in Cy Young voting.

Sale’s 11.1 strikeouts per nine innings is the best in baseball history.

In five appearances (three starts) during Boston’s World Series-title run in 2018, Sale went 1-0 with a 4.11 ERA. He gave up three runs in four innings of a Game 1 World Series start against the Los Angeles Dodgers then pitched a scoreless final inning of the deciding Game 5 to give the Red Sox the title.

Grissom, 22, made his major league debut with the Braves in 2022 and has a .287 batting average with five home runs in 27 RBIs in 64 games with Atlanta over the past two seasons. Grissom, who was born in Orlando, was an 11th-round draft pick by the Braves in 2019.

–Field Level Media

Red Sox Acquire O’Neill

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BOSTON – (Staff, Wire Service and Team News Release) – The Boston Red Sox worked to reshape their outfield when they acquired outfielder Tyler O’Neill in a trade from the St. Louis Cardinals, according to the Red Sox team news release.

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O’Neill, 28, batted .231 with nine home runs and 21 RBIs in 72 games last season as he worked through a lower back strain. O’Neill has struggled to match his production from the 2021 season when he batted .286 and hit 34 home runs with 80 RBIs, while finishing eighth in National League MVP voting.

O’Neill has played all six of his major league seasons with the Cardinals, batting .248 with 78 home runs and 217 RBIs in 477 games.

Boston sent two right handed pitchers to St. Louis in the deal, in Nick Robertson and Carlos Santos.

Nick Robertson, 25, allowed eight runs in 12.0 innings over nine games with the Red Sox after he was acquired from the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 25, 2023. The right-hander also made nine appearances with the Dodgers during 2023, his Major League debut, posting a 6.10 ERA (7 ER/10.1 IP) with 13 strikeouts. Selected by the Dodgers in the seventh round of the 2019 First-Year Player Draft, the Virginia native has recorded a 3.61 ERA (74 ER/184.2 IP), .227 opponent batting average, and 231 strikeouts in 150 career minor league games (three starts).

Carlos Santos, 23, missed the entire 2023 season due to a right elbow injury after attending spring training with Boston as a non-roster invitee. This winter, the Dominican Republic native has made seven appearances (five starts) for Leones del Escogido of the Dominican Professional Baseball League, going 3-0 with a 2.96 ERA (9 ER/27.1 IP), 23 strikeouts, six walks, and only one home run allowed. Signed as an international free agent by the Philadelphia Phillies in November 2016 and acquired by the Red Sox in July 2021, the right-hander owns a 3.72 ERA (184 ER/445.0 IP) over 101 career minor league appearances (71 starts).

The move to acquire the right-handed-hitting O’Neill comes three days after Boston traded outfielder and left-handed hitter Alex Verdugo to the rival New York Yankees.

Castiglione Honored with Frick Award

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COOPERSTOWN – (Staff Report from Official News Release) – Joe Castiglione, who has called Red Sox games on the radio for a record 41 seasons, has been selected as the 2024 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually for excellence in broadcasting by the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.

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Castiglione will be honored during the Hall of Fame Awards Presentation as part of Hall of Fame Weekend, July 19-22, 2024. Castiglione becomes the 48th winner of the Frick Award, as he earned the highest point total in a vote conducted by the Hall of Fame’s 15-member Frick Award Committee.

The final ballot featured broadcasters whose main contributions came as local and national voices and whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card Era. The 10 finalists were: Joe Buck, Gary Cohen, Jacques Doucet, Tom Hamilton, Ernie Johnson Sr., Ken Korach, Mike Krukow, Duane Kuiper, Dan Shulman and Castiglione.

“Bringing knowledge and passion to the booth every day for more than four decades, Joe Castiglione has given voice to the greatest era of Red Sox success in the broadcast era,” said Josh Rawitch, President of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. “Starting with the team in 1983 in Carl Yastrzemski’s final season, Joe has connected generations of Red Sox fans with a delivery that has become part of the New England fabric. His calls of the team’s four World Series wins in the past 20 seasons provided fans with memories that will echo forever throughout Red Sox nation.”

Born March 2, 1947, in Hamden, Conn., Castiglione earned an undergraduate degree at Colgate University and took his master’s degree at Syracuse University – each about an hour from Cooperstown – before beginning his career at WFMJ-TV in Youngstown, Ohio. After moving to Cleveland to work for WKYC-TV, he began calling Indians games in 1979 before working Brewers games in 1981 and then returning to the Indians’ booth in 1982.

Joining the Red Sox radio team in 1983, Castiglione has shared the microphone with partners including Bob Starr, Dave O’Brien, Jerry Trupiano and Will Flemming while also teaching broadcast journalism at Northeastern University, Franklin Pierce University and Emerson College.

Inducted into the Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame in 2014, Castiglione is the longest tenured broadcaster in Red Sox history and has called historic moments that have included both of Roger Clemens’ 20-strikeout games and four no-hitters. In 2022, the home Fenway Park radio booth was named in his honor.

The 15-member Frick Award voting electorate, comprised of the 12 living recipients and three broadcast historians/columnists, includes Frick honorees Marty Brennaman, Bob Costas, Ken Harrelson, Pat Hughes, Jaime Jarrín, Tony Kubek, Denny Matthews, Al Michaels, Jon Miller, Eric Nadel, Bob Uecker and Dave Van Horne, and historians/columnists David J. Halberstam (historian), Barry Horn (formerly of the Dallas Morning News) and Curt Smith (historian).

The list of 10 Frick Award finalists was constructed by a subcommittee of the electorate that included Brennaman, Costas, Hughes, Halberstam and Smith. The Ford C. Frick Award is voted upon annually and is named in memory of the sportswriter, radio broadcaster, National League president and baseball commissioner. Frick was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1970.

For a complete list of Frick Award winners, click here.

As established by the Board of Directors, criteria for selection is as follows: “Commitment to excellence, quality of broadcasting abilities, reverence within the game, popularity with fans, and recognition by peers.”  To be considered, an active or retired broadcaster must have a minimum of 10 years of continuous major league broadcast service with a ball club, network, or a combination of the two.

The Frick Award election cycle rotates between a composite ballot featuring local and national voices whose careers began after, or extended into, the Wild Card Era in four consecutive years, followed by a fifth year featuring a ballot of candidates whose broadcasting careers concluded prior to the advent of the Wild Card Era in 1994. The cycle began with the 2023 Frick Award, with composite ballots of local and national voices continuing with the Awards in 2024, 2025 and 2026 before the pre-Wild Card Era ballot is considered for the 2027 Award.

VERDU- GO! – Red Sox Trade Outfielder to Evil Empire

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NASHVILLE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – The New York Yankees added an outfielder from their fiercest rival on Tuesday, acquiring Alex Verdugo from the Boston Red Sox in exchange for three right-handed pitchers as the MLB Winter Meetings are underway.

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Boston got Greg Weissert and minor-leaguers Richard Fitts and Nicholas Judice in the swap.

Verdugo, 27, is arguably better known for how he got to Boston rather than anything he has accomplished on the field. He, catcher Connor Wong and infielder Jeter Downs were acquired in the February 2020 deal that sent superstar Mookie Betts and left-hander David Price to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

In four years with the Red Sox, Verdugo hit a composite .281 with a .338 on-base percentage, a .424 slugging percentage, 43 homers and 206 RBIs. He played 142 games in 2023, batting .264/.324/.421 with 13 home runs and 54 RBIs.

Counting the three seasons he spent with the Dodgers, Verdugo has a career .281/.337/.428 batting line with 57 home runs and 255 RBIs in 651 games.

Primarily a corner outfielder, Verdugo also has seen time in center field. He could be a free agent following the upcoming season.

Weissert, 28, made 17 relief appearances for the Yankees this year, netting no decisions and a 4.05 ERA. He broke into the majors with 12 games out of the New York bullpen in 2022, when he finished 3-0 with a 5.56 ERA.

Fitts, 23, spent the 2023 season in Double-A, where he went 11-5 with a 3.48 ERA in 27 starts. He was a sixth-round draft pick in 2021 out of Auburn.

Judice, 22, has yet to make his pro debut after New York selected him in the eighth round of the 2023 draft out of UL-Monroe.

The Red Sox and Yankees have come together for just eight trades since 1969, according to MLB.com.

–Field Level Media