Brayan Bello joining Kristian Campbell at Triple-A is a Red Sox cautionary tale

When the Boston Red Sox optioned Brayan Bello to Triple-A last week, the move exposed what many Red Sox fans have been hinting at for months: Craig Breslow and this front office have made some very questionable decisions on contract extensions.

It's not difficult to argue that neither Bello nor Kristian Campbell's extensions were wise. Bello signed a six-year, $55 million extension in 2024; Campbell, an even beefier eight-year, $60 million extension in April 2025. The Red Sox now have a boatload of guaranteed money in Triple-A with Bello and Kristian Campbell there.

Bello's struggles (some of them mental) have been front and center of late. Campbell's struggles, though happening in the backdrop that is Triple-A, aren't any less concerning. After looking like a Rookie of the Year candidate in April of last season on Boston's MLB roster, Campbell has descended substantially since then. It says a lot that the Red Sox haven't felt confident enough in Campbell to recall him in 2026, despite the team being beyond desperate for a right-handed bat. But why should they trust Campbell? He's not succeeding against minor-league pitching.

Most of the Red Sox's contract extensions haven't worked out

You could even argue that Roman Anthony's extension hasn't been a fruitful one thus far. Sure, Anthony's flashed short stretches of brilliance, but what if he turns into an injury-riddled asset that can never stay on the field? So far, that's what he looks like. Anthony turning into a bust can't be ruled out, even if the general assumption is that he will soon get (and remain) healthy and have a tremendous career.

Extending Garrett Crochet was an obvious move that 30 out of 30 MLB teams would have made. In terms of the other extensions that Breslow's front office has signed ... only Ceddanne Rafaela's has worked out so far.

Oddly enough, while Boston was eager to extend Campbell and Bello, the Red Sox haven't extended left-hander Connelly Early, who has been one of the club's most consistent and reliable arms since debuting. According to MassLive's Chris Cotillo, as of March, Early hadn't been approached about an extension.

Extensions of this nature have been mighty popular across MLB in the past few seasons, but it's possible that Boston has jumped at the trend and mishandled the actual decisions on who to extend. We saw the Pittsburgh Pirates eagerly extend Konnor Griffin this season after they failed to do so with Paul Skenes in the recent past. We saw the Detroit Tigers extend Kevin McGonigle. So far, so good on those two decisions.

The Red Sox haven't been as "lucky," but then again, "lucky" isn't really the right word to use when guys like Breslow are paid to evaluate players and make the right decisions about extensions. In other words, a front office — a competent one, anyway — is supposed to make its own luck. When you're extending multiple players, and the majority of the situations aren't working out, you're not "unlucky" — maybe you're just not that good at your job.

At any rate, Boston's extensions-gone-wrong serve as a cautionary tale to the rest of the league. If you're going to lock in a guy for the long haul, it's only going to be a great bargain if that player ends up being at least close to what you envisioned. Strike out badly on one, two, three of these decisions, and the bad money starts to pile up.

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