FORT MYERS, Fla. — The Red Sox needed to upgrade at left-handed reliever this past offseason after the six southpaws who they used out of the pen last year combined for a 4.33 ERA. Only Cam Booser, who was traded in the offseason, had an ERA under 4.00.
Chief baseball officer Craig Breslow signed lefties Aroldis Chapman (one year, $10.75 million) and Justin Wilson (one year, $2.25 million).
Meanwhile, 33-year-old lefty Brennan Bernardino — who had a 4.06 ERA in 51 innings for Boston last year — spent the offseason training at the JetBlue Park complex. He worked with the staff to add another pitch.
“Instead of backing (down) from competition, it was the other way around,” manager Alex Cora said about Bernardino. “He embraced it.”
Bernardino has put together a nice spring training camp. He has allowed just one earned run, five hits and five walks while striking out seven in 6 ⅔ innings (1.35 ERA) over six Grapefruit League games.
“It’s in God’s hands. I’m just trying to do the best I can and make it a tough decision for them whatever way they go,” Bernardino said about his approach here in the final week of camp.
Bernardino worked on his changeup this offseason. It’s a pitch he didn’t throw last year after throwing it just 12 times in 2023.
“I decided to throw it because it’s something that’s soft and it’s going away from a righty,” Bernardino said. “Something I didn’t have in my arsenal.
Bernardino needed a pitch to use against righties who last year batted .284 against him compared to lefties hitting .234.
“I threw it a couple times in ‘23, kind of got away from it but we figured, ’Hey, let’s work on it and bring it back,‘” Bernardino said.
He said has “a slightly new grip” on the changeup from when he used it just 12 times (all against righties) in ‘23.
“The changeup is becoming a pitch that we can rely on,” Cora said. “Let’s see what route we take in the upcoming days. But I think he’s in the conversation (for the Opening Day roster). We probably gonna extend him a little bit — more than one. I think multi-innings will be good for our roster if it happens.
But one thing about him — and I give him credit — he moved to the area, to (the) Naples area,” Cora added. “He put the work (in) at JetBlue. The velo is a little bit up. And like I said early in camp, it’s not going from 91 to 98. I think two miles per hour will do the job. Whatever you can gain, it helps. It creates separation between his pitches. And then the changeup, it’s becoming a pitch.”
The Red Sox have been open throughout this spring to having three left-handed relievers on their Opening Day roster. As MassLive wrote Tuesday, Chapman is the leading candidate to win the closer job. And so the Red Sox might want to take three lefties so they have two for earlier in the game.
“We have a lot of good players but we cannot just throw 26 guys (out there) and hope for the best,” Cora said. “It has to be a functional roster and that’s my job as a manager — to piece that together. At one point we’re going to run for (Triston) Casas late in the game. Who’s going to play first base? That means if you run for Casas late in the game, it’s a close game, we need a first baseman that can play defense. It’s the same way in the bullpen. Let’s say Chapman is a closer, then you only have another lefty, right? Or you have to take two or three. This is the cool part of spring training. Now you start playing GM with everybody and making decisions based on what’s best for the team.”
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