SPRINGFIELD — Trevor Story arrived at Red Sox Winter Weekend with his arm in an elaborate brace.

At Friday night’s kickoff event, he told the crowd of beleaguered fans that he felt it was important to him to show up for them. Unfortunately, his well-intentioned appearance — only 11 days after he underwent an internal brace procedure to repair his right elbow’s ulnar collateral ligament (UCL) — underscored that this offseason has yielded more questions than answers.

The procedure carries a shorter recovery than Tommy John surgery, a small comfort at this juncture. Instead of 12-18 months on the sidelines, Story could be ready in 4-6 months. He projected confidence, describing his absence as “a little bit of the season” and telling reporters he feels “really good about it.”

However, Chief Baseball Officer Chaim Bloom has refused to rule out that the infielder could end up missing the entire 2023 season. Thus, barring a trade or low-level free-agent signing, the Sox will need Christian Arroyo, Kiké Hernández (more on that below), and Rob Refsnyder to cobble together a middle infield. They have Niko Goodrum on a minor-league deal. Bobby Dalbec also played two games at second base last year.

Could Story return as the Designated Hitter before he’s ready to take the field? He’s open to it.

DH’ing doesn’t solve the infield problems, but it could certainly help the lineup. The DH role enabled Shohei Ohtani and Bryce Harper to continue contributing while limited by UCL injuries. After undergoing Tommy John at the end of the 2018 season, Ohtani wasn’t able to pitch until 2020, but was able to return to the Angels’ lineup in early May 2019. Harper stopped playing right-field in mid-April 2022, after it was discovered that he had a small tear in his UCL. He underwent Tommy John surgery at the end of November, but only after helping the Phillies end the longest active postseason appearance drought in the National League and win their first pennant since 2009.

Since undergoing Tommy John surgery in April 2020, Chris Sale has thrown exactly 48 1/3 innings in major-league games.

Over the last year alone, he missed the start of the season due to a rib fracture, sustained a fractured pinky in the first inning of his second start of the season, and then broke his wrist while rehabbing from the pinky surgery, ending his 2022 campaign at 5 2/3 innings.

No one has been more frustrated than Sale himself, so it was encouraging to hear that he’s happy with his ramp-up this offseason. Describing himself as “Humpty Dumpty put back together again,” he revealed that he’s ahead of schedule, already throwing off the mound, and on track for Opening Day.

Brayan Bello is gearing up for his first full season in the Red Sox rotation, and his winter workouts included some one-on-one training with a franchise legend.

Hall of Famer Pedro Martinez has taken an interest in the 23-year-old righty, who debuted last July. Bello revealed that not only has he been working out with the Sox legend, but that the training takes place at Martinez’s home.

Bello debuted in July 2022, and posted a 4.71 ERA across 57 1/3 innings. He got off to a rocky start, but the rookie quickly began to acclimate to the big leagues. After posting a 7.27 ERA and allowed 21 earned runs in his first 26 innings, he compiled a 2.59 ERA and only allowed 9 ER over the subsequent 31 1/3 innings of his debut season.

After taking part in Winter Weekend activities, Bello will join the annual Red Sox rookie development program, which began on Saturday. The five-day intensive at Fenway Park is geared towards helping young players and top prospects prepare for all aspects of major-league life. Of the 11 players slated to attend, Bello, Zack Kelly, and Franklin German are the only three who’ve made their big-league debuts. Other notable names include defensive standout Ceddanne Rafaela and top pitching prospect Bryan Mata.

With Xander Bogaerts gone and Trevor Story recovering from surgery, Kiké Hernández is on track to be Boston’s shortstop for the foreseeable future.

Since signing with the Sox ahead of the 2021 season, the super utility-man has spent the bulk of his time in the outfield. He made 93 appearances in center-field in his first season, and 80 last year. Before Story arrived in 2022, he also got some reps in at second base. Largely due to Bogaerts manning short, Hernández has only made 18 appearances at the position he admits is actually his favorite.

So, is Hernández worried about going full-time into a role he’s only assumed 100 times in 917 career games? Not in the slightest.

“I feel really excited, I feel great about it. I mentioned it before, I’ve kind of been waiting my whole life to be able to play short at the major-league level on a daily basis. Grew up playing the position, it’s my favorite position to play. Unfortunately, the rosters that I’ve been on, pretty much the best player on the team has been the shortstop, so I’m fortunate enough to play other places.”

Hernández also revealed the Sox originally signed him to play second base in 2021, but he ended up making 93 appearances in center. He did so well there they extended him last fall to continue playing center, before moving him back to the infield when Bogaerts departed and Story got hurt.

Triston Casas has never played more than 120 games in a season.

That was back in 2019, when he was 19 years old and split the minor-league season between Low- and High-A. Now 23, he’s is staring down the barrel of his first full season in the majors. Still classified as a rookie (he debuted on Sept. 4), Casas set a personal goal for 2023: play at least 150 games.

He also had high praise for new teammate Masataka Yoshida. The Japanese star, whom the Red Sox signed to a 5-year, $90 million contract this winter, was not among the players in attendance at Winter Weekend. Casas is in the unique position of actually having played on the same diamond as Yoshida, who’s spent his entire career in Japan’s Nippon League. He and Casas faced off in the Tokyo Olympics, and the rookie first baseman described Yoshida as “the most elite hitter” in Team Japan’s lineup.

Ahead of Friday night’s awkward kickoff event, Chaim Bloom announced that Adam Duvall’s contract should be finalized next week.