BREAKING: Twins Sign First Baseman Josh Bell to One-Year Deal

[thelanges5]

Addressed a need and still have $$ for Fairbanks. Let’s go Twins!

[terrydactyls]

1 hour ago, Nashvilletwin said:

Yes, I agree, 1B/DH was our most obvious position player of need. But there are cascading effects to these signings. Here are a few, many of which with I’m sure you will disagree:

1. Wallner DH opportunities. 
2. Julien ABs. (some of us would like to see what he has under new leadership).
3. Possibly Keaschall innings at both 2B and 1B. 
4. Delayed call ups later in the year around the fringes.

He’s just one more guy who will 100% not move the dial taking innings and ABs. Like so many before him. 

1.  Not a big loss.

2.  Julien "has" what he's always had.  It will just be for a different group.

3. I doubt Bell will take innings from Keaschell at 2B and Keaschall is not a 1B either.

4.  The Twins haven't any 1B in the minors that are blocked.

[bunsen82]

3 minutes ago, thelanges5 said:

Addressed a need and still have $$ for Fairbanks. Let’s go Twins!

Fairbanks isn't an option likely.  His Raynauds had him looking primarily at warmer weather climates or dome teams.   I have heard, Arizona, Miami, Toronto and Dodgers.   

[Elliot]

I am fine with it. He is a good fit if some of the current core performs as well as we hope. If not, I anticipate a lot of moves at the deadline. 

[Woof Bronzer]

This is the kind of move that a mid market team absolutely cannot make and be seriously competitive.  You don't pay $7m for a replacement level player.  You play a replacement level player you already have on your payroll.  

If the Twins truly want to compete, they have to find about 25 wins from the team they ended 2025 with.  Spending maybe half of your free agent budget to buy 0 wins on a 1 year rental is a really, really poor decision.  

Reason #12,523 why the 2026 Twins will not compete for anything other than 4th place in the Central.  

[bunsen82]

6 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Bad news, April counts as much as September.

Are you willing to pay more or less for a player that had a bad april or a bad September?  You can say the same but we all know recency bias causes recent performance to be more valued.  

[Chembry]

9 minutes ago, TNtwins85 said:

Yeah, but for what? What do you get for Larnach? An rookie ball relief pitcher?

LOL!  I don't know what you get for Larnach...a lottery ticket, a minor league P... but I would be ok with that.  We all still question why the Twins tendered him a contract in the first place.   Twins have some decisions to make.  To me in terms of OF depth, Larnach and Wallner are the odd men out defensively.  Cut bait and move on.  

[LewFordLives]

What the hell is the plan for this organization? They traded Duran for magic beans, presumably because they didn't want to take him through arbitration. But now they somehow have enough money to shovel $7 million on Josh Bell?

[Elliot]

53 minutes ago, DJL44 said:

It just shows what a poor athlete he is. He has the range of a lilac bush.

In the tree world lilacs have great range. Just try to keep one confined to one area. Difficult. 

[Woof Bronzer]

1 minute ago, bunsen82 said:

Are you willing to pay more or less for a player that had a bad april or a bad September?  You can say the same but we all know recency bias causes recent performance to be more valued.  

If I am an MLB GM and I allow one good month to cause me to overpay for an average player than I am not going to have a job for very long.  Isn't that what the whole sabermetrics movement is supposed to be about?  Data driven decision making?  

[bunsen82]

1 minute ago, LewFordLives said:

What the hell is the plan for this organization? They traded Duran for magic beans, presumably because they didn't want to take him through arbitration. But now they somehow have enough money to shovel $7 million on Josh Bell?

They traded last year,  because they didn't see the team competing,  saved some money,  got some prospects and got a better draft pick.   It all values together.  This team at best is a competitive team - par for the course for the last 5-6 years.  They may outperform and get to the playoffs, but won't be able to do much unless we significantly add to the bullpen.  

[TNtwins85]

5 minutes ago, Chembry said:

LOL!  I don't know what you get for Larnach...a lottery ticket, a minor league P... but I would be ok with that.  We all still question why the Twins tendered him a contract in the first place.   Twins have some decisions to make.  To me in terms of OF depth, Larnach and Wallner are the odd men out defensively.  Cut bait and move on.  

I’m ok with Wallner as a DH. That DH spot is getting really crowded with about 5 guys to rotate through there haha

[bunsen82]

2 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

If I am an MLB GM and I allow one good month to cause me to overpay for an average player than I am not going to have a job for very long.  Isn't that what the whole sabermetrics movement is supposed to be about?  Data driven decision making?  

Data driven info still values recent data vs old data.  FYI he had 3 good months, 2 ok months, and 1 awful month.  Can we find a way to avoid the awful month.  I would not deem $5.75 million an overpay for Bell.  Can he overchieve for a year similarly to Bader.  Remember his stats hadn't been great for a couple years.  

[TNtwins85]

Just now, bunsen82 said:

Data driven info still values recent data vs old data.  FYI he had 3 good months, 2 ok months, and 1 awful month.  Can we find a way to avoid the awful month.  

With Falvey and Zoll I believe!

[bunsen82]

3 minutes ago, TNtwins85 said:

With Falvey and Zoll I believe!

Say what you will, Falvey has one of the highest win percentages of any GM for the Twins.  .521%

Add in a really strong farm system with what should be a good draft.  More than anything I am curious to see how the pitchers look that we drafted last year.  There is some real talent in that group.  

[terrydactyls]

11 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Fairbanks isn't an option likely.  His Raynauds had him looking primarily at warmer weather climates or dome teams.   I have heard, Arizona, Miami, Toronto and Dodgers.   

"His Raynauds"?  Is this another new metric with which I am unfamiliar?

[UK Twin]

4 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

This is the kind of move that a mid market team absolutely cannot make and be seriously competitive.  You don't pay $7m for a replacement level player.  You play a replacement level player you already have on your payroll.  

If the Twins truly want to compete, they have to find about 25 wins from the team they ended 2025 with.  Spending maybe half of your free agent budget to buy 0 wins on a 1 year rental is a really, really poor decision.  

Reason #12,523 why the 2026 Twins will not compete for anything other than 4th place in the Central.  

But we were never going to find that through FA. Most of the FA improvements need to come in the bullpen but where we need to find most wins is through improvements/progression of our young core of hitters - Lewis, Lee, Wallner, Keaschall etc with Jenkins and Rodriguez hopefully coming sooner rather than later. Bell provides experience and a steady bat in the line up. 

[bunsen82]

3 minutes ago, terrydactyls said:

"His Raynauds"?  Is this another new metric with which I am unfamiliar?

He loses touch of his fingers in cold temps.  Loses almost complete control in those environments.  Plus if it flares it sticks around for a while potentially.  Having a wife with raynauds it no fun.  Excrutiating in cold temps 30-40 degrees and sub temps.  

Raynaud's (pronounced "ray-NOZ") is a condition where small arteries, usually in fingers and toes, spasm in response to cold or stress, causing them to turn white, then blue, and finally red as blood flow returns, often with pain, numbness, or tingling. 

[terrydactyls]

21 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

Bad news, April counts as much as September.

Actually September should count more because there are more "off" days and weather cancellations in April than in September.

[DJL44]

8 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

FYI he had 3 good months, 2 ok months, and 1 awful month.  Can we find a way to avoid the awful month.  

And he seems to do that every year. He has a 1 month slump, 1 month of awesome and is okay the rest of the year.

[tony&rodney]

1 minute ago, bunsen82 said:

He loses touch of his fingers in cold tems.  Loses almost complete control in those environments.  Plus if it flares it sticks around for a while potentially.  Having a wife with raynauds it no fun.  Excrutiating in cold temps 30-40 degrees.  

Raynaud's (pronounced "ray-NOZ") is a condition where small arteries, usually in fingers and toes, spasm in response to cold or stress, causing them to turn white, then blue, and finally red as blood flow returns, often with pain, numbness, or tingling. 

Thank you. I learned something today I didn't previously know.

[DJL44]

Just now, terrydactyls said:

Actually September should count more because there are more "off" days and weather cancellations in April than in September.

For the Twins, April definitely counts more. If they aren't in the race in July, then Bell will be on another roster in September.

[Woof Bronzer]

3 minutes ago, UK Twin said:

But we were never going to find that through FA. Most of the FA improvements need to come in the bullpen but where we need to find most wins is through improvements/progression of our young core of hitters - Lewis, Lee, Wallner, Keaschall etc with Jenkins and Rodriguez hopefully coming sooner rather than later. Bell provides experience and a steady bat in the line up. 

There are 3 ways to add wins:  internally, trades, and FA.  If they are aren't finding those wins through FA, they have to either use current talent (reminder that it's a 57 win roster) or trades (reminder that Derek Falvey is still employed).  

So...do you think we can gain 25 wins through current 40 man roster improvements/young guys and trades?  

[bunsen82]

1 minute ago, tony&rodney said:

Thank you. I learned something today I didn't previously know.

I had no idea he had it,  then read an article on his likely destinations and it stated he was restricted on destinations due to his raynauds.  It was confirmed when I went to the Rays reddit.  It was pretty clear the raynauds is an issue in cold temps.   They also thought he had declined significantly from previous years.  

[terrydactyls]

12 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

If I am an MLB GM and I allow one good month to cause me to overpay for an average player than I am not going to have a job for very long.  Isn't that what the whole sabermetrics movement is supposed to be about?  Data driven decision making?  

And yet, you seem willing to allow one bad month to cause you to reject a player?  I believe that would qualify as a double standard?

[Woof Bronzer]

Just now, terrydactyls said:

And yet, you seem willing to allow one bad month to cause you to reject a player?  I believe that would qualify as a double standard?

Bell was a 0.4 WAR player in 25, -0.6WAR in 24, and -0.1 WAR in 23.  I am using 3 bad years to reject a player.  Is that enough?

[FilthyMogwai]

I guess signing a power hitter meant, signing an aging vet that hits .235 with 18-20 HR. 

[terrydactyls]

7 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

He loses touch of his fingers in cold temps.  Loses almost complete control in those environments.  Plus if it flares it sticks around for a while potentially.  Having a wife with raynauds it no fun.  Excrutiating in cold temps 30-40 degrees and sub temps.  

Raynaud's (pronounced "ray-NOZ") is a condition where small arteries, usually in fingers and toes, spasm in response to cold or stress, causing them to turn white, then blue, and finally red as blood flow returns, often with pain, numbness, or tingling. 

I guess that would explain his bad April?  I've never heard of this disease.  Glad you explained it.

[bunsen82]

5 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Thank you. I learned something today I didn't previously know.

https://www.mlb.com/news/pete-fairbanks-goes-on-injured-list-with-nerve-related-issue

He actually went on the DL for 3 weeks when it flared in 2024.  Obviously his stats sucked during those previous weeks.   They stated it as a nerve issue but was later confirmed to be a flare up of his raynauds.  

[GNess]

Since we all know. that the Twins shop in the bargain bin this is a decent signing. 

Three positives:

1. Bell is a 1B by experience and an ok MLB batter. Not someone morphed into the position.

2. The Twins  don't have an obvious 1B in the system so Bell really isn't blocking anyone.

3. Huh - ok I meant two positives.