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

[LastOnePicked]

47 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

He was a 128 OPS+ in the 2nd half.   His 1st half and 2nd half were drastically different.  He was dragged down by a horrible April.  .137/.228/.275. 

Well thank goodness there's no April in 2026.

[bunsen82]

2 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

Well thank goodness there's no April in 2026.

Rail on the signing if you wish.  Does it significantly move the needle,  not likely - is it a needle nudger again yes.  Is it a potential trade chip if he does decent - absolutely.   For the value its not bad.  For $20 million there is only so much you can do.  Now can he have a breakout year like Harrison Bader did - absolutely.    We are in a bit of a purgatory - continuing to try to put a decent product on the field while waiting for our prospects to come up and truly compete.  That likely occurs 2028 to 2030.  

[NYCTK]

1 hour ago, tony&rodney said:

The Twins chose Josh Bell over Bo Bichette.

Absolutely ridiculous framing. $7M commitment versus a $200M commitment. 

One doesn't preclude the other, and even so, you recognize the latter was never ever happening. 

[LastOnePicked]

56 minutes ago, Chembry said:

My current thinking is that we trade either Wallner or Larnach.

Why on Earth would we trade Wallner? If we're selling low on promising younger talent and replacing them with aging free agent and waiver claim veterans, something is terribly wrong.

We need a chance to see how struggling players we've developed can perform under a new manager.

[Major League Ready]

18 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

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?

I thought the same thing until someone pointed out he hit really well the 2nd half last year.  I suppose he could have just got hot but we also know he made some adjustments that impacted bat speed.  IDK enough about the specifics to believe or not believe those adjustments will produce results similar to the 2nd half of last year when he was quite good.  His 2023-25 numbers are completely uninspiring but those 2nd half numbers following swing changes put things in a slightly different light. 

[D.C Twins]

[LastOnePicked]

14 minutes ago, bunsen82 said:

Rail on the signing if you wish.  Does it significantly move the needle,  not likely - is it a needle nudger again yes.  Is it a potential trade chip if he does decent - absolutely.   For the value its not bad.  For $20 million there is only so much you can do.  Now can he have a breakout year like Harrison Bader did - absolutely.    We are in a bit of a purgatory - continuing to try to put a decent product on the field while waiting for our prospects to come up and truly compete.  That likely occurs 2028 to 2030.  

My only point was that it's a bit silly to say any player with negative WAR simply had a terrible month. It's still a full month of terrible play. It all counts.

You don't know what his value is. None of us do. We'll find out. And I hope he plays great and that he is a trade chip come July. Certainly Santana surprised us.

We are in purgatory, yes. You don't get out of purgatory by continuing to nibble in the free agent market. You get out of purgatory with a vision to build a championship core. Bell will likely have nothing to do with that.

But sure, could be a fine signing for a below .500 purgatory squad that intends to give the faint impression of competing - just long enough to retain a few final season ticket holders and corporate sponsors who are about to jump off the wagon.

[Irishman]

Why?   Bad signing!

Twins ownership is twin scrooge.

[bean5302]

1 hour ago, bunsen82 said:

He was a 128 OPS+ in the 2nd half.   His 1st half and 2nd half were drastically different.  He was dragged down by a horrible April.  .137/.228/.275.   

Are you saying April didn't happen and the games in April didn't count? He was bad in June and average in August as well. Josh Bell was also terrible in April in 2024 as he has taken a couple months to catch up to fastballs the last couple years. The trend strongly suggests Bell is cooked.

Then again, Carlos Santana in 2024 was also bad in April and looked pretty cooked so maybe Bell could have a big late career year rebound out of the blue?

My opinion is Bell is much more likely to be France than Santana, and probably more likely to be Farmer or Margot than Santana as well.

[Linus]

33 minutes ago, Woof Bronzer said:

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?  

This is it in a nutshell. And you just took of those opportunities and chucked it out the window. 

[D.C Twins]

1 hour ago, DJL44 said:

They gave him a raise?! Unbelievable. He made $6M, had a bad season and Boras got him a raise.

[NYCTK]

3 minutes ago, LastOnePicked said:

You get out of purgatory with a vision to build a championship core.

True. Which is why refusing to trade Joe Ryan is a far greater failure than signing a bland veteran player plugging a massive hole. 

[DJL44]

22 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Absolutely ridiculous framing. $7M commitment versus a $200M commitment. 

One doesn't preclude the other, and even so, you recognize the latter was never ever happening. 

It does preclude the other if they would rather spend $20M on three bad players every year instead of one good one.

[bunsen82]

1 minute ago, bean5302 said:

Are you saying April didn't happen and the games in April didn't count? He was bad in June and average in August as well. Josh Bell was also terrible in April in 2024 as he has taken a couple months to catch up to fastballs the last couple years. The trend strongly suggests Bell is cooked.

Then again, Carlos Santana in 2024 was also bad in April and looked pretty cooked so maybe Bell could have a big late career year rebound out of the blue?

My opinion is Bell is much more likely to be France than Santana, and probably more likely to be Farmer or Margot than Santana as well.

Players can improve figure things out.  No different than say Pagan.   The metrics kept stating differently but he just couldn't figure it out . . . until he did.   He leveraged it into a 2 year $20 million contract.  If bell is cooked how did he put up a .338/.443/.486  in July.  Odds are he is between a -.4 and a .4 War based on his previous years.  But if he can continue what he ended with I could see a 2+ WAR.   Bell in my opinion has a ceiling higher than Santana with the bat - obviously not in the field (where the majority of Santana's valued was accrued).  He will provide more than France now the question is how much.  The stats say make him a platoon player and drop being a right handed switch hitter.  The issue is Clemens is a Left hander too.  Its a decent signing for $5 million,  but its not going to make us a playoff team most likely.   

[tony&rodney]

20 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

Absolutely ridiculous framing. $7M commitment versus a $200M commitment. 

One doesn't preclude the other, and even so, you recognize the latter was never ever happening. 

Why comment? It was clear from my phrasing that I was juxtaposing the directions/philosophy. A payroll of $110-115M can be distributed in a myriad of fashions. Teams like Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and others that have less revenue and smaller markets make the hard decisions and seek to win. What are the Twins doing?

[NYCTK]

1 minute ago, DJL44 said:

It does preclude the other if they would rather spend $20M on three bad players every year instead of one good one.

Are you getting these "good" players on one year deals? If not, then it's not at all comparable. 

 

[D.C Twins]

WELL THIS CHANGES.... (checks notes).... absolutely nothing... 

[NYCTK]

2 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Why comment? It was clear from my phrasing that I was juxtaposing the directions/philosophy. A payroll of $110-115M can be distributed in a myriad of fashions. Teams like Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cleveland, Tampa Bay, and others that have less revenue and smaller markets make the hard decisions and seek to win. What are the Twins doing?

I said that I found that comment ridiculous because I find the comment I was responding to ridiculous. 

I know you watch a lot of baseball, but it really doesn't seem like you follow the business side all that closely if you make a comment like that. Teams like the Brewers, Royals, Guardians, and Rays also hire veterans on small one year deals. There's no actual juxtaposition. 

[MesaTwinsFan]

Why do we call Josh Bell a slugger? He hit 3 more home runs than Kody Clemens in 170 more at bat's. NEVER in all time has the word SLUGGER been mentioned when speaking of Clemens. I know the spin is to maybe sell at least 16 more tickets but let's me realilistic. An ancient Miguel Sano could hit 22 with 500+ at bats.

[notoriousgod71]

Hope everyone enjoys the four months he's around and the garbage prospect we get for him on July 31.

[IndyTwinsFan]

2 hours ago, NYCTK said:

Who is he blocking? 

The reason this is completely inoffensive, if unexciting, is because there is no one. 

And it's unlikely that there will be a young and viable power hitting candidate for first in the organization anytime soon.

[NYCTK]

3 minutes ago, notoriousgod71 said:

Hope everyone enjoys the four months he's around and the garbage prospect we get for him on July 31.

For as weak as he was with the higher value assets, Falvey actually got good returns on his rental pieces. 

[mnfireman]

1 hour 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?  

Yet TD is willing to hand Clemens the 1B job based on his performance in May '25. Bell had an OPS+ of 110 last season, a 107 wRC+ and is a switch-hitter, Clemens had an OPS+ of 96, and a wRC+ of 98 and is a left-handed bat that does not hit LHP. I'm not defending the Bell signing, I'm stating that it is not the end of the world.

[tony&rodney]

4 minutes ago, NYCTK said:

I said that I found that comment ridiculous because I find the comment I was responding to ridiculous. 

I know you watch a lot of baseball, but it really doesn't seem like you follow the business side all that closely if you make a comment like that. Teams like the Brewers, Royals, Guardians, and Rays also hire veterans on small one year deals. There's no actual juxtaposition. 

Why can't the Twins sign a player to a long term contract? Seattle, Milwaukee, Kansas City, Cleveland, and others manage to do so. Joe Mauer was an example of a long term contract. While many fans objected to the cost of Mauer's deal in his declining years, there has been numerous articles that the Twins made out very well financially on that signing. In fact, they still make money on Joe Mauer. 

You are correct that all teams sign a few tired vets. Most teams use those guys to fill out their roster or give them depth. Josh Bell is being counted on to lead the Twins to 72 wins, which may be a task.

The roster budget is what it is, every single year. All I'm saying is that the distribution of money is done poorly because the guys leading the charge struggle with choices. I believe in talent more than good deals.

[NYCTK]

4 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Why can't the Twins sign a player to a long term contract?

They do. They're just run by someone that's really bad at his job and the guys he's signed have become massive albatrosses and were traded away. 

5 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Josh Bell is being counted on to lead the Twins to 72 wins, which may be a task.

That's basically been his job each of the last many seasons. Start the year with a bad team, do just well enough to get traded to a wild card competitive team. The fact that this is his 7th team in 7 years just shows the Twins are anything but unique in hiring a player like Josh Bell. 

7 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

I believe in talent more than good deals.

The 2026 Twins suck and the talent brought in is kind of irrelevant. The deal is fine, and is paying about $4 million for 4 months of baseball, filling a hole and 1-2 middling prospects come August. 

[Brett]

I have a hard time believing we signed Santana, France, and now Bell because Alex Kiriloff couldn’t stay healthy and then abruptly retired, and yet here we are.

Where have all the first basemen gone? It used to be a position that guys actually played, not just someplace to stick your worst defender.

If anyone needs me I’ll be hitching my pants up to my armpits, sitting down on the porch and telling the neighbor kids to stay out of my yard.

[jorgenswest]

Looking forward and trying to find hope in the Bell signing. He did make a change in his swing. That change could explain his early season struggle with the adjustment as well as his good second half. I look forward to seeing the fruits of those changes with the Twins.

[DJL44]

18 minutes ago, tony&rodney said:

Why can't the Twins sign a player to a long term contract?

If they let Jeffers walk because they spent $7M on Josh Bell I will be disappointed.

[SteveLV]

Ty France Part II, the Sequel.

Seriously, a decent player but does not move the needle much.

The Twins roster is like an older car that you really should trade in, but, instead, you spend money on it to keep it running down the road.  It gets you to a destination, just not anywhere great.

They are obviously just treading water at this point.  Expect about 70-75 wins.  Whoopee!

(This also kills the Eldridge dream, apparently....)

Finally, we can always flip him at the trade deadline if we suck and he is doing well.

[bunsen82]

2 hours ago, IndianaTwin said:

I find it interesting that Falvey gets blasted because "he's not going to make any moves until January or February" and then when he does, he gets blasted for it not being a good enough move. It seems like people just want to rip on Falvey.

I see it as a pretty significant floor move. It hopefully gets away from Clemens as the primary 1B. Maybe he's streaky WITHIN a season, but his OPS+ has been 108, 109, 111, 142, 82, 124, 127, 101, 100, 110. The high outlier was juiced-ball 2019. The low outlier was Covid-shortened 2020.

I would have liked O'Hearn, but I'm not overly concerned that they didn't get a stud here. If they are going to be successful offensively in 2026, it's going to be because Lewis and Wallner rebounded, Keaschall maintained over a long season and Lee improved to average, etc. It's not going to be because the 1B is O'Hearn vs. Bell.

One of the primary reasons I see it as a positive and that I haven't seen mentioned yet is that it's a tangible sign of addition. It may or may not be the addition people were clamoring for, but it's an addition. Hopefully this also communicates to Coulombe and his agent (or dare I even hope for Luke Weaver?) that the Twins are indeed not dumping Lopez/Ryan/Buxton and are going to be higher than the $90M some have been projecting.

 

(EDIT to add: It also just got better in terms of money available for relievers. It's $5.5M for this year plus $250k bonus and $1.25M in a mutual option that gets paid later.) 

I think this sums it up for me.  As a fan,  I get to watch what should be at least a decent product on the field.  Maybe he gets you something useful at the deadline or maybe the team plays well together and they play themselves into the playoffs.  All in all its not bad.  I like the potential of the farm system and the 2026 draft.  Falvey has been dealt a pretty crappy hand.  Outside of his 2 big signings - he has done  a pretty good job overall.  But if you are going to swing big you better hit.