What Josh Bell’s Signing Means for the Rest of the Twins’ Lineup

[the_brute_squad]

20 hours ago, DJL44 said:

You can give top tier athletes a lot of repetitions and improve their consistency on defense. You can't take bad athletes and "coach them up" to become good. The competition is also working hard and they're better athletes.

They are already good. They are in the major leagues. You can coach them to become better and consistency would be a part of getting better.

[Jeff K]

19 hours ago, nova_twins said:

The Twins don't actually have excess pitching though. 

This thread and others like it are full of complaints that the Twins don't acquire premium talent in exchange for mediocre talent. 

I am 100% certain that if other clubs offer the Twins massive talent upgrades for no reason, the Twins will happily accept. 

I said that pitching was a strength.  So start with getting the quote right.  And the Twins have numerous promising starting pitchers that in a package can gather promising position players.  Also, I did not say premium talent.  Your rephrasing changes the meaning of the original post to fit your perspective.

[DJL44]

3 hours ago, the_brute_squad said:

They are already good. They are in the major leagues. You can coach them to become better and consistency would be a part of getting better.

Cool, then we'll just move Josh Bell to shortstop and coach him up since, according to you, he's athletic enough to do it.

[Major League Ready]

1 hour ago, Jeff K said:

I said that pitching was a strength.  So start with getting the quote right.  And the Twins have numerous promising starting pitchers that in a package can gather promising position players.  Also, I did not say premium talent.  Your rephrasing changes the meaning of the original post to fit your perspective.

The problem could be perspective, but this is all so generic that it's hard to put in perspective.  It sounds like you are advocating replacing more than 1 position player.  Which positions?   I assume you're talking about established players.  Which SPs are you willing to give up because filling two positions with established players good enough to bring this team into contention would cost a lot of prospects.  Then, you also need to come up with plan to fill all the BP spots because teams can't contend without a BP.  

[USAFChief]

On 12/15/2025 at 11:50 AM, Cory Engelhardt said:

The headline should add "as currently constructed." LOTS of changes, and I don't at all expect that Bell will be here to play defense at 1B full time. 

I'm curious, who do you see playing 1st base full time?

[Cory Engelhardt]

9 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

I'm curious, who do you see playing 1st base full time?

I don't know. Maybe Bell plays more there than he has in years. Clemens actually graded out fairly well there defensively. I mostly just am coming back to the quotes that they want to add more right handed thump to the lineup what with all the lefties they have to help balance. I'd argue Bell doesn't do much/anything really to help with that as he hasn't performed well facing lefties. So I THINK there is still room to add a right handed batter. With that, frankly, 1b/dh positioning makes sense too.

[Jeff K]

5 hours ago, Major League Ready said:

The problem could be perspective, but this is all so generic that it's hard to put in perspective.  It sounds like you are advocating replacing more than 1 position player.  Which positions?   I assume you're talking about established players.  Which SPs are you willing to give up because filling two positions with established players good enough to bring this team into contention would cost a lot of prospects.  Then, you also need to come up with plan to fill all the BP spots because teams can't contend without a BP.  

Twins need(ed) a first baseman.  That is where I feel the Twins should have traded for.

[Major League Ready]

4 hours ago, Jeff K said:

Twins need(ed) a first baseman.  That is where I feel the Twins should have traded for.

OK.  Are we talking about trading prospects or major league ready pitching for a well-proven guy with 2 years of control or are talking about trading Lopez or Ryan for a high profile prospect or a guy with 1 year of experience to compliment Keaschall / Jenkins.

[stringer bell]

On 12/15/2025 at 9:27 PM, Danchat said:

Roden has 2 option years remaining.

I don't believe that France's $300K had to be offloaded in the deal, I think he was just a throw-in that the Jays took for depth. The deal was Varland for Rojas and Roden. I know people don't like Roden close to as much as Rojas, but I think it's silly to think they were willing to part with Varland for Rojas alone. France wasn't worth Roden.

Roden profiles to be a pretty good player. In his rookie year, he wasn't good but with two option years remaining I think he'll get a chance 

[stringer bell]

The bigger picture here is that Bell adds to the overabundance of lefty hitting corner guys who can and should be at the DH position much if not most of the time. Given his resume, he should be in the middle of the lineup against right handed pitchers and the Twins currently have Larnach, Wallner and Clemens to start in left and right and first base. Add in Roden and Outman and it is six guys for four spots with only one guy--Clemens who is near average defensively.

Given the current roster, I can't see any way that both Roden and Outman make the club. I think at least one position player trade is needed and probably more. Currently Kreidler/Fitgerald and Jackson/Perada are the backup shortstop and catcher respectively and between those four guys none is a lock to break the Mendoza line. 

[stringer bell]

BTW, the official Twins website has the headline: "No more questions: Bell will man 1st base for the Twins in '26 (source)"  I guess that means the site is making Bell the everyday first sacker. I would hope that a better defender could play there fairly often, but maybe Bell will be there for 140 games. 

[the_brute_squad]

On 12/17/2025 at 8:55 AM, DJL44 said:

Cool, then we'll just move Josh Bell to shortstop and coach him up since, according to you, he's athletic enough to do it.

Not even close to the same thing. So are you saying when the Twins get a pitcher and he's throwing upper 80's he can't increase his velocity through practice. 

Are you saying that if you're an infielder a coach can't see bad footwork, bad arm slot, or improve reaction time? 

And yes, these people are very athletic and capable of improving in ways most people in sports can't. That doesn't mean you flip positions (although it seems everyone on the roster could be a first baseman), but you can improve on weaknesses.

 

[DJL44]

2 hours ago, the_brute_squad said:

Not even close to the same thing. So are you saying when the Twins get a pitcher and he's throwing upper 80's he can't increase his velocity through practice. 

Are you saying that if you're an infielder a coach can't see bad footwork, bad arm slot, or improve reaction time? 

And yes, these people are very athletic and capable of improving in ways most people in sports can't. That doesn't mean you flip positions (although it seems everyone on the roster could be a first baseman), but you can improve on weaknesses.

If that pitcher is 19 years old and throwing in the upper 80s, maybe. If he's 30, probably not.

Do you really think Brooks Lee's problem is bad footwork? He grew up with a college baseball coach as a parent and has been coached on proper footwork his entire life. His problem is he's less athletic than every other MLB SS - he runs slower and he throws the ball slower than all of them. I think Brooks Lee has been maxed out on defense and he doesn't have the range to play middle infield. Defense peaks early - ages 22-25.

Do you think the Twins can gain an advantage in coaching footwork and arm slot over all the other major league baseball teams? Is this some special secret sauce that the Dodgers and Yankees don't know about? When the Twins grab rejects from other systems off the waiver wire, can they be confident that the player was coached poorly by another organization and when the Twins coaches are finally able to work their secret magic, they will unlock the potential that was overlooked by everyone else?

Was Josh Bell coached poorly by the Nationals, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Guardians and Pirates or is he less athletic than other first basemen and declining athletically as he ages?

[the_brute_squad]

22 hours ago, DJL44 said:

If that pitcher is 19 years old and throwing in the upper 80s, maybe. If he's 30, probably not.

Do you really think Brooks Lee's problem is bad footwork? He grew up with a college baseball coach as a parent and has been coached on proper footwork his entire life. His problem is he's less athletic than every other MLB SS - he runs slower and he throws the ball slower than all of them. I think Brooks Lee has been maxed out on defense and he doesn't have the range to play middle infield. Defense peaks early - ages 22-25.

Do you think the Twins can gain an advantage in coaching footwork and arm slot over all the other major league baseball teams? Is this some special secret sauce that the Dodgers and Yankees don't know about? When the Twins grab rejects from other systems off the waiver wire, can they be confident that the player was coached poorly by another organization and when the Twins coaches are finally able to work their secret magic, they will unlock the potential that was overlooked by everyone else?

Was Josh Bell coached poorly by the Nationals, Diamondbacks, Marlins, Guardians and Pirates or is he less athletic than other first basemen and declining athletically as he ages?

All valid arguments. You are correct. They will never improve. They are all static in their ability. They don't have any flaws in anything they do, they have just hit maximum ability. 

[TheLeviathan]

If the Pohlads are openly saying this isn't the right time to invest 50/60M (in other words: we're still rebuilding).....then why wouldn't you put at-bats into guys like Roden?

As @chpettit19has said - this is a floor raising move.  But if you hit a "floor raiser" 4th....you didn't raise any floors.  You gave more at-bats to a demonstrably "meh" player.  Raising the floor is for guys who hit 8th and play defense.  Not guys who play 1B and will almost assurdly be hitting in the top half of the lineup.

I'd rather watch Roden flail with the hope of upside than sign up for Rondell White: Chapter 87 that we longtime fans have seen far too many times before.

[stringer bell]

Bell's signing would seem to decrease playing time for just about every left handed hitting player on the team--Clemens, Wallner, Larnach, Roden, Outman, Julien. In actuality, all six of those guys really can't make the team if there is a utility infielder (Kreidler/Fitgerald) and a backup catcher (Jackson/Pereda). Trades absolutely have to happen.

The Bell signing makes the team slightly better and moves Kody Clemens where he belongs--LH hitting utility player--but it really adds to the position player imbalance. 

[mluebker]

Yeah, that’s what this team needs to compete: even more sub-par defense in the infield and continuing musical chairs with the line-up.

[stringer bell]

7 hours ago, mluebker said:

Yeah, that’s what this team needs to compete: even more sub-par defense in the infield and continuing musical chairs with the line-up.

I’m not in love with another poor defensive player on the field, but Bell should actually help to make a more stable, consistent lineup.