Brooks Lee was "versatile" if you mean equally bad at every infield position. They don't need players to move between the infield and the outfield. They need someone who can actually play shortstop.
If they had Juan Soto on a 1-year deal, at least they would have something useful to trade at the deadline. Nobody wanted Josh Bell last year and Arizona only wanted Bell the previous year because their starting 1B had season-ending injury. That is the other advantage of signing better players - they can be traded for prospects.
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.
So far the Twins, in their drive to contend, have added a bad manager, a bad catcher, a bad first baseman and a mediocre relief pitcher. Start printing playoff tickets!
But there is hope that Arraez can get pickier. He can choose more wisely, and his numbers should improve. He's not going to get faster or better on defense, and he's still not a good choice for a long-term contract.
There's a backstory behind that comment. I grew up outside of town and didn't have many neighbors. We still played ball but there were only a couple players on offense and a couple on defense at any given time. First base was an oak tree and third base was a lilac bush. If you could hit the oak tree with your throw before the runner got there he was out. If you hit the ball into the lilac bush on the fly it was also an out. I figure Bell has more range than the oak tree but not more than the lilac bush. The bush was about 8 feet across at it's widest spot.
Washington couldn't trade him last season at the deadline.
The last two Josh Bell trades were
August 1, 2023: Traded by the Cleveland Guardians to the Miami Marlins for Kahlil Watson (minors) and Jean Segura.
July 30, 2024: Traded by the Miami Marlins to the Arizona Diamondbacks for player to be name later.
Kahlil Watson is still a prospect - ranked #18 in Cleveland's system with a 40 FV. He looks like a utility outfielder. Jean Segura is retired.
Miami ended up with cash considerations instead of a PTBNL.
If the Twins want "cash considerations" they could just save the $7M and not sign Josh Bell.
Who were the Twins bidding against that drove Bell's price up to $7M? I feel like they hit "buy now" for an eBay auction that might have been forced to sell for the reserve price.
They signed the 37th best first baseman of 2025 to help them "compete". That's a terrible signing. Ty France (27th) and Kody Clemens (20th) both ranked higher than Josh Bell.
I was really happy when they signed Bader - they identified a need (outfield defense) and filled it with the best available option at a reduced cost. In this case they identified a need (slugging first baseman) and filled it with one of the lesser options at a higher cost.
If the Twins had entered the offseason with Josh Bell signed to a 1 year, $7M contract for 2026 I would have recommended they trade him to free up the cash.
Which means their only chance at extending his contract is this winter. After this season they will not have any leverage and Jeffers can go elsewhere. An extra $2M for a signing bonus in this budget year could make a huge difference in extending Jeffers contract.