As the trade deadline is approaching, teams striving to make the postseason will be hungry to buy, and teams heading towards mediocrity or a rebuild will be looking to sell. With that in mind, one player that should be a hot commodity is first basemen Josh Bell. Bell has been fantastic at the plate this season hitting a career-best .305/.385/.494 (144 wRC+). Bell’s excellent season hasn’t come out of left field as he hit .277/.367/.569 (135 wRC+) in his All-Star 2019 season and he has a career 118 wRC+. The Nationals have been absolutely dreadful this season as they’re 14.5 games back of the fourth-place Marlins and Bell is set to hit free agency following the season, so it should be a no-brainer to trade him before the deadline. With all of this in mind, here are four teams that should be interested in Bell along with mock trades.
Houston Astros
The Astros have arguably the best lineup in baseball, but they’ve received atrocious production from their first basemen. Yuli Gurriel has fallen off drastically from winning the battle title and gold glove last year as his wRC+ is down 42 points, his OAA is down 5 outs, and his fWAR is in the negatives. Additionally, the Astros have received a negative WAR value from rookie J.J. Matijevic and utility man Aledmys Diaz has been below average offensively. Adding Bell to an already loaded lineup would be a pitcher’s worst nightmare come October.
| 1. | Jose Altuve 2B |
| 2. | Michael Brantley DH |
| 3. | Yordan Alvarez LF |
| 4. | Alex Bregman 3B |
| 5. | Kyle Tucker RF |
| 6. | Josh Bell 1B |
| 7. | Jeremy Peña SS |
| 8. | Jake Meyers CF |
| 9. | Martin Maldonado C |
Mock trade:
Astros receive: Josh Bell
Nationals receive: Jose Siri, Freudis Nova
Package details:
- Jose Siri (OF) (27 years old, team controlled through 2027, .210/.265/.381 (81 wRC+), 3.2 BsR, 8 OAA, 1.2 fWAR in 69 MLB games)
- Freudis Nova (SS) (second best prospect in Astros system entering 2020 but has since become unranked due to poor performance and an ACL injury that held him out the majority of 2021 and all of 2022 so far)
New York Mets
The Mets already have a stud first basemen in Pete Alonso and recently acquired Daniel Vogelbach, but there are many rumors that they are in on Josh Bell. The Mets have been great at getting on base as their .323 OBP is the fifth best in MLB, but they have been a below-average power team as their .142 ISO is the 20th best and their 92 home runs are the 19th best. Adding Bell would surely help improve the Mets’ power numbers and deepen their already good lineup that much more.
| 1. | Brandon Nimmo CF |
| 2. | Starling Marte RF |
| 3. | Francisco Lindor SS |
| 4. | Pete Alonso DH |
| 5. | Josh Bell 1B |
| 6. | Jeff McNeil 2B |
| 7. | Mark Canha LF |
| 8. | Eduardo Escobar 3B |
| 9. | Tomas Nido C |
Mock trade:
Mets acquire: Josh Bell
Nationals acquire: Eric Orze, Dominic Hamel
Package details:
- Eric Orze (RHP) (17th best prospect in the organization by MLB.com, 10th best prospect in the organization by FanGraphs, 45 FV)
- Dominic Hamel (RHP) (9th best prospect in the organization by MLB.com, 15th best prospect in the organization by FanGraphs, 40 FV)
Cleveland Guardians
One of the most fascinating teams to watch over trade deadline season is the Cleveland Guardians. Currently, the team is only three games back of the AL Central lead and two games back of the third wild card spot. On the other hand, Cleveland has notoriously been known to sell, so who knows what they have planned. If they do decide to be buyers, Josh Bell would be a great addition. Cleveland has been a middle-of-the-pack team offensively with a 99 wRC+ this season, so adding Bell could do wonders towards improving their chances of making the postseason.
| 1. | Steven Kwan LF |
| 2. | Josh Bell 1B |
| 3. | Jose Ramirez 3B |
| 4. | Josh Naylor DH |
| 5. | Ahmed Rosario SS |
| 6. | Andres Gimenez 2B |
| 7. | Nolan Jones RF |
| 8. | Austin Hedges C |
| 9. | Myles Straw CF |
Mock trade:
Guardians acquire: Josh Bell
Nationals acquire: Xavion Curry, Carson Tucker
Package details:
- Xavion Curry (RHP) (20th best prospect in the organization by MLB.com, 12th best prospect in the organization via FanGraphs, 45 FV)
- Carson Tucker (2B/SS) (17th best prospect in the organization by MLB.com, 15th best prospect in the organization via FanGraphs (from last year, for some reason not in FanGraphs’ top 54 for the Guardians), 2020 first round pick, 40+ FV)
Boston Red Sox
Like the Guardians, the Red Sox are an interesting team to look at as we head towards the trade deadline. The Red Sox currently sit at .500 after getting walloped by the Blue Jays this past weekend and only winning one of their last 10 games. Xander Bogaerts, J.D. Martinez, Christian Vazquez, Kiké Hernandez, and Nathan Eovaldi are all set to be free agents following the season while Rafael Devers has one more year of arbitration before he becomes a free agent. If the Red Sox want to run it back and try to make another deep run in October, they will need to improve their first base situation. The Red Sox have mostly relied on Bobby Dalbec and Franchy Cordero at first base and the two have -0.3 fWAR and 0.0 fWAR respectively. Acquiring Josh Bell would be a huge boost over those two and could have a similar impact to the Red Sox’s lineup that Kyle Schwarber brought them last year.
| 1. | Kiké Hernandez CF |
| 2. | Rafael Devers 3B |
| 3. | Xander Bogaerts SS |
| 4. | J.D. Martinez DH |
| 5. | Josh Bell 1B |
| 6. | Christian Vazquez C |
| 7. | Trevor Story 2B |
| 8. | Alex Verdugo |
| 9. | Rob Refsnyder RF |
Mock trade:
Red Sox acquire: Josh Bell
Nationals acquire: Gilberto Jimenez, Jay Groome
Package details:
- Gilberto Jimenez (OF) (17th best prospect in the organization via MLB.com, 13th best prospect in the organization via FanGraphs, 45 FV)
- Jay Groome (LHP) (11th best prospect in the organization via MLB.com, 16th best prospect in the organization via FanGraphs, 40+ FV)
I am a freshman studying broadcast and digital journalism at the Syracuse University Newhouse School of Public Communications and I'm from New York City. @mlbzone_ on Instagram
