Trade: [PIT/WSH] Josh Bell for Eddy Yean and Wil Crowe

[hockeykicker]

Click to read more...

 

[John Price]

Wonder who the return is

 

[John Price]

Jeff Passan @JeffPassan
1m
First baseman Josh Bell has been traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Washington Nationals, a source tells ESPN. Two young pitchers headed back to Pittsburgh.

 

[John Price]

Jon Heyman @JonHeyman
25s
Eddy Yean and Wil Crowe for Bell is the deal

 

[hockeykicker]

Jon Heyman @JonHeyman
25s
Eddy Yean and Wil Crowe for Bell is the deal

Wait that's it? I think there's gotta be more no?

 

[John Price]

That's it

 

[hockeykicker]

That's it

Pirates just giving him away?

 

[John Price]

 

[The Great Mighty Poo]

2 popcorn eating farts that wont amount to a pot to piss in for the only player worth a shit on your roster, most Pirate trade. #GoNuttingsWallet

 

[John Price]

Yinzers actually think Bell is declining though

"can't DEFEND"

"too INCONSISTENT"

Personally it's a good bat and youth at 1b

 

[Unholy Diver]

Josh Bell has been pretty terrible 2.5 of the last 3 years, maybe he turns it around but he isn't anything special, and he isn't really that young anymore. The Nats didn't acquire prime Miggy or Pujols here, just a guy who fields his position worse than the current day versions of those two guys

 

[Cas]

Josh Bell isn't particularly young (he's 28) and isn't particularly good (he's an above-average but not great hitter who plays first base poorly and can't run) and isn't particularly cheap (he'll likely earn around $6 million this year, which is still probably a bargain compared to the free agent market but not by that much).

He doesn't have a whole lot of value so the return wasn't going to be much. My guess is Bell is out of baseball in four years.

 

[Terry Yake]

damn, the pirates are going to be historically terrible in 2021

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

More like Wil Clowe.

Also, Eddy Yean is not my lover.

 

[MMC]

So apparently people are questioning why Bell didn’t return more, meanwhile I’m questioning how the Pirates got 2 top 10 organizational prospects for a guy who really isn’t that good...

 

[Cas]

So apparently people are questioning why Bell didn’t return more, meanwhile I’m questioning how the Pirates got 2 top 10 organizational prospects for a guy who really isn’t that good...

Wil Crowe is AAAA fodder. If he's one of your team's ten best prospects, your team is screwed.

 

[hockeykicker]

So apparently people are questioning why Bell didn’t return more, meanwhile I’m questioning how the Pirates got 2 top 10 organizational prospects for a guy who really isn’t that good...

Have you seen the Nats minor league system? Its historically bad. Just look up wil crowe stats

 

[Terry Yake]

bell almost hit 40 homers in 2019. not sure why so many people are saying he's not good

he sucked in 2020 but that entire team did. wouldn't be surprised if he bounces back with the nats

 

[Cas]

bell almost hit 40 homers in 2019. not sure why so many people are saying he's not good

he sucked in 2020 but that entire team did. wouldn't be surprised if he bounces back with the nats

He had a good season at the plate in 2019, but his two previous years were mediocre and 2020 was awful (but I'm skeptical of placing too much emphasis on 2020 results, given how weird it was).

Bell is a low average power hitter. He walks a decent amount and doesn't strike out that much, but he's about a .260 hitter, so he needs to hit 30 home runs and walk 70 times to be above average. He plays first base and poorly, so he's not useful unless he's hitting as well as he did in 2019, his peak year (and the only year he's even been close to an average player - the rest of his career, Bell has played like a platoon first baseman/pinch hitter, which would be fine on a roster in 1975 but which is no longer a role a team is willing to spend a roster spot on). Bell has to replicate his best season just to be an average player, and that season is now more than a year away and bookended by a lot of mediocrity, while Bell gets older and more expensive.

A below-average first baseman giving you 15-25 home runs on a league minimum salary is a fine complementary player, but at $6 million he's a luxury unless your team is getting a lot of cheap value elsewhere or is monstrously rich. Bell just doesn't have a lot of value unless he's hitting his peak every year, and I'm extremely skeptical he will reproduce 2019 again. Players with his profile (slow, zero defensive value, low batting averages, decent but not spectacular plate discipline, good but not outstanding power) don't tend to age well as they approach or pass 30, because losing just a little bit of bad speed or foot speed renders them totally useless at the major league level.

 

[Dr Salt]

This works for the Nats, they give up very little. Don't know why the Pirates sell low on Bell. Cheap ownership seems like what I'd think right away. Even if he doesn't replicate 2019, he could still be a solid 110-115 wRC+ player and the Nats need some bats around Soto. I really like this deal for them.

 

[Big McLargehuge]

On one hand f*** the cheap-ass Pirates.
On the other hand Bell was atrocious last year and hasn't been much to write about outside of that hot half-season. The Pirates are the cheapest motherf***ers on the planet and it destroys me...but Bell isn't the kind of guy a small-market team years away from competing again should be building around.

I'm not going to pretend I know shit about who the Pirates got back, but I don't know what kind of franchise is paying top dollar for someone who has been around replacement level more often than not (to be fair Bell hardly costs 'top dollar', but anything over $2 million counts as such for the Bucs. He's still young and there's definitely a road for him to be a quality DH...but he's a risk. At some point the Pirates have to take those risks, but the time to do that is not when you're taking a flamethrower to the moldy crumbs of an otherwise empty pantry.

Bell was a below replacement player last season. This is a good gamble for the Nats, but even as someone who despises pretty much everything the Pirates do I don't completely hate the idea of moving Bell before his value sinks even lower...which given the quality of the Pirates line-up around him and his level of play more often than not was an inevitability if things were maintained. The upside is good enough for Washington to make the deal and the downside is low enough for Pittsburgh to agree.

If he was even just mediocre defensively there'd be a better reason to try to make things work, but most of Bell's offensive production has been pissed away on the field.

 

[darko]

Bell had MVP type 1st half in 2019. Outside of that he's basically above replacement type player offensively. As Big Mc said he's a hole defensively and takes away value he had. You can't carry a player like that at a positive that demands offensive production. Worth a gamble for Nats.

 

[Quid Pro Clowe]

Yeah, I recall Bell falling hard after the strong start.

There are lots of Josh Bell's out there. The lack of value isn't a surprise.

 

[SomeDude]

bell almost hit 40 homers in 2019. not sure why so many people are saying he's not good

he sucked in 2020 but that entire team did. wouldn't be surprised if he bounces back with the nats

You expect people that cheer for the Pirates to be rational?

 

[Canes]

Pirates owner is just gearing up their fans for another long streak of futility. But at least they still have PNC Park, great place to watch a game even if your team is a AAAA team at best.