Heath Bell to the Marlins

[Moonlight J]

If you are saying that you wouldnt be happy if the Rays signed Bell, I would kindly call it a stretching of the truth.

I'd be even more upset if they paid this rate for Bell. The Rays have converted 85% of their saves over the past four seasons while spending $14M total on the role. I'll take that rate + ROI over paying $9M for a job Cishek could have done 80% as well for 1/8th the price.

[mgwiz22]

As a Marlins fan, you should be sick and freaking tired of Leo Nunez blowing every save in August and September...great teams are made with great pitching and defense, which seems to be what Miami is trying to do here.

I mean really, every time Leo came in, did you not expect him to blow the save or at least put a couple of guys on base??

And who says the Marlins wont have the cash to re-sign Stanton because they signed a RP?? They re-upped Hanley and Josh Johnson, and they will do the same for their other great young players.

That's an assumption on your part. Great teams have pitching, defense and hitting as well. That is why they are great.

Bell should certainly be an improvement over the fake Nunez but that money could have been better spent. They have had success finding bargain basement closers in the past and could have done so again. The Marlins need help at 1st, 3rd, the outfield, more depth and the pitching rotation. Bell can't save games if the team isn't winning. I don't like any of the free agent pitching options but there might be pitching that can be traded for if the Marlins would pay the salries. Wandy Rodriguez seems to be available at a reasonable cost for teams willing to absorb his salary. Contracts like Bell's and Buck's prevent the team from addressing their needs and end up being used as reasons or excuses to not spend in the future.

[Sour Masher]

Switching gears to the fantasy/roto impact of this deal--is this a lateral move for Bell? Does he get hurt by moving out of Petco? Is this offset by potentially more save chances on a slightly better team? Is Bell's declining K rates an inidcation he is in decline that both the Marlins and perspective fantasy owners should be concerned about?

Also, how closes for the Padres now? Gregerson?

[Sharky]

Switching gears to the fantasy/roto impact of this deal--is this a lateral move for Bell? Does he get hurt by moving out of Petco? Is this offset by potentially more save chances on a slightly better team? Is Bell's declining K rates an inidcation he is in decline that both the Marlins and perspective fantasy owners should be concerned about?

Also, how closes for the Padres now? Gregerson?

Bell seems to have figured out how to get guys out despite the declining K rate. It's a concern, but maybe not a huge one. Fantasy owners know the Marlins won't pull the ripcord on the guy given the contract.

As for the Padres, I suspect we don't know yet. While I doubt they will go sign Madson, they could easily make a move for someone else to serve as closer (or competition for Gregerson). I don't think we know at this point what it will look like in April (let alone August).