Comments on: The Blue Jays are interested in Heath Bell for some reason

By: jaysfan12

jaysfan12 — Fri, 22 Jul 2011 19:04:36 +0000

The Jays system is top 5 in baseball and will likely be 1 or 2 by 2012. The Jays have no room for Cooper and others that are MLB ready. If the Jays are really in on Bell it could be a 3 team trade where AA flips Bell to another team. Hopefully to the Cards for Rasmus.

By: accfanto

accfanto — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:34:13 +0000

The Jays are a low payroll team talking about spending much more in future, and not a lot of teams can say that.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 21:13:50 +0000

Wow ‘harry. Up early in the day, eh? Don’t usually have to smell you till after 6pm. Wassup? Had to see the old parole officer today about the why your ankle bracelet was saying you were too near certain places again?

By: dirtyharry1971

dirtyharry1971 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 18:35:15 +0000

all the draft picks in the world will not help the bluejays, their days are numbered and will soon be joining the expos

By: foreverchipper10

foreverchipper10 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 17:32:31 +0000

Shoot the hostage.

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 16:45:11 +0000

I notice Hill’s not in the game today. Hmmm…maybe Heath Bell is on the way after all….

By: proudlycanadian

proudlycanadian — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:06:12 +0000

Unfortunately draft picks can’t be traded. The prime ML ready trade bait that the Jays have is former first round pick David Cooper. He is hitting .378 in Triple A and has a 1.03 OPS.Giving him up for a rental is a bit much unless there is something else involved in a trade such as Hill’s contract.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:06:05 +0000

Will the Padres get two good prospects in return for a half season of a reliever? I suppose maybe, but it seems a little high to me.

I guess what works against the Jays, though, is that Bell would be worth more to other teams. A team that is in the race could get value out of him this season AND still get the draft picks. So, you’re probably right. Someone else will offer more.

By: bjavie

bjavie — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 15:01:07 +0000

I love it! It’s like when you are out of it towards the end of the fantasy season so you sntach up all the avaialble guys so no one else can!!

By: FC

FC — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:57:39 +0000

Such a trade would only make sense if Bell can be extended long term. They have save conversion ratio of 57% ranked 28th in MLB, the Orioles rank as 29th, number 30th is (you guessed it) the Astros… If they had a much better conversion rate they would likely not be 11.5 games back, maybe 4.5. Still the Jays need more building blocks to be a contender. That offense is good but it’s inconsistent. Starting rotation is good but again consistency… Bullpen… disaster area…

By: FC

FC — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:50:59 +0000

Well actually according to the ESPN MLB Park Factors, AT&T Park is actually the best pitchers park, with its .726 runs ratio in favor of the pitcher. I find it funny that CBP, often derided as a hitters park actually has favorable pitcher ratios in every category except walks…. that caught my attention… how the heck can walks be a park factor?

By: cur68

cur68 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:47:25 +0000

Bell would fill a glaring empty spot for the BeaverBoys. Basically they have Patterson, Davis, Dotel and/or Frank Francisco to offer back plus a first round pick. That might be attractive enough.

Davis and the pick are the only real losses to the Jays. His speed is a tremendous asset and he’s shown signs of shortening his swing and getting on base behind hits. Tempting also are his top 5 stolen base numbers which also make him hard to give up. A Jay’s catching prospect then instead of Davis might be a better fit, but it seems nutty to give up a catching prospect for a 34 year old chubby pitcher. To bad his name wasn’t Sabbathia. That’d be money right there, if it was.

Signing Bell will be tricky (so much depends on Bell’s sate of mind about Toronto) but a 2 – 3 year deal with options might be do-able. The Jays have room to move what with the millstones of Wells & Rios sent to hang around the necks of others.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:39:36 +0000

Aren’t the Padres looking for good prospects in return for Bell? So, is it worth it to give up a couple of your better prospects in hopes that your compensation picks work out for you? Maybe if your system sucks, and I don’t know much about Toront’s system.

It’s not like the Blue Jays would be the only team interested in Bell. They aren’t going to get him with a lowball offer.

By: dan1111

dan1111 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:20:51 +0000

Acquiring him for the draft pick compensation isn’t obviously dumb. A first round pick is pretty valuable. It would all depend on who they have to give up. My guess is, this is what they have in mind. But they can’t exactly say, “welcome to the team, Heath, we don’t really want you, and we sure are going to enjoy it when you leave.” So they have to make up another story.

Trading for him just get the first shot at signing him to a long-term contract seems questionable–actually, forget the trading, just the long-term contract by itself is iffy. Bell has been great for five years, but playing in the best pitchers’ park in baseball. He will be 34 at the beginning of his next contract.

By: dodger88

dodger88 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:19:31 +0000

If the Jays place greater value on the two draft picks compared to what they would have to give the Padres, then by all means make the deal. I can’t see them paying the price he’ll seek as a free agent and he may not want to sign with Toronto regardless so this would almost certainly be a rental for picks.

By: Mark

Mark — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:16:54 +0000

The only way this deal makes sense is if AA uses his Jedi mind tricks to convince the Padres to give up Heath Bell for Aaron Hill. Otherwise I’m not really sure why they’re interested.

By: southpaw2k

southpaw2k — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:04:35 +0000

Derp. Thanks!

By: Chris Fiorentino

Chris Fiorentino — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:58:39 +0000

+1 for the Speed reference.

By: b7p19

b7p19 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:58:17 +0000

I am 100% behind the Blue Jays trading for Bell. They should part ways with their top SS prospect and a ML ready pitcher. – Padres Fan

By: dodger88

dodger88 — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:49:17 +0000

It was Mike Adams who made the passport comment.

By: southpaw2k

southpaw2k — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 13:47:03 +0000

Didn’t Bell make a comment recently that he was applying for a U.S. passport in case he was traded to an AL team? Granted, that statement could apply to any team who has to travel to Toronto to play, and not specifically the Blue Jays themselves. The Blue Jays could be wasting young talent if they only end up renting him for a couple months before he hits the free agent market.