As wide as that difference actually is, that’d be enough to overwhelm even Papelbon and make his new deal look, well, like something the Marlins would’ve offered a couple weeks ago.

As far as how much cash the Feesh are throwing around, at this point if they merely offered Bell the cumulative difference between what they offered other free agents they’ve been “courting” and what those same free agents have been offered by anyone else, yeah, he’d probably be overwhelmed.

Note to Heath Bell: if you take the hook, be advised that the Spanish they speak out here doesn’t sound much like the Spanish they speak out there. Your cafe con leche may arrive at your table with a wad of lettuce in it.

(a) Did they take this one to Joe’s Stone Crab again;
(b) Who got stuck with the tip, and
(c) has the Chihuahua got iodine poisoning by now? He’s eaten enough crab in the last three weeks to give an octopus indigestion, and
(d) did they give this one the “red carpet” tour of that giant Cuisinart of a stadium that sticks out of little Havana like an infected hair follicle, and finally
(e) what percent of the best offer Bell has already gotten did they offer him?

PS – Now what are they going to do with Juan Carlos Nuñez de Castillo Gomez Infante or whatever his name is now that he’s got his working papers unmuddled? And has the kid figured out who his mother is yet?