Getty Images When the Marlins gave veteran closer Heath Bell a three-year, $27 million free agent contract this winter, most people called it an overpay. Two weeks into the 2012 regular season, it’s looking like an abomination.
Bell surrendered four runs — two earned — in the top of the ninth inning of Saturday night’s 5-4 loss to the light-hitting Astros, who were held (quite easily) to one run through the game’s first eight frames.
Last Sunday, Bell yielded four hits and two earned runs in a blown save opportunity against the Reds.
The 34-year-old right-hander is now 0-for-2 in save chances with Miami and is sporting a brutal 12.00 ERA and 3.67 WHIP in three total innings of work (four relief appearances). His fastball is averaging 92.7 mph, down from the 94.0 mph mean that he registered in his final season with the Padres.
“I feel like crap,” Bell told beat writer Juan C. Rodriguez of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel late Saturday night. “It’s really hard to look at my teammates and them have confidence in me because I haven’t had it. I have confidence in my ability, but I haven’t shown them I can do it.”
It’s probably safe to assume that the Fish are suddenly missing Juan Carlos Oviedo.
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Donovan Tate, a spring training no-show, has finally returned to the Padres organization
Jun 18, 2013, 8:28 PM EDT
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Donovan Tate, the third overall pick in the 2009 MLB Amateur Draft, was a no-show this spring at Padres camp due to what was described by club officials as a personal matter. Now more than four months later, that personal matter has apparently been resolved. Corey Brock of MLB.com reports that Tate finally arrived at…
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More injury issues here for the Toronto Blue Jays. According to MLB.com’s Gregor Chisholm, right-hander Brandon Morrow suffered a minor setback Monday during his rehab debut with High-A Dunedin and has been sent back to Toronto to have his ailing forearm examined by the Blue Jays’ team doctors. Morrow was placed on the 15-day disabled…
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Amanda Comak of the Washington Times reports that Denard Span is back in the Nationals’ starting lineup on Tuesday night against the Phillies after sitting out Monday due to a bruised right foot. Span has fouled two different balls off his foot this month but has managed to avoid a major injury. He is starting…
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As expected the Rockies announced that Roy Oswalt will be called up from the minors to start Thursday against the Nationals. Oswalt, who signed a minor-league deal with Colorado last month, posted a 2.16 ERA and 25/7 K/BB ratio in 33 innings spread over five starts at Double-A to convince the Rockies he was ready…
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The San Jose lawsuit against Major League Baseball should be thrown out of court
Jun 18, 2013, 4:32 PM EDT
So I’ve read over the lawsuit filed by San Jose against Major League Baseball. Initial reaction: it’s more full of crap than Bob Melvin’s office was on Sunday afternoon. The essence of the suit: Major League Baseball is a monopoly. It should be an unlawful monopoly. This would-be unlawful monopoly is preventing the Athletics from…
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Reuters
The injury hits just keep on coming for the Yankees, who announced that Kevin Youkilis needs surgery to repair a herniated disc and will be out for 10-12 weeks. That puts Youkilis’ season in jeopardy, because 10 weeks would get him into September and any setbacks would leave him running out of time. Youkilis hit…
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AP
Lonnie Chisenhall began the season as the Indians’ starting third baseman, got demoted to the minors after hitting just .213 with a .604 OPS in 26 games, and is now back in the majors after crushing Triple-A pitching for a month. Chisenhall hit .390 with six homers and a 1.132 OPS in 27 games at…
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Cancel the no-hitter alert: Matt Harvey gives up an infield single to Jason Heyward
Jun 18, 2013, 3:10 PM EDT
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UPDATE: Forget it. Jason Heyward just reached on an infield single. A weird looking one as Harvey fielded the ball between the mound and first and then flipped it to … no one. Scored an infield hit, which makes sense considering that errors are rarely called on bad decisions by fielders — in this case…
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Reuters
General manager Brian Cashman hinted pretty strongly yesterday that Mark Teixeira was headed back to the disabled list and sure enough the Yankees are making the move, shutting down the first baseman again with more wrist problems. Teixeira managed to play just 15 games between DL stints, hitting .151 with a .609 OPS after missing…
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San Jose sues Major League Baseball, challenging its monopoly power
Jun 18, 2013, 2:27 PM EDT
The City of San Jose has sued Major League Baseball in an effort to get the Oakland A’s to relocate to San Jose, to challenge the Giants claim to rights over the territory and to challenge Major League Baseball’s long-standing monopoly power. The lawsuit, a copy of which can be seen here, and which is analyzed…
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Jon Hamm is a big St. Louis Cardinals fan and Ryan Fagan of The Sporting News talked to the “Mad Men” star about a bunch of baseball topics, including: SN: Are you friends with any of the current Cardinals? HAMM: I know a couple of them. I wouldn’t say “friends” but I’m text pals with…
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Original Biogenesis source: “the people running Major League Baseball are the biggest scumbags on Earth”
Jun 18, 2013, 2:00 PM EDT
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This reads like a crime thriller. It’s the story of Porter Fischer, the Biogenesis employee who took Tony Bosch’s notes and records, turned them over to the Miami New Times and unleashed the biggest PEDs scandal since BALCO. He has allowed the Miami Times to tell his story. All kinds of unseemliness here. A large…
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Less than 48 hours ago manager Charlie Manuel was quoted as saying that Carlos Ruiz was “four or five days” away from rejoining the Phillies, but the catcher was just activated from the disabled list for tonight’s game. Ruiz returns after missing the past month with a hamstring injury and he’s played just 16 games…
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Alex Cobb is on the seven-day concussion disabled list after being hit on the head by a line drive Saturday and manager Joe Maddon told Marc Topkin of the Tampa Bay Times that there’s no timetable yet for the right-hander’s return to the Rays: He’s feeling a little bit better, obviously not tremendously better. It’s…
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AP
You may have heard this story before — it often gets mentioned as an aside in Vin Scully features — but Brian Costa of the Wall Street Journal writes today about the time back in 1964 when some New York ad men approached Scully and told him that, if he was interested, the Yankees broadcasting…
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That plus some musings on games starting at 11pm and ending at nearly 1:30 AM.
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Late last night a bus carrying the Twins’ rookie-ball team “was involved in a wrong-way interstate crash in Florida that killed the driver of the other car,” according to the Associated Press. According to police no one on the Elizabethton Twins’ team bus was injured, but the driver of a Honda that was “traveling south…
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The Mets may have too — the game started nearly four hours after the scheduled game time and the teams play a day-night doubleheader today — but Mark Bowman reports from the Braves’ side of things: The Braves players didn’t get a response when they called the union last night to discuss starting the game…
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AP
Justin Maxwell hit just .128 in 11 games while on a minor-league rehab assignment for a fractured left hand, but the Astros have activated him from the disabled list anyway. Maxwell has been out for nearly two months and in his absence Brandon Barnes has played well as the Astros’ starting center fielder, so it’ll…
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Clay Buchholz to throw today, possibly be placed on the disabled list
Jun 18, 2013, 11:07 AM EDT
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Clay Buchholz was scratched from today’s start due to neck discomfort. But he will throw today, reports Sean McAdam of CSNNE.com. If he feels good, he’ll likely make his next start. If not, it’s disabled list time and Allen Webster or Rubby De La Rosa will take his place. Buchholz leads the majors with a…
