The Miami Marlins placed 1B Josh Bell on waivers. This comes after a franchise shaking trade during the weekend. We expect more trades to take place in the next few days and clearly likely lose Bell as well. I still can't stop thinking about the bigger trade and I can understand if most people don't really care about someone who was leaving anyway being waived.
The Miami Marlins are attempting to part ways with another slugger.
Josh Bell has a -0.6 WAR this season and has been inconsistent throughout his career. Even with his hot streak, his batting line sits at .239/.305/.394 this season. He’s also getting paid $16.5 million this season. Is it any wonder that teams aren’t lining up to acquire him?
He’s not a good extension candidate for the Miami Marlins, so it makes no sense for Peter Bendix to go that route. His production and contract make him difficult to trade as well, so this is why he’s ultimately on waivers at this point. This means that if a team claims him, The Fish can discuss a trade with just them, or can just let that team take on the player. I expect the latter to be the plan.
With Josh Bell clearly not coming back to The Fish after the season, the only logical move has been to just part ways with him now. It seems just having another team take on his salary is the best option left. Once again, there’s just no interest in his services on the trade market. I can't imagine any team giving up anyone of value for him, let alone taking on that nightmare of a salary. Can you really blame them for that too?
I’m not sorry if Josh Bell is gone, he really wasn’t that good in the first place. The Miami Marlins aren’t going to the playoffs this season, so getting anything back for him is as good as it gets at this point. I’m not sure they any team will actually claim him, but as I said it was worth a shot. Let’s hope The Fish get at least something out of this.