Miami Marlins move on from a red hot slugger

It's been in the works for a week or so, but the Miami Marlins have finally moved on from red hot but struggling first baseman Josh Bell. This is just a small part in the increasingly busy Trade Deadline period. Josh Bell is moving on to the Arizona Diamondbacks for cash, what should we think about this move at this time?

The Miami Marlins have traded Josh Bell to the Arizona Diamondbacks

Josh Bell was never a long-term piece for the Miami Marlins. The slugger has never been a symbol of consistency. He played for the Pittsburgh Pirates from 2016 to 2020. He spent 2021 and half of 2022 with the Washington Nationals. He also spent about half of 2022 with the San Diego Padres. He split 2023 with the Cleveland Guardians and the Miami Marlins. He spent half of this season with The Fish, but now he will play for the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bell was never consistently good with the bat, or with the glove for that matter. His best season with Pittsburgh came in the "juiced-ball" 2019 season. He batted .277/.367/.569, with 37 home runs and 116 RBI, in 143 games and 527 AB. Overall, he batted .261/.349/.466 in 552 games and 1900 AB for the team. It was a solid but ultimately unspectacular run.

With Washington in 2021, he batted .261/.347/.476 with 27 home runs and 88 RBI, in 144 games and 498 AB. Splitting 2022 with Washington and San Diego, Bell batted .266/.362/.422, with a disappointing 17 home runs and 71 RBI in 156 games and 552 AB. He was pretty disappointing in Cleveland, batting .233/.318/.383, with 11 home runs and 48 RBI in 97 games and 347 AB. Moving on to the Marlins, he batted .270/.338/.480 with 11 home runs and 26 RBI, in 53 games and 200 AB.

So far this season, Josh Bell has batted .239/.305/.394, with 14 home runs and 49 RBI in 104 games and 398 AB. He's clearly not worth his $16.5 million salary this season and his -0.6 WAR is a reflection of that. The 31 year old clearly had no future with The Fish and it was time to move on. Arizona will use him more as a bench piece and an injury fill-in for their first baseman Christian Walker. I assume that Jake Burger will take over first base for the Miami Marlins going forward.