River Avenue Blues

River Ave. Blues ยป Heath Bell

DotF: Murphy, Sanchez, and Fowler all homer on a busy night

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Got a bunch of notes to start the nightly recap:

  • In case you missed it earlier, C/1B/OF Peter O’Brien and RHP Luis Severino will represent the Yankees at the Futures Game next month. Seems like O’Brien got the nod over OF Aaron Judge simply because Team USA needed a third catcher and another first baseman.
  • OF Slade Heathcott is done for the season following his latest knee surgery, VP of Baseball Ops Mark Newman confirmed to Chad Jennings. The kid just can’t stay on the field. Slade will have played 230 of 576 possible games from 2011-14 by time the season ends.
  • Newman also confirmed IF Dean Anna has been activated off the Triple-A DL and LHP Nik Turley will join the RailRiders’ rotation on Thursday, says Jennings. Donnie Collins reports RHP Diego Moreno has also been activated and RHP Heath Bell was released. Good thing everyone freaked when they signed him.
  • LHP Dan Camarena has been promoted from High-A Tampa to Double-A Trenton, according to Nick Peruffo. The knows how to pitch southpaw had a 2.72 ERA (3.78 FIP) in 76 innings for Tampa. I’ve always been a fan.
  • And finally, remember RHP Jose Mesa Jr.? He was the Yankees’ 24th round pick back in 2012, but apparently he had some kind of surgery and has not pitched. Well, based on his Twitter feed, Mesa will make his debut on Thursday. Neato.

Triple-A Scranton (7-5 loss to Rochester)

  • LF Jose Pirela: 1-4, 2 R, 1 HR, 2 RBI, 1 BB, 1 K — second straight game with a homer and third in his last five games
  • 2B Rob Refsnyder: 0-2, 1 R, 2 BB, 1 K
  • C John Ryan Murphy: 2-4, 1 R, 1 2B, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 2 K — 6-for-17 (.353) with four doubles and a homer since being sent down
  • 3B Scott Sizemore: 1-4, 1 K
  • DH Kyle Roller: 0-4, 3 K
  • SS Dean Anna: 1-4, 1 E (fielding)
  • 1B Austin Romine: 0-3, 1 BB — first career game at first base
  • RHP Bruce Billings: 6 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 5 K, 1 WP, 7/6 GB/FB, 1 E (fielding) — 62 of 93 pitches were strikes (67%)
  • RHP Preston Claiborne: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 2/0 GB/FB — 19 of 36 pitches were strikes (53%), though one of the walks was intentional … he left the game with the trainer for an unknown reason, which is kind of a big deal because he’s the spare reliever who gets the call whenever an arm is needed

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Yankees sign Heath Bell to minor league contract

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The Yankees have signed former All-Star closer Heath Bell to a minor league contract, according to Chad Jennings. The struggling Mark Montgomery was demoted from Triple-A Scranton to Double-A Trenton to clear a roster spot. He’s walked 18 in 29.1 innings this year.

Bell, 36, had a 7.27 ERA (4.52 FIP) in 17.1 innings for the Rays before being released earlier this year. He spent some time in Triple-A with the Orioles after that (4.22 ERA and 3.24 FIP in 10.2 innings), but eventually opted out of his contract when they didn’t add him to the MLB roster. Triple-A Scranton currently has six pitchers on the disabled list and they simply need some arms to abuse the next few weeks. Bell will be that guy.

Sunday’s Trade Deadline Open Thread

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The non-waiver trade deadline is 4pm ET today, though we’ll occasionally see news of a deal leak out a little later than that. I remember word of the Kerry Wood trade broke at like, 4:15pm ET last year. Do the Yankees have a starting pitcher up their sleeve? We’ll find out soon enough. Let’s keep track of the latest here throughout the day, with the most recent news up top…

  • The Yankees aren’t going after any big-name arms at the moment, if anything they’ll make small, incremental upgrades. (Morosi)
  • Nevermind, Wandy’s not going to Cleveland. The Yankees wanted the Astros to pick up half the money on the lefties deal, but Houston said no and talks about the left-hander are dead. (Justice, Heyman & Jayson Stark)
  • The Yankees are not deep in any talks, and get this, it sounds like Wandy is heading to the Indians for two minor leaguers. How about that. (Olney & Richard Justice)
  • Bell Mike Adams is apparently headed to the Rangers. It was unlikely the Yankees would get him anyway, but at least now we don’t have to worry about it. (Ken Rosenthal)

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Scouting The Trade Market: Heath Bell

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(Photo Credit: Flickr user SD Dirk via Creative Commons license)

Although Rafael Soriano is expected back from his elbow injury reasonably soon (he’s eligible to come off the disabled list shortly after the All-Star break), Joba Chamberlain’s injury leaves a rather sizable hole in the back of the Yankees’ bullpen. David Robertson has stepped up and performed better than expected, but there’s no such thing as too many quality bullpen arms.

One quality bullpen arm that will almost certainly be available this summer is Heath Bell of the Padres, a team that is eleven games back in the loss column of the top spot in the NL West and ten games back of the wildcard. They’ve won four of their last five games but lost six in a row and nine of ten immediately prior to that. San Diego also sports one of the very worst offenses in baseball (.291 wOBA) and they don’t exactly have the wherewithal (or motivation, given their deficit) to go out at the deadline and add the bat or three they need to contend. Let’s break down the good and the bad…

The Pros

  • With no significant platoon split and a four-plus year track record of excellence (2.59 FIP from 2007-2010), Bell is about as safe as relievers come. He misses bats with a 92-95 mph fastball, low-80’s curveball combination, and has been very consistent when it comes to his walk rate (between 3.10 and 3.60 BB/9 from 2007-2010) and ground ball rate (44% to 48% over those four years) since getting to San Diego.
  • He’s not just a product of spacious Petco Park, for those wondering. Since the start of the 2009 season, Bell has held opponents to a .220/.301/.289 batting line at home and .211/.273/.268 on the road. Of the four homers he’s given up in that time, three have actually come in Petco.
  • Bell is very durable, having never visited the disabled list in his big league career and throwing no fewer than 69.2 IP in any season since getting to San Diego. His fastball velocity is holding up fine as well. I guess 6-foot-3, 260 lb. right-handers are built for innings.
  • He’s done it all for the Padres. Bell started out as a low leverage middle relief guy before working his way into Trevor Hoffman’s top setup man, then he took over for the likely Hall of Famer three years ago. I’m not sure the whole “he needs to get used to not having the adrenaline rush of the ninth inning” argument would hold water here.
  • Bell is just a rental and won’t eat up 2012 payroll. He projects to be a Type-A free agent (rather comfortably) at the moment, so he could bring two draft picks after the season.

The Cons

  • Bell’s strikeouts are down considerably this year. After whiffing 11.06 batters per nine innings last year (10.21 K/9 in 2010), he’s dropped down to just 6.97 K/9 this year. His swing-and-miss rate is still above average at 9.1%, but that is down from double digits in the last few years.
  • He doesn’t have any traditional playoff experience, the closest thing is 2.2 IP in Game 163 against the Rockies back in 2007. Bell did pitch in each of the Padres’ last four games last season (and in six of their final ten), which were essentially playoff games as they tried to hold off the Giants. I don’t put much stock into this stuff, but some October experience is better than none.
  • Bell is not cheap, at least not on the reliever pay scale. His $7.5M salary this year is broken down into $1.25M per month, give or take a few hundred thousand.

The Yankees could use one more late game reliever and Bell is as good as they come, but I can’t help feel like the cost will greatly outweigh the production. Some similar (and recent) trades that come to mind include Eric Gagne (Rangers to Red Sox), Matt Capps, and Brandon League, though none of them are perfect comparisons. Gagne was the only other rental, plus Bell was straight up better than all three of those guys. Regardless, they all required at least one premium piece going the other way, and I can’t see why the Padres would expect something less for what amounts to the best reliever in the National League over the last four or so seasons.

Ken Davidoff reported yesterday that the Yankees have called the Padres to discuss Bell’s availability, but they haven’t been as aggressive as some other clubs. That sounds like due diligence more than anything. Another bullpen arm would certainly be a welcome addition, especially one of Bell’s caliber, but the Yankees have bigger fish to fry at the trade deadline, namely a starter that can legitimately pass for a number two. Bell’s just a luxury at the moment.