Pittsburgh Pirates: Five trade packages for Josh Bell

As the Pittsburgh Pirates look to be deep in a rebuild, star first baseman Josh Bell nears free agency. Where could the Pirates potentially trade Bell and what could they get in return?

The Pittsburgh Pirates are getting closer and closer to having to make a major decision on their star first baseman. Josh Bell will head into arbitration year number 2 and then after the 2022 season will become a free agent.

That is, of course, if the Pirates do not sign Bell to any type of extension. It has been rumored that the Pirates would like to work on an extension for Bell this offseason but there are a few red flags for those talks. The first of which is Bell’s agent, Scott Boras.

Boras is notorious for getting big money deals and might want to have his client wait until his projected first go at free agency in 2022, rather than sign a team-friendly short contract extension in the range of 3-4 years.

The second hurdle for the extension talks would be figuring out Bell’s value after an abysmal 2020. After a 37 home run, .936 OPS All-Star season in 2019 for the switch-hitting first baseman, Bell had just 8 home runs (on pace for 20 if he played as many games as 2019), and a .669 OPS. Partner that with Bell’s poor defense (-7.0 dWAR for his career) and the Pittsbrugh Pirates will have to really consider if extending Bell is worth it.

So what if they decide to trade instead of extend? There will be a market for him. He’s just 28 years old and still has two more years of team control left, and there are always a few teams looking to add a first base power bat to their lineup.

So who are the 5 teams who should be interested in Bell if the Pittsburgh Pirates were to be interested in trading Josh Bell? And what could the Pirates expect in return?

The Nationals will be in the market for a first baseman this offseason

The Nationals had a real problem with the first base position in 2020. Because their veteran franchise player Ryan Zimmerman opted out of the season the job was left to be split primarily between Eric Thames and Asdrubal Cabrera, who both had below average ERA+’s and are now both free agents. Zimmerman has not decided on if he will play in 2021 and even if he did he was a shell of his old self with a .736 OPS in 2019, the last season he played.

This is a trade that the Pittsburgh Pirates may want to pass up on, but it could also be a good gauge of how little value Bell actually has. For example, Bell’s highest WAR season was his All-Star 2019 when he had just a 2.7 WAR, and other than 2019 he hasn’t hit a 1.0 WAR through his career.

However, the Pirates do still acquire two quality prospects and international bonus money. Cole Henry is the 4th ranked Nationals prospect and was their 2nd round pick in 2020. He’s a right-handed starting pitcher out of LSU who threw strikes with ease and currently throws a 90-94 mph fastball. Henry could be a quality middle of the rotation guy one day and the Nationals will be ok parting with Henry as their top 7 prospects are all right-handed pitchers.

Tres Barrera is an MLB ready catcher who will be held back from being a starter due to his hitting, but he is regarded as a great framer with a good arm that pitchers like pitching to. He is currently serving an 80 game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance, so he will still have 20 games left on the suspension in 2021.

The Astros will be looking for a cheap way to stay contenders and add a hitter to their lineup

While the Astros have their first baseman, Yuli Gurriel, locked into a contract extension until the end of 2022, and a full-time DH, Yordan Alvarez, this is still a trade the Astros would consider. The Astros are in danger of losing George Springer, Michael Brantley, and Josh Reddick in free agency, and Justin Verlander will miss all of 2021 due to Tommy John surgery.

They will need to add another bat into their lineup at a low cost, and Bell could offer just that. The probable situation to fit Bell into the lineup would be as a rotating first baseman with 36-year-old Yuli Gurriel and then spending his other days in the lineup as the DH (pushing Yordan Alvarez to the outfield) or his original position in the minors with the Pittsburgh Pirates, right field.

The return for the Pittsburgh Pirates in this trade isn’t sexy, but it’s sizable. The big piece would be the Astros 7th ranked prospect Alex Santos, the 72nd pick in the 2020 draft. Santos has a good mid 90’s fastball with a high spin rate and he could be a staple in the Pirates rotation, just not until a few years from now.

Luis Garcia is the Astros 13th rated prospect and pitched in 5 games in 2020 with a 2.92 ERA. He has pitched out of both the bullpen and the rotation but is probably better suited for the bullpen.

The last piece could end up being of great value to the Pirates. Taylor Jones is a 26-year-old utility prospect with good hitting statistics in the minors and he played a few games in 2020. He could be an everyday starter for the Pirates, while the Astros would have a hard time finding a spot for him in the lineup. Jones has a 6′ 7″ frame and recently discovered his power potential in AA and AAA. So, even though he is the 20th ranked prospect in a poor farm system, he could be a cheap everyday utility player who will hit free agency at age 32.

The Indians have a lot of decisions to make this offseason. One of them is to decide what to do at first base.

It has been reported that Francisco Lindor will be traded before opening day. This will be a big blow to an Indians team who can certainly make the playoffs again in 2021. The other big blow that they might take this offseason is losing their first baseman, Carlos Santana. If they lose him on the open market, they might look to the Pittsburgh Pirates for a younger version of Santana. Bell and Santana are extremely similar. Poor defense throughout their careers, amazing .900+ OPS All-Star 2019’s, and then bad 2020’s.

This is the type of trade that one team will win, and one team will lose, as the Indians will send two lower-ranking prospects with high ceilings. Daniel Espino is a 19-year-old Panamanian starting pitcher who can hit triple digits and consistently is in the upper 90’s with his fastball, but of course, control is the major problem that he will have to figure out.

Bobby Bradley is an MLB ready power-hitting first baseman. He has consistently been an outstanding hitter in the minors with an .846 OPS over his 6 seasons in the minors. However, he will have to get better on defense and adjust to the MLB as he had 49 major league plate appearances for the Indians in 2019 and only hit .178 with a .600 OPS and a homer. He was a member of the Indians 2020 player pool but was never called up, despite the Indians’ offensive woes.

The White Sox are looking to be contenders and could slot Bell into the DH role

The White Sox made the playoffs for the first time since 2008 last season and are now looking like they will be competing for the next few seasons. If they want to be real World Series contenders the next couple of years they will have to acquire more hitting and Josh Bell could be the answer. He could platoon at first base with the 2020 AL MVP Jose Abreu, with one at first and the other as the DH.

Matthew Thompson is the White Sox 8th ranked prospect and has a low 90’s fastball with a good curveball. The White Sox would be ok with parting with Thompson since he is the White Sox 6th highest ranked pitching prospect and isn’t projected to be up in the majors until 2023.

Micker Adolfo is the White Sox 9th ranked prospect and has a prospect rating for power of 55 (20-80 scale), but his hitting has not progressed like Chicago would hope. In 6 seasons in the minors, Adolfo has a .733 OPS, and he is now 24 and has not played a season in AAA. Because of this, the White Sox would be okay giving him to Pittsburgh and the Pirates could hope that they can unlock Adolfo’s potential. The last piece of the deal is Tyler Johnson, a 25-year-old right-handed relief pitcher who is the White Sox 24th ranked prospect.