Winter Meetings Coverage: San Diego Padres Shopping Heath Bell

With baseball's winter meetings well underway in Indianapolis, the rumors are starting to fly and there are plenty of names getting a lot of interest.

The San Diego Padres have their own names they've written on their list, a few of those names are on their own team.

Over the past several months, there's been a lot of talk about the possibility that the Padres could trade All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez or closer Heath Bell. All that talk hadn't led to much, but it's starting to heat up and we're not even 24 hours into the meetings.

This morning Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports had reported that the Padres were not intending on tendering a contract to right-hander Kevin Correia by the arbitration deadline this coming Saturday; something that came as a surprise to a lot of Padre fans, especially the way Correia performed last season.

ESPN's Buster Olney also threw his two cents in a few hours later and added that trading Correia could possibly make more sense to San Diego.

After that news came out, all went quiet on the Padres' front. But now there's an article from Phil Rogers of Chicago Sports stating the Padres are "aggressively shopping" closer Heath Bell and that the Chicago Cubs could have interest in him.

If in fact the Cubs are interested, it's likely that they will need to part with Ryan Theriot and Giovany Soto, something the Cubs may not be willing to do. Still, they are trying to rid themselves of outfielder Milton Bradley before moving on to trades or free agent signings.

Other teams that apparently have serious interest in the closer are the Houston Astros and the Texas Rangers.

Bell could possibly make more than $4 million in arbitration, which will end up costing the Padres more after a two-year deal for less than $4 million was pulled off the table by then-CEO Sandy Alderson at the end of the 2008 season.

New general manager Jed Hoyer confirmed that teams had interest in half a dozen Padre players but would not say what names had been talked about during the first day of the winter meetings.

Besides Bell, third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff is also being asked about from other teams, notably the Reds and the Twins. If the Padres were to trade him, it would allow them to move Chase Headley up to third base, giving more at-bats and playing time to Kyle Blanks.

In other Padre news, Bill Center of the San Diego Union Tribune has some updated information outside of player moves for the Padres.

Team owner Jeff Moorad told Center that the 2010 payroll for the team was expected to be in the range of $40 million but said that any decisions that are made will be for baseball reasons and not for financial reasons.

Not only are the Padres getting interest in their own players but the Padres are asking their own questions. They've been most recently linked to Cubs outfielder Reed Johnson who hit .303 in 2008 with six homers and 50 RBI, but was limited to .255 with four homers and 22 RBI due to reoccurring injuries.

Dave Roberts, former Padres outfielder, was named to the team's front office and will be the special assistant to baseball operations.

Chris Gwynn, most notably known to Padre fans as the player who hit the game-winning double to clinch the NL West crown in 1996, was promoted to the Padres director of player personnel.