Heath Bell Trade Rumors: Phillies Throw Their Hat into the Sweepstakes

Less than a few days passed after the 2011 MLB All-Star game before the first major trade domino fell as the July 31st trade deadline creeps closer.

The financially strapped New York Mets agreed to trade Francisco Rodriguez to the Milwaukee Brewers for a bag of peanuts and two players to be named later, which now puts all eyes on the San Diego Padres' Heath Bell in the closer market.

There's no question that the Padres shutdown closer is the biggest name among relievers believed to be available, and as ESPN's own Buster Olney tweeted recently, "[the Phillies] have been considered a front-runner to land a San Diego reliever."

Olney explained that the current leaders of the NL East are interested in Bell as well as his teammates Chad Qualls and Mike Adams.

The Padres are willing to deal any of the three for the right price. Bell is clearly the most likely candidate to move considering he'll be a free agent at the end of this season, with the Padres showing no signs of wishing to retain their only All-Star this season.

There will be plenty of bidders for Bell, including the Rangers, Rays, Diamondbacks and Yankees, according to WEEI's Matt Goisman. There have also been murmurs that the Cardinals might be interested, which would make sense given their closer issues this year.

From a National League standpoint, it's hard not to call the redbirds or Phillies the obvious favorites to land the Padres' ninth inning man.

The Phillies have gotten plenty of big name pitchers over the past few years by any means necessary, and if they're as interested as Olney is saying, then they will be pulling out all the stops to make the deal happen.

The question becomes: Is Philadelphia willing to part with a big name slugging prospect like Jonathan Singleton (ranked the 39th best prospect by Baseball America in 2011) or perhaps one of their young developing arms?

The Padres asking price for Bell is a high one, but given some of the big spenders on the list of teams interested, there's a good chance the Padres closer after July 31st won't be named Heath Bell.

If the Phillies are going after the San Diego bullpen, then odds are they'll be shooting to land the biggest prize of the bunch.