Heath Bell Sweepstakes Going Down to Wire, but He Might Stay a San Diego Padre

The New York Yankees have joined the group.

Now that Ubaldo Jimenez is a Cleveland Indian and Hiroki Kuroda has refused to waive his no trade clause, the Yankees have concluded that by adding bullpen help, they can "shorten" games in order to take pressure off their suspect starting pitching.

General Manager Brian Cashman, who remembers the days when Mariano Rivera would pitch the seventh and eighth innings and then John Wetteland would close out the game, thinks that Dave Robertson could work the seventh, Heath Bell could work the eighth and Rivera would close it out.

In addition, Rafael Soriano has returned from the disabled list.

According to CBSSports,  one of the more reliable sites on the Internet, the Texas Rangers, Philadelphia Phillies and St. Louis Cardinals are also in the hunt for Bell.

The Padres might have waited too long in their attempts to trade him.

The Yankees refused to part with catcher Jesus Montero, RHP Ivan Nova and one of their top two pitching prospects—Manny Banuelos and Dellin Betances when pursuing Ubaldo Jimenez.

Joel Sherman of the New York Post reported today that the Yankees requested Jimenez take a physical but the Colorado Rockies refused. The Yankees suspected that there might be a health issue that has diminished Jimenez' effectiveness since the middle of last season.

The Cardinals have acquired some bullpen help but admit that Octavio Dotel and Marc Rzepczynski are not Heath Bell. Still, it takes off some of the pressure from the Cardinals to acquire Bell.

The Rangers obtained Koji Uehara from the Baltimore Orioles, which lessens their need for Bell.

The Phillies have a surplus of starting pitching and might take a chance by moving either Vance Worley or Roy Oswalt to the bullpen for the playoffs. The downside is that both are starters and it is not unusual for starters to have trouble working out of the bullpen.

It is now just about 2 PM Eastern Time. The Padres are waiting, probably for the last moment, to decide if they will accept a trade for Bell or keep him.

Sources close to the Padres have said repeatedly that they would rather keep Bell than accept a trade they don't like.

Bell will be a Type A free agent, which means that the Padres would receive a first-round pick, which would probably be the 20th pick in the draft.

They would also receive a "sandwich" pick between the first and second rounds, which would probably be the 40th overall selection.

The opinion here is that the Padres would be better off keeping Bell and receiving draft picks if they cannot sign him.

According to Scott Miller of CBS Sports, Bell wants to stay close to home to play for the Padres and may even be willing to give the cash-strapped club a hometown discount.

There is little doubt that the Padres fans would like Bell to remain.

Reference:

Sherman, Joel. "After Yankees Bowed Out, Indians Acquired Jimenez." New York Post. 31 July 2011.