Heath Bell: Did San Francisco Giants Claim Bell as Insurance for Brian Wilson?

The San Francisco Giants have reportedly claimed San Diego Padres closer Heath Bell off revocable waivers, sending a buzz throughout baseball.

The claim guarantees that they will be the only team in the league eligible to trade for the closer, which will likely involve a top prospect from the Giants organization.

The Giants, who made the move after placing closer Brian Wilson on the disabled list on Sunday, are currently battling the Arizona Diamondbacks for the NL West crown, similar to their race with the Padres last season en route to a championship.

The concerning thing about Wilson is that he was placed on the DL with right elbow inflammation, in addition to battling back stiffness since spring training.

Longtime Giants fans know all too well what happened to former star closer Robb Nenn, who spent two years rehabilitating three surgeries to his rotator cuff after their run to the World Series in 2002. Nenn never played a game after the 2002 season, finally retiring in 2005.

In that respect, it makes sense that the Giants would look for more help given Wilson's injuries and the fact that he has dropped off a bit in 2011.

Wilson is still one of the best closers in the game, but he's blown just as many saves as last season (five) in 13 less opportunities. On top of that, his ERA has risen from 1.81 to 3.19 and his WHIP has skyrocketed from 1.18 to 1.49.

It's worth noting that Bell, who sports a 2.55 ERA with 35 saves this season, would not be considered a successor to Wilson. He's 33 years old and likely doesn't have a whole lot left in the tank.

But for now, for a team that is desperately trying to recover from Buster Posey's season-ending injury, not to mention a litany of others, Bell gives them a chance to contend for the World Series again.

Make no doubt about it, the Giants are going all-in this season. When you have a chance to repeat, you go for it. The trading of top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler for outfielder Carlos Beltran at the deadline was proof enough of this.

Bell allows the Giants to use him in a closer's capacity until Wilson comes back from injury, in which case Bell will likely be relegated to a setup role, a role he has said he would accept for this season.

It makes a whole lot of sense for this season, for a team that now has worries about a closer they need more than ever given their offense is scoring considerably less than even in 2010.

The worry for Giants fans, of course, is that they will give up another top prospect for a chance to repeat this season, which at the time appears out of reach.

Then again, the Giants got into the same kind of mediocre run for the division title last season and ended up winning the World Series.

You can't count the Giants out after what they did in the postseason last year.