Miami Marlins Trade Former All-Star Slugger Josh Bell to Arizona Diamondbacks

The Miami Marlins have agreed to trade first baseman Josh Bell to the Arizona Diamondbacks, The Miami Herald’s Craig Mish was first to report Tuesday.

Bell had been placed on waivers. The Diamondbacks will send cash considerations back to Miami, paying off $2.25 million of Bell’s remaining salary, per The Arizona Republic’s Nick Piecoro.

Arizona has had Christian Walker serve as its everyday first baseman since 2019, winning Gold Gloves in 2022 and 2023. Walker left Monday’s game against the Washington Nationals with oblique soreness, though, so the Diamondbacks apparently wanted to add some insurance at the position.

Bell, who is set to turn 32 years on on Aug. 14, is batting .239 with 14 home runs, 49 RBI, a .699 OPS and -0.6 WAR this season. He is on pace for his least productive MLB season yet, excluding his partial rookie year in 2016 and the COVID-shortened 2020 campaign.

Ever since getting traded from the Pittsburgh Pirates to the Washington Nationals in December 2020, Bell has constantly been on the move. He got traded to the San Diego Padres in 2022, signed with the Cleveland Guardians the following offseason and got traded to the Marlins ahead of the 2023 deadline.

Bell is a career .258 hitter with a .790 OPS, averaging 24 home runs, 87 RBI and a 1.3 WAR per 162 games. The 2019 All-Star and 2022 Silver Slugger is set to become a free agent this winter.

The Marlins have been on a fire sale as of late, dating all the way back to when they sent Luis Arraez to the Padres in May. They traded left-handed pitcher AJ Puk to the Diamondbacks and center fielder Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the New York Yankees last week, then sent starting pitcher Trevor Rogers to the Baltimore Orioles earlier Tuesday afternoon.

All-Star closer Tanner Scott is reportedly likely to get dealt as well with the 6 p.m. ET deadline fast approaching.

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