Twins Sign Bell, Phillies Sign García, Because Nobody Learns From Others’ Mistakes

On Monday morning, the Twins signed Josh Bell to a one-year contract with a mutual possibility for 2027. Between wage, signing bonus, and possibility buyout, the deal ensures Bell $7 million. A pair hours later, the Phillies and outfielder Adolis García agreed to phrases on a one-year, $10 million contract.

Go searching no matter room you’re sitting in as you learn this. Contemplate the fabric of the partitions, the furnishings, no matter home equipment (if any) are in view. The carpet, or wooden or laminate or tile of the ground. Pens and pencils, cleaning soap, hand lotion, energy cables, books, magazines, youngsters’s toys… no matter you may see, what it’d really feel like and style like for those who licked it.

That’s from expertise. In some unspecified time in the future in your life, you set all the things you encountered in your mouth, simply to see what would occur. Should you’ve ever raised a baby, or met a baby, or been a baby, children are at all times placing stuff of their mouths. You already know equally properly that children aren’t supposed to do this. They may choke, or get sick, or in any other case come to hurt by licking the sidewalk.

However they do it anyway, regardless of how forcefully their dad and mom remind them to not. There’s just one solution to know for positive what the TV distant tastes like, and it’s too necessary a problem to take anybody else’s phrase for it.

When these signings dropped, I felt the resigned annoyance of a mother or father watching their preschooler seize a mouthful of crayon. I used to be a child as soon as, I’ve eaten crayons, I do know they’re not good. However I assume everybody has to seek out out for themselves.

I’ve come to comprehend that main league GMs really feel the identical approach about Bell. That is the massive Texan’s seventh group since 2020, together with two stints with the Nationals. In that point, I’ve written about Bell steadily, as a result of he’s a cool and strange participant with a tantalizing mixture of expertise.

Bell is listed at 6-foot-3, 261 kilos, and having been up shut with him in postgame scrums earlier than, I merely don’t consider these numbers. He’s enormous. So enormous I don’t belief any dimensions that present a top and weight, fairly than beam and displacement. He’s one journey to Golden Corral from being sufficiently big to play offensive guard within the NFL.

Accordingly, Bell can actually lay into one. Final season, he was twentieth amongst certified hitters in EV90, at 108.0 mph. Within the 2020s, he has 61 batted balls with an exit velo of 110 mph or extra, tied for forty third in baseball. And but this Nimitz-class man, together with his bat stuffed with thunderous vengeance, has a league-average total whiff charge and genuinely plus bat-to-ball expertise.

Taking out the 2020 season, which was a tough one for Bell, he has performed in 9 main league seasons. On just one event has he posted a single-digit stroll charge, and on just one event has he posted a strikeout charge of 20% or larger. He’s not going up there like Completely satisfied Gilmore; it is a hitter with an uncommon mixture of bodily power, hand-eye coordination, and tactical nuance. If he ever places all of it collectively, he’s going to be a top-10 hitter in baseball.

That’s why 1 / 4 of the league has tried to get into the Josh Bell enterprise. It’s why I maintain squinting to attempt to discover the second it’s all going to click on. Additionally, Bell likes kittens and needs children to learn extra books; he’s very simple to root for.

Nonetheless, the person is 33 years previous, a veteran of a decade and greater than 5,000 plate appearances within the majors, and it hasn’t occurred besides in spurts. The very best of these spurts was the primary half of the 2022 season with the Nationals. Bell will go down as a historic footnote, the man who acquired traded to the Padres alongside Juan Soto, however on the time the deal was made, Bell was matching his extra well-known teammate’s offensive manufacturing.

However Bell struggled after the commerce, slugging simply .271 within the final 53 video games of the season. His full-season wRC+ marks within the three years since have been 104, 101, and 107. Apart from 2020, Bell has by no means been a below-average hitter over the course of a full season, nevertheless it’s been a while since he was considerably above common.

That’s an issue, as a result of I’ve in contrast Bell to a ship twice already, and he accelerates like one too. He was the least worthwhile baserunner within the league amongst certified hitters in 2025; for context, the opposite three guys within the backside 4 have been Alejandro Kirk, Rafael Devers, and Pete Alonso. Bell can be a really poor defensive first baseman, a lot in order that he’s now finest understood as that synonym for poor defensive first baseman: designated hitter.

That places tons of strain on the bat, and an average-ish hitter who has to DH normally finally ends up inside a pair tenths of alternative stage, as Bell has achieved the previous few seasons.

With that stated, this signing is okay for the Twins for 4 causes.

First, Minnesota sort of punted on operating a aggressive baseball crew again in July. Steamer tasks that the distinction between Bell and Alonso in 2026 goes to be about two wins. (I’m not implying Steamer has the present of actual prophecy or something, I simply want a quantity to work with. Should you suppose the distinction will probably be one win, or 4, or extra, the next level stands.) That’s extra more likely to be the distinction between 70 and 72 wins than the distinction between 87 and 89. The Twins are additionally not at the moment inside $120 million of hitting the primary luxurious tax apron; they’ve the cash to spend.

Which leads into cause no. 2: It’s $7 million for one yr. Who cares? Particularly due to the way in which the deal is structured, with $1.25 million due as an possibility buyout. Enter cause no. 3: The Iron Regulation of Josh Bell is that somebody will at all times need to commerce for him on the deadline, and there are 23 groups who haven’t licked him but. Whoever the subsequent man is who thinks he can get Bell to place all of it collectively will probably be on the hook for that buyout as properly.

However then there’s the fourth cause this signing works for the Twins: Bell modified his swing in 2025. He’s placing in additional quick swings from either side of the plate, including bat velocity, assembly the ball out in entrance extra. These are the sorts of changes that helped Geraldo Perdomo, one other man I write about on a regular basis, go from a utilityman to an MVP candidate.

Ah, crap, right here I’m speaking myself into believing in Bell once more. I can’t assist it! See how simple it’s to fall again into previous patterns?

However, I’m not going to speak myself into believing in García once more. He’s one other man I’ve written about loads through the years, beginning in February 2023, with an article titled, “In Which I Discuss Myself Into Adolis García.”

García was the one fairly OK participant on some fairly terrible Rangers groups, with an offensive profile I normally run away from as quick as my little legs will carry me. Right here’s what I wrote in that article:

García has what’s normally a deadly mixture for hitters: He doesn’t draw walks, he chases tons of pitches exterior the zone, and he has a rock-bottom contact charge. In 2022, he was within the twenty first percentile for stroll charge, ninth percentile for chase charge, and eighth percentile for whiff charge. That shouldn’t be survivable, notably for somebody who isn’t… properly, a pitcher, normally, however at the very least a shortstop or catcher.

Then one thing wonderful occurred: Out of nowhere, García developed respectable plate self-discipline. He hit 39 house runs with a ten.3% stroll charge and cobbled collectively 4.7 WAR and a 128 wRC+, each profession highs. As soon as a reasonably OK participant on an terrible crew, García was a core element of a World Sequence champion.

The Phillies have wanted some right-handed punch, particularly within the outfield, for ages. Their two finest hitters are Bryce Harper and Kyle Schwarber, with Bryson Stott and Brandon Marsh as key supporting items within the backside of the lineup. The meant counterbalances to that quartet have dissatisfied. Trea Turner has been good on the entire, however J.T. Realmuto has proven the bodily results of catching 5,000 innings a yr for a decade. Alec Bohm has been OK on stability, however not ok to hit cleanup on a World Sequence contender.

That was purported to be Nick Castellanos’ job, however Castellanos is coming off an annus horribilis in 2025. He completed with -0.6 WAR and ended the yr now not on talking phrases together with his supervisor. Really, I don’t know if I can name 2025 an annus horribilis for Castellanos, as a result of each annus of his Phillies tenure was horribil in some style or different. The worst-kept secret in baseball is that the Phillies are going to chop their longtime beginning proper fielder this winter except they will discover a commerce accomplice to eat among the remaining $20 million left on his contract.

Which they received’t, as a result of, once more, it’s the worst-kept secret in baseball that Castellanos goes to be obtainable without spending a dime fairly quickly. When Phillies president of baseball ops Dave Dombrowski formally introduced the García signing on Tuesday, he didn’t hassle with the pretense of mentioning Castellanos.

Phillies plan to maneuver ahead with this present outfield group, Dave Dombrowski stated: Brandon Marsh/A RHB in LFJustin Crawford in CFAdolis García in RF

— Matt Gelb (@mattgelb.bsky.social) 2025-12-16T17:29:11.005Z

The primary Phillies outfield of this run — Schwarber in left, Marsh in middle, Castellanos in proper — was actually terrible defensively. The 2026 model needs to be fairly good in that respect. Marsh, stretched in middle, is an excellent defender in a nook. The identical is true of García, who had actually abominable defensive numbers in 2024, however appears to have rebounded to common or higher in 2025. There are important questions in regards to the rookie Justin Crawford’s defensive polish, however he’s a 70 runner and deserves an opportunity to show himself.

I’ve seen some criticism of the Phillies’ new outfield alignment, however I feel two thirds of it’s effective. Crawford is a little bit of an odd hitter, with a groundball charge which may not be survivable within the majors, however he’s additionally a former first-round choose who hit .334/.411/.452 as a 21-year-old in Triple-A in 2025. It’s a must to give that man a shot in some unspecified time in the future. Marsh has been a constant 2-plus WAR participant throughout his time in Philadelphia. Even when you need to platoon him, he hit .300/.356/.482 in opposition to righties in 2025, and the Phillies have choices for the quick finish of the platoon: Otto Kemp, Weston Wilson, possibly AFL breakout star Dylan Campbell as soon as the season will get going. And if these guys can’t hack it, I dunno, Rob Refsnyder or whoever needs to be obtainable on a budget. That’s a straightforward downside to resolve.

I’m considerably much less bought on García, whose ability set and batting aspect have made him a well-liked level of commerce conjecture for the Phillies since he was truly good. As a result of he’s not anymore.

“Considerably much less bought” is a softer rephrasing of my preliminary response to this transaction, which was that the Phillies would’ve been higher off throwing $10 million into the Delaware River than spending it on García.

Nearly as good as García was in 2023, the decline since then has been precipitous.

The 39-homer energy of 2023 was 19-homer energy in 2025. On the identical time, he’s hemorrhaged bat velocity over the previous three seasons, whereas nonetheless operating chase and whiff charges within the 30s, putting him within the tenth and fifteenth percentiles, respectively, in these two stats in 2025.

Or how about this for some context: García vs. Castellanos over the previous two seasons.

The Phillies have been hamstrung over the previous 4 seasons by their growing old proper fielder, who swings at all the things and doesn’t hit for sufficient energy to interrupt even offensively. They’re weeks away from throwing $20 million within the sunk price pile to do away with him. And to exchange him, they’ve spent $10 million on an growing old proper fielder who swings at all the things and doesn’t hit for sufficient energy to interrupt even offensively. At the least this one is a good defender.

The García of 2023 could be a steal for $10 million, and precisely what the physician ordered for the Phillies. However that man disappeared in a style that’s according to irreversible age-related ability erosion. Except the Phillies get their arms one some magical elixir, that man isn’t coming again.

If the Phillies do notice this, and search exterior assist for proper subject, García isn’t even a really perfect right-handed platoon accomplice for Marsh. His platoon splits have tended to be small, inconsistent, and even reversed all through his profession. There’s not likely a lot to be gained by hiding him in a diminished position, if it involves that.

In the end, it is a missed alternative for the Phillies, whose monetary sources are huge however restricted. There are less expensive methods to get replacement-level manufacturing from proper subject, and $10 million spent on García could be put to higher use shoring up the crew elsewhere. Greater than that, this was an opportunity to change the composition of the lineup, to at the very least get a radically totally different sort of dangerous proper fielder. As an alternative, the Phillies are doubtless in for lots extra ugly strikeouts with a befuddled-looking Harper standing on second base.

It’s irritating to look at a crew make such an avoidable mistake. However typically there’s nothing to do however sit again and watch. They need to study this lesson for themselves.