Can Heath Bell Take Drew Storen’s Job?

Drew Storen is in line to be the Nationals closer in 2015. Rafael Soriano’s contract is at an end and after his implosion in the second half of the 2014 season, the team was probably glad to see the end of that deal.

Now the Nationals have signed Health Bell, former closer for the Miami Marlins and San Diego Padres, to a minor league deal with an invitation to spring training.

Is Health Bell a threat to take Storen’s closer job? Not likely.

Heath Bell in his prime was a force to be reckoned with. He was a reliable reliever with the San Diego Padres for two years before they named him the closer for the 2009 season. Prior to 2009, he had two saves in his career, both garnered in 2007.

No one (except perhaps some genius with the Padres organization) knew that making Bell a closer would make him a star.

In 2009, he saved 42 games and had an ERA of 2.71. He topped those numbers in 2010, saving 47 games with an ERA of 1.93 – the lowest season ERA of his career. There was not much fall off in 2011, when he had 43 saves and an ERA of 2.44. He was an All-Star all three years.

In 2012, at the age of 33, he was granted free agency and signed a contract with the Miami Marlins for three years and $27 million. His $6 million salary in 2012 bought the Marlins a pitcher who fell off the edge of a proverbial cliff.

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Bell blew four of his first seven save chances with Miami and was temporarily demoted from the closer role. He would regain the closer position, but was demoted permanently to the setup role after the All-Star break. He and Miami manager Ozzie Guillen publically feuded. He finished the year with 19 saves, eight blown saves and an ERA of 5.09. He was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks at the end of the 2012 season, with Miami agreeing to pay $8 million of his salary just to move him.

In 2013 with Arizona, Bell had 15 saves, seven blown saves and an ERA of 4.11. Even after he was traded to Tampa Bay in December 2013, Bell didn’t last long with that organization. He was released in May after sporting a 7.27 ERA over 13 games. Bell signed minor league deals with several teams in 2014, and was not kept by the Baltimore Orioles and New York Yankees for very long. He did not pitch in the majors in 2014 after being released by Tampa Bay.

Bell is a power pitcher who does not rely on finesse, guile, ground ball outs or the like. Generally, when power pitchers lose speed off their fastball and don’t acquire other pitches and evolve, they find themselves out of a job.

Bell will be 37 years old for the 2015 season, and it will have been four years since he has had a good year. He’s been with five organizations since 2012 and no team has been able to get him back to any type of form.

The Nats won’t succeed in that mission either. Bell is not a reclamation project coming off of injury or a guy who was mishandled by another organization where the team could get him turned around. He’s a power pitcher who has reached the end of his career.

Bell has probably been signed by the Nats to fill out spring training rosters. Bell is right handed, which is not a burning need for the Nationals in the reliever department, who need to pick up one or two left handers to fill out the bullpen.

Given Bell’s history over the past three years, he’s no threat to take Drew Storen’s job. If by some miracle he sticks with the Nats organization, he will either start the year in the minors to serve as insurance in the event that a right hander in the bullpen goes down with an injury or as a righty in the bullpen if he has a fabulous spring.

The Nats are deep enough in pitching talent that if Bell doesn’t blow the doors off in spring training and keeps doing it during the season, he will be released and quickly.

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