As if the Yankees’ lost weekend in Boston was not rough enough, it turns out the Bombers are suffering some carryover effects—Anthony Rizzo will be out at least a month and likely longer with a fracture in his left arm suffered during a collision in Sunday night’s 9-3 loss to the Red Sox. As is true of everything that happens here in the doldrums of June, with 50 days to go until the MLB trade deadline, the injury may well have an impact on the Yankees’ swap strategy.
That is the view from SNY’s Andy Martino, in a video posted to the site on Monday. In it, Martino cites an example of a first baseman who should well be on the market via trade next month. That would be Josh Bell of the Marlins, a team that appears to be on the brink of a complete teardown.
Bell was an All-Star for the Pirates in 2019, but is 31 now and pretty clearly on the wane. He is batting .240 with seven homers and 54 strikeouts, adding a .371 slugging percentage that registers as a career low, excluding the pandemic season. Bell was a teammate of Juan Soto in Washington, and was traded with him to the Padres in 2022. He signed with Cleveland the following year, and was dealt to Miami.
A potential Yankees trade would give Bell five teams in three seasons.
Yankees Trade Plans Simplified by Rizzo Injury?
Now, .240 and seven homers does not sounds like much, but Rizzo had been struggling so badly that those look like Hall of Fame numbers in comparison. Rizzo has a slash line of .223/.289/.341 this year, making first base an unacceptable dead spot in the lineup. The Yankees were expected to upgrade, or at least to get help for Rizzo at first with a utility player.
Here’s how Martino put it during his breakdown at SNY:
“When Anthony Rizzo was mired in a deep slump earlier in the season, I still got the sense that, in terms of trade deadline thinking, the Yankees are still more inclined to look for a complementary piece, say a guy who could play a little bit of first, a little bit of third, where the Yankees have not gotten any production either, and address the situation that way, rather than, say, cutting Rizzo, who if course is a very high profile player and popular in the clubhouse.
“Now that Rizzo is going to be out for a few months with a fractured arm, it is a terrible thing for the players and a shame for his teammates, but it does simplify what the Yankees can do at the deadline a little more because where before it would have been tricky to get a Josh Bell from Miami, first base is now more open so they could look for a full-time first baseman.”
Josh Bell Would Be a Cheap Get
Bell would make sense as a fill-in, and could come exceptionally cheap. Bell is in the second year of a two-year, $33 million contract he signed with the Guardians in 2022. But USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported this week that the Marlins know they’ll have to foot the bill for Bell if they hope to dump him off for a prospect.
“The Marlins plan to trade first baseman Josh Bell but realize they will have to eat most of his remaining $16 million contract,” Nightengale wrote.
Until a more permanent solution comes to fruition, the Yankees will shift pieces around to cover first base. D.J. Mahieu is expected to handle first-base duties for now.
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