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Former All-Star closer Heath Bell has been signed to a minor-league contract by the Yankees, whose bullpen is in dire straits. What's the worst that could happen?
The New York Yankees signed former three-time All-Star closer Heath Bell to a minor league contract, according to reports from ESPN and the Associated Press.
There is no word yet that they are trying to talk Mariano Rivera out of retirement to help one of the worst bullpens in the majors, but the numbers say they may need it. For the first time since 2007, New York relievers have a collective ERA above 4.00, posting a 4.20 ERA through 201⅔ innings pitched so far this season. That puts them at 24th in the majors, a full 1.84 runs above the majors-leading relievers in Washington, D.C..
One of pitching staff's biggest issues has been its inability to strand runners; the Yankees are at the bottom of the league in the number of baserunners left on base (71.3 percent, 23rd).
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When coupled with the rate at which they've been letting balls leave the park -- 1.07 HR/9, 27th in the majors -- it's a recipe for disaster.
Some of this is natural regression to the mean through the years, but the absence of the player with the lowest WHIP in baseball history doesn't help. Mariano Rivera's greatest advantage -- and thereby, the Yankees' bullpen's -- was the ability to stop players from ever getting on base in the first place. This is one reason why the signing of Heath Bell is so surprising.
Although he never posted the strikeout rates of an Aroldis Chapman or Craig Kimbrel, the former Padre easily ran up numbers in the double digits per nine during his prime, and outside of this season's incredible small sample size, has never been particularly great at inducing groundballs. He also hasn't had a standout WHIP since his .96 in 2007 season with San Diego, and while he's still able to hit over 90 miles per hour on the radar gun, he's lost almost 2 miles per hour off his fastball and slider.
But, with his pedigree, a relatively small market for relievers and Bell's contract situation -- the nine million dollars he's owed are being paid for by the Rays, Marlins and Diamondbacks -- this could end up the best decision the Yankees have made for their relievers since they found made that skinny Panamanian kid and moved him from the rotation to the bullpen.
