Padres News: Padres Sign Josh Bell To Minor League Deal

No it’s not the Pirates top prospect. I’m pretty sure he could start at either first or third for the Padres this season. Instead, it’s the Josh Bell that once upon a time was a top prospect for the Los Angeles Dodgers as a fourth round pick. The Padres inked him to a minor league deal yesterday according to his agent Joshua Kusnick.

Bell was drafted by the Dodgers in 2005 and was then traded to the Baltimore Orioles in 2009 for George Sherrill. Bell didn’t do much in two years for the Orioles and was then sent to the Arizona Diamondbacks in April of 2012 for a player to be named later. 

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Bell in 100 games over three seasons put up a .195 with a .488 OPS.

Between 2012 and 2014, he was signed to minor league deals and released by the Chicago White Sox, New York Yankees and the Dodgers.

Bell found himself in the KBO last season, playing for LG,  where he hit .267/.345/.433 in 63 games with 10 homers and 39 RBI.

The Bell signing will probably end up being nothing more than minor league depth. He struggled in his last few years of playing at the AAA level. If they can get anything out of him, it’ll be a nice story, but this is more for depth in El Paso.

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