The Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday acquired veteran first baseman Josh Bell from the Miami Marlins in the aftermath of an injury to Christian Walker on Monday night. Miami will receive a player to be named or cash in return.
Bell is in the second season of a $33 million, two-year deal he signed with Cleveland, which traded him to Miami at the 2023 trade deadline. He's due about $5.4 million for the remainder of this season and can become a free agent after the World Series.
The Marlins are expected to absorb a lot of the $5.5 million owed to Bell for the rest of this season, in what is essentially a cash deal, a source told ESPN on Tuesday. Bell, a 2019 All-Star with Pittsburgh who has 166 career homers, was placed on waivers by the Marlins over the weekend.
Walker had to leave Arizona's comeback win on Monday with an oblique injury, and was scheduled to undergo an MRI on Tuesday. The Arizona Republic reported that the news on Walker was better than expected, but even still, the Gold Glove first baseman was put on the 10-day injured list.
Bell, who turns 32 in August, is hitting .239 with 14 homers. He has repeatedly moved to contenders in recent years in midseason deals -- to the San Diego Padres in 2022, the Marlins last year, and this year, to the Diamondbacks, who have surged of late. Arizona has won seven of 10 games since the All-Star break. Bell has 166 career homers and 1,003 hits.
Mike Hazen, the head of baseball operations for Arizona, has indicated to reporters he wanted to make deals that would improve the chances of getting the Diamondbacks back to the postseason this season. He made a deal for lefty reliever A.J. Puk -- another transaction made with the Marlins.
Information from the Associated Press was used in this report.