Former Guardians bust lands back in AL Central with Twins for 2026

In the 2023 offseason, the Cleveland Guardians made a big splash (by their standards) by signing Josh Bell to a two-year, $33 million deal in the hopes that he’d help them earn a second straight postseason berth. 

That didn’t end up being the case, as Bell struggled at the start of his Guardians tenure and only hit .233 in 97 games with Cleveland before being traded to the Marlins at the trade deadline.

That trade kicked off a wild 2+ years for Bell, who spent 2024 with the Marlins and Diamondbacks before spending all of the 2025 season with the Nationals. Now he’s back in the American League Central with a Twins team that’s (theoretically) trying to compete while not spending a ton of money. ESPN’s Jeff Passan was the first to report the deal, which hasn’t been confirmed by the club. 

Josh Bell is back in the American League Central after previously struggling with the Guardians 

Bell finished last season with the Nationals, where he slashed .237/.325/.417 with 22 home runs and 63 RBI in 140 games. It was a quasi-reunion for Bell, who had previously spent all of the 2021 and part of the 2022 campaigns with Washington, where he hit .278 with 41 home runs. 

While Bell has been in MLB for nearly a decade, he hasn’t had much success outside of Washington and Pittsburgh (where he started his career). Bell was an All-Star with the Pirates in 2019 and was a career .261 hitter in 552 games with the Pirates, along with posting an OPS+ of 131 across those two stints with the Nationals.

The biggest problem for Bell throughout his career has been his inability to keep the ball off the ground, as nearly 50% of the balls that he’s put in have been on the ground.

He finished last year with above average marks in  hard-hit rate, barrel rate and walk rate, but that penchant for not putting the ball in the air will likely always hold him back. 

Bell’s signing with Cleveland seemed like a clear win at the time given that he (along with fellow signing Mike Zunino) brought some much-needed power to the table. They seemed perfectly engineered to help Tito’s Bloop Troop.

Instead, the exact opposite happened, as Bell had his struggles and Zunino struggled in 42 games before being cut and subsequently retiring. 

That doesn’t mean Bell’s time in Cleveland was a complete loss, however. When the Guardians traded Bell to the Marlins, they also took on the contract of Jean Segura so that they could get former first round draft pick Kahlil Watson in return. 

Watson, who is still just 22, was recently added to the Guardians’ 40-man roster and could be a part of the team’s outfield picture as early as next season. 

While Bell’s struggles stung considering the financial investment the Guardians made for him, the front office was able to pivot and turn the final embers of the trade into a win.