Josh Bell Returning to Nationals on One-Year Deal
First baseman Josh Bell is set to rejoin the Washington Nationals, who’ve acquired a pair of first-base types over the past week.
After trading for Nathaniel Lowe from the Texas Rangers, the club signed Bell to a one-year contract worth $6 million in 2025, the New York Post’s Jon Heyman first reported Sunday night. The deal is pending a physical.
The 32-year-old spent his first five major league seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates before arriving in Washington via trade ahead of the 2021 campaign. He played two seasons with the Nationals, the second of which lasted just two-thirds of the year, as he was sent to the San Diego Padres alongside Juan Soto in the ‘22 blockbuster.
Bell, who captured his lone Silver Slugger Award that season, has bounced around quite a lot since departing the US Capital.
The 2019 All-Star began the ‘23 campaign with the Cleveland Guardians but was ultimately traded to the Miami Marlins mid-season. While he started last season in South Beach, the switch-hitting first baseman finished ‘24 in the desert with the Arizona Diamondbacks.
It was a slow start offensively for Bell in Miami, where he slashed .239/.305/.394 with 14 home runs, 49 RBIs and a 92 wRC+ (100 league average) in 104 games. But he enjoyed a boost in production post-trade in Arizona, albeit over a much smaller sample size.
Across 41 games with the D-backs, the 6-foot-4 slugger blasted five round-trippers and drove in 22 while posting a much-improved slash line of .279/.361/.436 and a 123 wRC+. He also earned additional free passes, increasing his walk rate (10.5 percent) by nearly three percent from his Marlins tenure.
With Lowe at first base, Bell is expected to assume most of the reps at DH next season, supplying another potent bat for a young Nationals lineup headlined by CJ Abrams, James Wood and Dylan Crews.
It’s been a busy off-season for first basemen, with Bell being the latest to join a new team in this game of offseason musical chairs. Others who’ve changed clubs include Christian Walker, Paul Goldschmidt, Carlos Santana, Josh Naylor, Spencer Horwitz and Lowe.
That’s without including Pete Alonso, who remains a free agent but could return to the New York Mets later this winter.
Washington has missed the playoffs each season since winning its only World Series title in 2019. But the franchise hopes to take a step forward in its rebuilding phase next year with the help of new additions like Bell, who could be on the move again if the team falls out of contention by next summer’s trade deadline.
Between making a few offensive upgrades, the Nationals have also attempted to improve their starting rotation this off-season, signing right-hander Michael Soroka in free agency earlier this winter. They also re-signed fellow righty Trevor Williams on Monday, according to The Athletic’s Stephen J. Nesbitt.
But as active as Washington has been thus far, it’ll still likely be tough sledding next season in the jam-packed NL East, with the Atlanta Braves, Philadelphia Phillies and Mets projected to battle for the division title.
-Thomas Hall
Twitter: @Hall_Thomas_
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