MLB Free Agency may have slowed to a trickle over the holiday weekend, but it didn’t stop entirely. The Washington Nationals have picked up a couple of familiar free agents, 1B Josh Bell and SP Trevor Williams, for a combined $20 million.
MLB Free Agency: Josh Bell and Trevor Williams to the Nats
Each of Josh Bell and Trevor Williams began his career in Pittsburgh and each has previously played for the Nationals. Williams also had a brief stint with the Cubs before heading to the Mets in the deal that brought us Pete Crow-Armstrong (thanks for that nice half-season of value!).
Williams got the larger overall bag this winter, securing a two-year, $14M contract despite making just 13 starts last season (right flexor muscle strain). He was arguably the best version of himself in 2024, however, earning a 2.03 ERA over 66.2 innings pitched with a 2.79 FIP. The Nationals are clearly banking on him repeating something closer to those results, because he was a bit of a disaster in 2023: 5.55 ERA over 30 starts.
34.7%). That made both pitches more effective, and at just 32 years old, perhaps he has a new baseball life ahead of him.
© James A. Pittman-Imagn ImagesJosh Bell is the latest free-agent first baseman to sign (that market has emptied in the last two weeks), though he gets a much smaller deal overall, 1-year, $6M. Bell, 32, has been in the league for a while, playing for six different teams after four separate trades, and is pretty much always an above-average, switch-hitting bat (albeit one with negative defensive value as a bad first baseman or a DH). He did finish 2024 on a high note, however, slashing .279/.361/.436 (123 wRC+) with the Diamondbacks after a deadline trade from Miami to Arizona.
There’s no real impact on the Cubs here, as neither Josh Bell nor Trevor Williams were Cubs targets (and Williams is not the tier of starter the Cubs are seeking). Likewise, I don’t think Josh Bell signing with the Nationals does anything to Pete Alonso’s market. The Nats were never going to be in on Alonso and Alonso is in a much higher tier than Bell. If anything, this deal may have taken away a potential landing spot for Anthony Rizzo, but that’s about it.
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