Jim Hendry has said that the Chicago Cubs are looking for another reliever, preferably a veteran righty. As horrible an idea as we’ve repeatedly said this is, we don’t really call the shots. And if the Cubs absolutely had to pick up a reliever, they could do worse than the Padres’ Heath Bell.
But he may not actually be on the radar.
The Cubs scoffed at a Chicago-based report suggesting shortstop Ryan Theriot or catcher Geovany Soto might be traded for San Diego closer Heath Bell — an arbitration-eligible righty who figures to make more in 2010 than Theriot and Soto combined. ”Sometimes you just have to laugh,” Hendry said of the internet-age rumor barrage. CHICAGO SUN-TIMES.
Trading Soto for Bell would be beyond comically terrible, so that one is, as Hendry said, laughable. Theriot is less-so, particularly if he’s just going to be shifted to second base in the near future.
Either way, you’ll note that the rumor Hendry denied is Bell for one of Soto or Theriot. He did not deny the Cubs’ interest in Bell. This will be a situation to monitor, just as it was earlier in the year when the Cubs briefly pursued Bell.