Yesterday, Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports reported that the Mets and Marlins were discussing a deal before the trade deadline that would send Jason Bay to Miami, and bring Heath Bell and John Buck to the Mets. Although they weren’t close to a deal, they were discussing.

All three players in this proposed trade are overpaid and not performing. However, it would be one that could could benefit both sides greatly. The Marlins would get a starting left fielder. They could move Logan Morrison to first base to replace Carlos Lee. On the Mets side, it would give them bullpen help and a backup catcher, two huge holes on their roster.

If the Mets and Marlins had gotten a deal done, they would be exchanging big contracts. Bay has about $20 million or so left on his current deal, while Bell and Buck combined have just a little bit more than that. The money would have likely been very close in this trade scenario, which I will talk about in a bit.

It’s very possible that a change of scenery would help Heath Bell and turn him back into the dominant force that he was in San Diego. And I’m not a big fan of John Buck, but he is certainly an upgrade from Mike Nickeas and Rob Johnson, right?

Of course, there is always the possibility that neither of them will regain the high level of play that earned them their big contracts in the first place. But if that happens, the Mets could just release both of them, just like they would have done with Bay. They will be on the hook for the $20 million or so Bay is being owed anyway, so if they can’t get avoid paying it, why not take a chance with Bell and Buck, two players who could still bounce back? Am I making sense here? It’s just a low-risk, high reward situation for both teams. The Mets are going to pay SOMEBODY a lot of money. It seems clear that Bay is done for good and that he will never turn his career around. However, we don’t know that the same is true for Buck and Bell, so if you’re going to dish out $20 million, wouldn’t the logical choice be them?

We still don’t know any details about the negotiations, nor will we ever. My guess is the Marlins were the ones who turned it down because Bay has shown no signs of life, while Bell has. However, if it was the Mets that that were reluctant to make this trade, they made a mistake.

Check out even more of my Mets writing at UpAlongFirst.com. Also make sure to follow me on Twitter @UpAlongFirst.

Each year, Major League Baseball’s Winter Meetings are the best time for teams, executives, and agents to make deals, whether they’re free agent signings or player trades. After the busy week finishes amongst some of the most powerful figures in professional baseball, a lot of the most sought after free agents have either been re-signed to their original team, or find a new home for the next few years. This year at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, two teams made bigger splashes than the others: the Miami Marlins and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

I think that the biggest shock for not only the Winter Meetings, but for the entire off-season thus far is the willingness of the Miami Marlins front office to open their pockets and court the biggest free agents of the winter. The organization made three major signings, agreeing to terms with closer Heath Bell (3-years/$27 million), shortstop Jose Reyes (6-years/ $106 million), and starting pitcher Mark Buehrle (4-years/ $58 million). In a span of about a week, the Marlins spent $191 million. That’s a heck of a lot of money, considering the organization has never been known to be a big spender and sells off most of their old talent once they’ve become too expensive.

The payroll in Miami will be jumping to over $100 million for the first time in the team’s history, quite a large increase from the 2011 payroll of $57 million. So, how in the world can the Marlins afford these top tier free agents all of a sudden? Well, as most of you know, they will be opening up a brand new, state-of-the-art stadium right in downtown Miami. Tim Kurkjian reported on ESPN this week that the Marlins are not only getting out of one of the worst leases in the MLB with the opening of their new stadium, but they are projecting to sell a lot of tickets this year and beyond, creating a new revenue level they’ve never been able to achieve before. So, instead of waiting until they reach that point to spend money on free agents, they have decided to do so now, creating more excitement to the team. The one thing that makes me suspicious is that none of these contracts includes no trade clauses, and when they were courting Albert Pujols, they wouldn’t bend on their stance. In my eyes, it is because of their past fire sales once they won their two World Series titles in 1997 and 2003. They have successfully created more excitement; now it will be a question as to whether it puts people in the seats and if these big time free agents stay in Miami for the length of their contract.

The other team that made a big splash at the end of the Winter Meetings was the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, by singing first baseman Albert Pujols (10-years/ $254 million) and starting pitcher C.J. Wilson (5-years/$77.5 million). LA was rumored to be linked with Wilson for most of the winter, mostly because he is originally from Southern California. Before Angels GM Jerry DiPoto swooped in and signed Wilson, his agent proclaimed that his pitcher was less than an hour away from signing with the Marlins…imagine if they signed him too?

Overall, I think that Wilson fits in nicely with the Angels, and partnering up with Jered Weaver, Dan Haren, and Ervin Santana, they form one of the scariest pitching rotations in the league. The bigger surprise was the organization’s ability to steal Albert Pujols from re-signing with the St. Louis Cardinals. There were some whispers going on around the league that Pujols wasn’t too happy with St. Louis for a number of reasons, and it seemed to be enough of a problem not to re-sign with the team that he won three MVPs, two World Series titles, and spent 11 seasons with. So, the new Angels first baseman will be in SoCal for the next decade, signing the second most lucrative contract in MLB history. LA’s payroll will be projected at $140 million for 2012, much higher than the front office anticipated, but owner Arte Moreno felt that signing these players and spending $331.5 million this off-season would pay dividends.

The next step is to actually play…these signings are great, but like the Red Sox learned last year, you don’t win championships on paper, but on the field. It will be an interesting 2012, that’s for sure!

It’s been three years since the last time the Mets made a big trade at the deadline. Turning back the clock, Omar Minaya woke up in a GM’s worst nightmare scenario.

During the early morning hours of the trade deadline Minaya learned that his coveted setup man, Duaner Sanchez, had been seriously injured in a taxicab accident in Miami, and most likely would not pitch the rest of the season.

Fearing that his bullpen did not have enough depth Minaya felt that he had to add an arm to the team to better the team’s playoff chances.

Throughout the day Minaya desperately worked the phones and tried to make a deal. That afternoon, Minaya partnered up with the Pittsburgh Pirates to reacquire a familiar face who had been with the team for the 2005 season.

That face was forty-one year old reliever, Roberto Hernandez. Hernandez had been pretty successful in his first stint with the club, going 8-6 with a 2.58 ERA.

Unfortunately, the deal came at a price and the Mets were required to ship outfielder and fan favorite, Xavier Nady, to the Pirates.

Nady, 27, had only been with the club for a few months and was in the midst of having a nice season with the Mets. He was arguably one of the most popular players with the fans. Despite hitting only .264 at the deadline, he had 14 long balls and 40 RBIs, which had just about eclipsed his career highs.

Seems like a pretty steep price to pay for a mid-season rental? The Mets felt the same way so they requested that the Pirates send another player in the deal, which they did. That ‘throw in’ player was none other than Oliver Perez. At the time, the 24 year old southpaw was in the midst of a dreadful season.

On average, Perez was allowing over six runs per nine innings, and had already lost ten games by the deadline.

The deal was completed and announced around an hour before the deadline.

There was talk that Omar was going to immediately going to package the new Met Perez and reliever Heath Bell and send them to the San Diego Padres for Scott Linebrink, however that never came to fruition.

Interestingly enough, the Padres went onto acquire Bell from the Mets for practically nothing in the off-season.

For entertainment purposes let’s look back on how the three player involved in the deal helped their respective ball clubs.

On the Pittsburgh side of the deal, Xavier Nady spent the remainder of 2006, as well as all of 2007 and part of 2008 with the club. In those two plus years Nady was very dominant and helped form a formidable offense with the likes of Nate McLouth, Jason Bay and Freddy Sanchez.

Throughout his Pirates tenure Nady compiled a .301 batting average along with 36 home runs and 152 RBIs, which are clearly respectable numbers.

On the flip side of the deal, Roberto Hernandez only spent the remainder of 2006 with the Mets before departing for free agency. Throughout the final two months of the season he was solid sporting a 3.48 ERA in 20.2 innings while fanning 15. He also pitched 2.1 scoreless innings of relief throughout the NLCS against the Cardinals.

Oliver Perez’s results have been somewhat of a mixed bag. Perez continued to pitch poorly with the Mets throughout the 2006 regular season. However, due to injuries in the pitching staff, Perez found himself starting two crucial games in the NLCS. This included a solid outing in Game 7 where he held the Cardinals to just one run over six innings.

In 2007, Perez had his best year with the Mets. He won 15 games and had a staff-best 3.56 ERA. Unfortunately, despite glimpses of that success in 2008, Ollie was very inconsistent to the point where he was not reliable. This season, obviously has been no better as Perez has struggled with his command as well as injuries all year.

Now onto the question which side got the better deal in the deadline trade? The Mets did well in the trade in the short term, as they got the solid arm in the bullpen that they needed to replace Sanchez with, as well as two important post-season starts out of Oliver Perez. However, long term wise the Pirates did better on this one.

Not only did Nady play well for the Pirates, but he was also a key piece in the deal that netted them highly touted prospect Jose Tabata.

All in all, the Mets also could have benefited from Nady’s presence, especially last year when they had a void in the outfield following the season-ending injury to Moises Alou.

For those of you who made the wise decision not to watch last night’s mid-summer classic, Heath Bell was charged with the loss after allowing a triple to the Detroit Tigers’ Curtis Granderson who then scored on a sac fly by the Oriole’s Adam Jones in the eighth inning to break the 3-3 tie and put the AL on top. After the game, a brash and unremorseful Heath Bell had this to say,

“I’m driving with my eyes closed. I was never given a scouting report.”

Rather than assuming even a tiny bit of responsibility, he placed the blame squarely on… hmmm… Joe Torre? Charlie Manuel? Any of the other coaches? It’s the biggest cop-out I’ve heard in quite some time, but it gets even worse. When asked to respond on potentially costing home-field advantage for the Dodgers in the World Series, Bell said:

 “Well, they’ve won so many games this year. And I’ve ruined games for the Dodgers like two or three times with saves against them. I guess I’m just doing what I normally do.”

Did he really just say that? (What a freaking loser!) Finally, he goes on to further explain how little he cared about the loss;

“This was a very good wakeup call because this doesn’t count on my record. I didn’t ruin it for the Padres, my ultimate team.”

This is one of the reasons why the NL has lost to the AL for thirteen straight years. Having just one guy like Heath Bell on your squad is like the ultimate kiss of death. And who knows, maybe this “I don’t give a shit” attitude is more prevalent than we think.

If we lived in a world where everything was fair and justice always prevailed, Heath Bell would never be allowed to play in another All Star Game no matter how well he pitches in the future.

When a player openly belittles the game the way Bell did, a game that Major League Baseball has placed so much significance on, than that player should never be allowed to step foot on the field of another All Star game.

You know what really makes me feel bad right now? All the times that I have bashed Omar Minaya on this site for trading Heath Bell to the Padres.

 Knowing now, what a selfish loser Bell really is, the truth of the matter is that I would never want a guy like him in our clubhouse anyway.

This entire episode gives me a greater appreciation for our players, and Carlos Beltran in particular.

I recall how devastated Beltran was after striking out to end the 2006 NLCS and ending the Mets quest for a third World Series title. I remember in spring training of this season when he told reporters that he is still haunted by the memory of that Adam Wainright curve ball, and that it has motivated him to be a better and more aggressive hitter. (And he certainly has been.)

The way Heath Bell handled himself after the game is really an insult to the vast majority of players who do care about winning. 

Heath Bell not only cheapens the All Star game, he rots the fabric of the national pastime itself.

I have officially jumped off the “why did we trade Heath Bell” bandwagon. Last night. Bell gave me the reason why.