I've always liked the guy, and I'd love him on the team.

What's a fair price for Bell? What players are worth trading? What's the most you'd be willing to part with? Is he worth anything at all?

You know, it seems so obvious that the Rangers SHOULD get
Bell, but History shows, as does Daniels demeanor & thoughts
against getting a big name closer... it just could happen, just
because it goes so much against the grain. Surprise? Maybe so.
If so, we'll see how strong patience the Club has, with Chris Davis.

Guy looked like a total douche on Tuesday night.

Pass on Bell. Reason? The Phillies. No way we ever beat them, even if we could get past both the Yanks and the Red Sox, even with Bell. Hold your cards and play em only when you can truly improve your team. In the meantime, just keep playing with what you have & look for a deadline addition or two that won't cost any prospects, and hope for "lightning in a bottle" in October. That's what I would do.

Agreed, the slide was completely douchebagish.

And he comes off as a doucher to me the way he was talking to that kid and whatnot.

Of course, closers really should think they are the shit and they are better than everyone else. That's the kind of mentality that it takes to be a "knife to the throat" type of closer. I wish Feliz would develop a little bit of that. He just seems like he totally loses his confidence in his stuff every now and then. Either way, I'd take Bell, but I'd really like to get Mike Adams. We could actually control him for a little while.

Really? I thought the slide was hilarious. Someone asked him about it after the game, and he said he'd joked about it before the game, but then decided not to...but then, as he was running in, the infield paved way for him, so he did it.

@WWJDD?: We could beat the Phillies, though it wouldn't be easy. They have the best pitching in baseball, with the possible exception of the Giants (Phils probably have a better starting rotation, but I think their bullpens are pretty even, from what I've seen, except I firmly believe Wilson is the best closer in the league now).

I think our offense is more capable than either the Phils or the Giants. The Giants just went nuts on us in the WS, though. That was the difference: we continued to play well, but they played insanely well, putting up numbers that dwarfed their regular season stats.

We have the capability to beat any team in the league. Might take some luck, but it's definitely possible.

I wouldn't want to trade anything good for a rental like Bell. If we're serious about moving Feliz into the rotation next year, I'd rather add a guy like Gregg who's signed for another year and can close in Feliz's place in '12 OR deal for a setup guy like Balfour who's also signed for '12 and then sign Bell as a FA in the offseason. Balfour would setup Feliz this year, then be around to setup Bell in '12 with Feliz in the rotation.

"We have the capability to beat any team in the league. Might take some luck, but it's definitely possible."

I agree, and that's what I meant when I said we can always hope the team catches "lightning in a bottle" - getting hot at just the right time when a better team on paper gets cold. Even Halladay is mortal, and can lose. But the chances of winning a series when the other team throws Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Halladay, Lee, Hamels, Halladay.... LOLZ - not very likely.