Heath Bell, not Will Smith: "I'm Going to Miami"

The Miami Marlins and closer Heath Bell have agreed on a 3 year, $27MM deal with a vesting option for a 4th year. 

Bienvenido a Miami!

While Heath Bell may enjoy to "party in the city where the heat is on, all night on the beach 'till the break of dawn", something tells me the Miami Marlins won't be partying at the end of this contract. Giving a closer $27MM is a big commitment, especially considering the Marlins usually have one of the lower payrolls in the league and just last year they traded Cameron Maybin for 2 relief pitchers - Edward Mujica and Ryan Webb. 

The Marlins certainly have (had) a need at closer, but they also have needs elsewhere on the diamond, especially in center field. Did I mention that they traded Cameron Maybin last year for 2 relief pitchers, none of which became a closer (otherwise they wouldn't have signed Bell) and that Maybin would have led the Marlins in WAR last year?

To be fair, Bell is definitely one of the best closers in baseball - over the past three seasons (since he's been closing for the Padres) Bell has averaged a 2.36 ERA, 1.16 WHIP and 44 saves. However, it should also be mentioned that Bell has pitched in the friendliest pitching environment with some very good fielding and that  his K/9 dropped from 11.1 in 2010 to 7.3 last year. Bell still had a wonderful year and it helps to know that the strikeout fall wasn't due to a decrease in veloctiy, but safe to say that isn't a good trend to have. 

Jon Papelbon certainly set the bar in terms of closer's contracts this year ($50MM over 4 years to the Phillies) but when Jonathan Broxton gets $5MM, $27MM for Heath Bell is just too much money for a team like the Marlins to be throwing around for what is really just a role, not a skill.