{"id":27122,"date":"2026-10-31T21:32:30","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T21:32:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/ex-pittsburgh-pirates-slugger-immediately-becomes-free-agent-heavy-com\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T21:32:30","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T21:32:30","slug":"ex-pittsburgh-pirates-slugger-immediately-becomes-free-agent-heavy-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/2026\/10\/31\/ex-pittsburgh-pirates-slugger-immediately-becomes-free-agent-heavy-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Ex-Pittsburgh Pirates Slugger Immediately Becomes Free Agent – Heavy.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> have a lot of young talent on their roster.
That said, they are coming off another year where they did not make the MLB<\/a> playoffs.
Their last game was on September 27 when they beat the Detroit Tigers<\/a> by a score of 4-2. <\/p>\n

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<\/a>

Getty<\/span>Josh Bell #56 of the Minnesota Twins<\/a> celebrates his two-run home run against the Texas Rangers<\/a> with teammates in the third inning at Target Field on September 27, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This week, a former Pirates star officially became a free agent.
Josh Bell<\/a> will be available to sign with any team in the MLB this winter.
MLB.com wrote<\/a> (on October 30): “DH Josh Bell elected free agency.”<\/em> <\/p>\n

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<\/a>

Getty<\/span>Josh Bell #56 of the Minnesota Twins hits a sacrifice fly to score a run against the Chicago White Sox<\/a> in the first inning at Target Field on August 29, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bell has most recently been playing for the Minnesota Twins.
He finished this past year batting .255 with 145 hits, 21 home runs, 96 RBIs, 78 runs and two stolen bases in 154 games. <\/p>\n

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<\/a>

Getty<\/span>Josh Bell #55 of the Pittsburgh Pirates looks on from the bench during the game against the Milwaukee Brewers<\/a> at Miller Park on September 21, 2019 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Bell was picked in the 2nd round of the 2011 MLB Draft.
He spent the first five years of his career with the Pirates.
During the 2019 season, Bell made the only All-Star Game of his career.
That year, he hit 37 home runs with 116 RBIs. <\/p>\n

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<\/a>

Getty<\/span>Josh Bell #55 of the Pittsburgh Pirates participates in the 2019 MLB All-Star Game at Progressive Field on July 09, 2019 in Cleveland, Ohio.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pirates traded Bell to the Washington Nationals<\/a> in 2020.
MLB.com wrote<\/a> (on December 24, 2020): “Pittsburgh Pirates traded 1B Josh Bell to Washington Nationals for RHP Wil Crowe and RHP Eddy Yean.”<\/em>
Bell then had stops with the San Diego Padres<\/a>, Cleveland Guardians<\/a>, Miami Marlins<\/a> and Arizona Diamondbacks<\/a> (before returning to Washington in 2025).
There is no question that the 34-year-old will be an intriguing free agent to hit the market. <\/p>\n

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<\/a>

Getty<\/span>Manager Don Kelly<\/a> #12 of the Pittsburgh Pirates reacts in the dugout during the first inning of the MLB game against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on May 07, 2026 in Phoenix, Arizona.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Pirates last made the MLB playoffs in 2015.
They finished the year as the third-place team in the National League Central with an 82-80 record.
\t\t\tBen Stinar<\/strong><\/a> Ben Stinar has been covering the NBA for over seven years.\u00a0 He has written for OnSI, Forbes, Amico Hoops, The Big Lead and had a podcast with former All-Star Jameer Nelson. More about Ben Stinar<\/a>\t\t
\t\t\t\t\t\tStay Connected\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Pittsburgh Pirates have a lot of young talent on their roster.That said, they are coming off another year where they did not make the MLB playoffs.Their last game was on September 27 when they beat the Detroit Tigers by a score of 4-2. GettyJosh Bell #56 of the Minnesota Twins celebrates his two-run home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27123,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27122","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27122"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27122\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27123"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27122"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27122"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/globalnewstoday.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27122"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}