Ken Rosenthal of FOX Sports hears that the Dodgers were on the brink of acquiring Heath Bell before the July 31st trade deadline. The Padres will listen to offers for Bell and Adrian Gonzalez again after the season, but they're under less pressure to deal those players with Jake Peavy's contract off the books. Here are the rest of Rosenthal's rumors:
- The Mets are not considering replacing Omar Minaya with assistant GM John Ricco right now, but we could see Ricco deal with the media more.
- A pair of NL teams, possibly the Dodgers and Brewers, are "kicking the tires" on Vicente Padilla. Teams are more likely to wait for him to clear waivers than strike a deal now, however.
- The Braves offered Casey Kotchman to the Pirates for Adam LaRoche before acquiring LaRoche from the Red Sox.
- The Rays and Rangers have been claiming players off of waivers aggressively.
- Rosenthal notes that the Rockies' revamped 'pen has pitched well so far.
