Moving to shore up their middle relief, the Padres on Wednesday acquired relievers Royce Ring and Heath Bell from the New York Mets in exchange for outfielder Ben Johnson and reliever Jon Adkins.

The deal was announced at the General Managers meetings in Naples, Fla., by Padres GM Kevin Towers and Mets GM Omar Minaya.

Both Ring and Bell are natives of the San Diego area. Ring, 25, was born in La Mesa, while Bell, 29, is an Oceanside native.

Ring, a left-hander, is 0-2 with a 3.47 career ERA in 26 games. He was 0-0 with a 2.13 ERA in 11 games with the Mets in 2006, walking three and striking out eight in 12 2/3 innings.

Bell, a right-hander, is 1-5 lifetime with a 4.92 ERA. He has 105 strikeouts in 108 innings, with only 30 walks. He was 0-0 in 22 games with the Mets in 2006, with 11 walks and 35 strikeouts in 37 innings, yielding 51 hits.

Ring fills a need in the Padres' bullpen. Free agent Alan Embree was the club's lone southpaw for most of the 2006 season after starter Shawn Estes was sidelined in the first week by an elbow injury that required reconstructive surgery.

Bell and Ring figure to fortify the bullpen in front of Cla Meredith, Scott Linebrink and Trevor Hoffman. Their superior relief corps has been a Padres strength through their runs to National League West titles in 2005 and 2006.

"From our standpoint, we kind of looked at Heath Bell and Royce Ring as adding depth to our bullpen," Towers said. "We felt pretty comfortable with Hoffman, Linebrink and Meredith. It's been our strength over the last couple of years, and a reason why we've won.

"Bell is probably the one guy we certainly feel has tremendous upside. The guy has always had a good strikeout-to-walk ratio in the Minor Leagues. We think in our ballpark, in PETCO, hopefully, someday he can develop into a setup-type pitcher."

As for Ring, "the Mets have done a great job developing him," Towers said. "He's dropped his arm angle a lot. He's done a tremendous job over his Minor League career, and his little time in the big leagues. He's a situational left-hander."

Ring, a graduate of Monte Vista High in Spring Valley, Calif., set season (17) and career (27) saves records at San Diego State and was a third-team All-America choice in 2002.

Bell, a graduate of Tustin (Calif.) High School, attended Rancho Santiago College, where he holds the school record in saves (14) while walking only four hitters in 80 innings in 1997.

Johnson, 25, played a total of 89 games for the Padres in 2005 and 2006, hitting .236 with seven homers and 25 RBIs in 195 at-bats. Blessed with power and speed, he has been regarded as the club's premier outfield prospect for several years but had trouble breaking into the San Diego lineup.

"I'm taking it the only way I can look at it -- as a positive," Johnson said by phone after learning of the trade. "Taking it negatively, I'd be shooting myself in the foot.

"I'm going to a great ballclub led by a great manager, Willie Randolph. I'm going to take all those positives and go out and try to take advantage of my opportunity, first and foremost.

"I'm definitely going to miss San Diego. The team and the fans were awesome. The fans showed me a lot of love there, and I'll always remember that. But it's a business, I know that. I've been traded before [by St. Louis to San Diego], and it's time to move on to another challenge for me."

Dividing the 2006 season between San Diego and Triple-A Portland, Johnson hit .268 with 35 runs scored, 11 doubles, one triple, seven home runs and 22 RBIs in 51 games against Pacific Coast League pitching. In 2005, he batted .312 with 25 homers and 83 RBIs in 107 games and was named the organization's Minor League Player of the Year.

A high school football star in Memphis recruited by several Division I schools, Johnson batted .341 in 41 road at-bats last season.

Adkins, 29, was a workhorse in the Padres' 2006 bullpen. He pitched 54 1/3 innings in 55 appearances and was 2-1 with a 3.98 ERA.

Adkins appeared in five games for the World Champion Chicago White Sox in 2005, spending most of that season with Triple-A Charlotte of the International League. He was 2-3 with a 4.65 ERA in 50 games with the White Sox in 2004, working 62 innings.

A former Oklahoma State star, Adkins is 4-5 with a 4.63 ERA in 114 Major League games, spanning 134 innings.

"Ben Johnson is a versatile outfielder who can play all three spots, has speed and shown some power," Minaya said. "He is just 25 years old, and we feel he has yet to reach his potential.

"Jon Adkins has had success on the Major League level and can pitch multiple innings. He's another quality arm to add to our bullpen staff."