Bell, a 12-year veteran, made his MLB debut with Cleveland in 1995, but played for St. Louis that year. He was transferred to the St. Louis Cardinals. He played for six different teams during his playing career and slashed .257/.320/.396 with 123 home runs and 589 RBIs in 1,403 career games.

Following his playing career, Bell began coaching in the Cincinnati Reds organization and became the manager of the double-A affiliate for the 2009 season. He spent three years there before moving to Triple-A, where he spent one campaign.

During the 2012/2013 offseason, Bell joined the Chicago Cubs organization as third base coach and a season later became an assistant coach for the Cardinals. He then moved to St. Louis before taking on a front office role with the San Francisco Giants in the 2017/2018 offseason. He moved into the role of bench coach in St. Louis.

Bell returned to the diamond shortly thereafter to manage the Cincinnati Reds and took over the 2019 season. He spent six years as the Reds’ head honcho, compiling a 409-456 record and advancing to the postseason during his reign (losing to the Atlanta Braves in the 2020 NL Wild Card). Bell was fired late in the 2024 season.

The Ohio product is one that Atkins and Shapiro have coveted for some time. taken into account for a managerial role with the Blue Jays in 2018 before joining the Reds. The Jays hired Charlie Montoyo instead.

A third-generation baseball player, Bell has been described as one of the nicest people in the game of baseball and will bring his experience and wisdom to the Blue Jays’ front office, which needs all they can get as such an important offseason approaches. .