The Toronto Blue Jays have made an acquisition this evening, although it is for the front office and not on the field.

Reporting on it first was Sportsnet’s Shi Davidi and Ben Nicholson-Smith but the Blue Jays announced earlier this evening that they have hired former big leaguer and former Reds manager David Bell for the role of Vice President, Baseball Operations and Assistant General Manager.

Under his new title, Bell will oversee the Player Development and Physical & Mental Performance departments within the Blue Jays system and will join the leadership team, reporting to General Manager Ross Atkins. Bell will also have a hand in player evaluations, decision-making and planning in regards to major league players, and trade acquisitions.

A 12-year veteran, Bell made his MLB debut in 1995 for Cleveland but was moved to the St. Louis Cardinals later that year. He suited up for six different teams throughout his playing career, posting a .257/.320/.396 slash line with 123 home runs and 589 RBIs through 1403 career games.

Following his playing career, Bell began coaching in the Cincinnati Reds organization, becoming the manager of their double-A affiliate for the 2009 season. He spent three years there before being moved to triple-A, where he spent one campaign.

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

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

The Ohio product is someone Atkins and Shapiro have coveted for some time, as he was considered for the managerial role for the Blue Jays in 2018 before he joined the Reds. The Jays instead hired Charlie Montoyo.

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 a Blue Jays front office that will need everything they can get with such an important offseason just getting underway.