Usually, when the Cincinnati Reds hire someone to be a special assistant to the general manager, it is just a holding place until the real position opens up. This is the title that the Reds gave Walt Jocketty when he was waiting for ownership to terminate Wayne Krivsky.
Myriad of other teams have done the same thing to sneak a new manager onto their payroll early. Bell becomes a secret weapon to get deployed at ownership’s bequest. Bell, of course, will have plenty to say about what he does.
For the past fourteen years Bell has worked for the Chicago White Sox.