Cincinnati Reds add Buddy Bell as senior advisor to the general manager?

The Cincinnati Reds hired former third baseman Buddy Bell as a senior advisor to the general manager, but for how long?

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. For the past five seasons he was the assistant GM and vice president. Bell’s responsibilities included the player development system and the major league roster.

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Bell played for the Reds for parts of four seasons from 1985 to 1989. In 1988 Chris Sabo came to the big league team, pushing Bell first across the diamond to first base and then off of the team entirely. Bell, however, won six Gold Gloves and represented him teams in five All Star Games, all before he became a member of the Reds.

Buddy Bell has the experience and success to replace Bryan Price as manager of the Cincinnati Reds.

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When most people look at Bell’s managerial record, they see just that, a record. He went 519-724 for a winning percentage of .418. What many people don’t see is that he was the first step in a team establishing a competitive edge.

The Detroit Tigers were bad when he got there. They became a threat to .500 when he was there. It took several years after he left for them to make the playoffs, but they were better off after he managed them.

The story repeated itself with the Colorado Rockies.

Bell came in when the team was rudderless and provided a captain. It took several years post-Bell for the Rockies to become playoff contenders.

Then again it happened with the Kansas City Royals. Bell takes over a hopeless team, gives a little kick and then leaves for a leader to get them over the hump. Maybe the Reds are that hopeless right now.

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Bell could be here for other reasons, but special advisors don’t stay long. Whether he is there to replace Price or someone else in the hierarchy isn’t relevant right now. What is relevant is that the Reds have added a great baseball mind to the mix of decision makers.

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