SF Giants playoff hero David Bell surprisingly resigns from Blue Jays role

There’s been quite a bit of news about people formerly involved in the SF Giants organization leaving executive roles with Brian Sabean being let go by the New York Yankees, and now former Giant David Bell can be added to the list after his surprising decision to resign as the Toronto Blue Jays’ assistant general manager and vice president of baseball operations.

Per Ken Rosenthal, Bell said of his decision: “I decided to step away and reassess where I can make the greatest impact, on and off the field. The Toronto Blue Jays are a first-class organization. I have a deep appreciation for the people I’ve worked with over the past two years.”

Maybe he will stay with the organization in some form or maybe he wants a different role in another organization, but either ways it’s noteworthy because Bell is a former Willie Mac Award winner and he was also a hero for San Francisco in the 2002 World Series.

In Bell’s lone season with the Giants, he hit .261/.333/.429 in the regular season with 20 home runs and 73 runs batted in. He also did well in the playoffs, hitting .304/.418/.429 with two homers and six runs batted in. 

He scored the game-winning run in Game 5 of the NLCS and was also involved in the infamous play during the World Series when Darren Baker, the son of Dusty Baker who is currently in the Giants organization, went out to home plate a little too early and J.T. Snow scooped him up before Bell came around to score.

Bell played for several more years as a player and then got into coaching. He played a role with several different organizations and then rejoined the Giants in 2017 as vice president of player development. There was even thinking at the time that Bell might be the successor to Bruce Bochy as manager once he decided to step away, but Bell ended up taking the job as manager of the Cincinnati Reds a year later in 2018.

Could Bell return to San Francisco?

The Reds had a 409-456 record under Bell’s six seasons as manager and he was let go following the 2024 season. Almost immediately Bell was hired by Toronto but now that he’s out of that job after two years it will be interesting to see what he does next.

Does he want to manage again? The Houston Astros and Los Angeles Angels have openings so maybe he could throw his hat in the ring or maybe he will wait until the next cycle. Could he return to the Giants in some capacity? Well, San Francisco loves bringing back familiar faces so why not get Bell back in the mix? 

It’s clear that he’s very respected in the game of baseball so he shouldn’t be out of work long no matter what he decides to do. 

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