Major League Baseball

K.C. fires manager Hillman; Yost takes over

Published May. 13, 2010 1:00 a.m. ET

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Trey Hillman became the first manager to get fired this season when the Kansas City Royals let him go Thursday after a final win.

Former Milwaukee manager Ned Yost, who joined the Royals' front office in January, immediately took over the struggling team and will remain as manager the rest of the season.

The Royals announced the move after beating Cleveland 6-4, a win that left Kansas City at 12-23 and last in the AL Central. Hillman was told of the decision Thursday morning and given the option of managing the game, which he accepted.

"Trey Hillman is an incredible leader and a very special leader who's touched the lives of many people in this Kansas City community and throughout baseball,'' general manager Dayton Moore said. "The recent struggles of our baseball team, however, require a change.''

The 47-year-old Hillman was in his third season with the Royals and went 152-207. Kansas City was 75-87 in 2008, then dropped into a last-place tie in 2009 at 65-97.

The Royals had a dismal 3-8 road trip last week that ended with a four-game sweep at Texas and had lost seven straight before Thursday's win.

"There won't be any second-guessing,'' said Hillman, who stuck around until Moore was done and spoke to reporters for 32 minutes. "I have the ultimate respect for the people I work for, but to put it into perspective, sometimes things in this business work and sometimes they don't.''

Yost managed the Brewers from 2003-08, when he was fired late in the season with the team in the playoff race. The Royals hired him last winter as a special adviser for baseball operations, starting speculation that Hillman was on his way out.

Moore started having discussions with Hillman about the decision after a 4-0 loss to the Indians on Wednesday night and pulled the trigger after another talk less than 12 hours later.

"I love Trey Hillman, I love him as a ... ,'' said Moore, who needed several seconds to compose himself before continuing. "Obviously, it's a very difficult decision. The process is very difficult, relationships that are formed are very strong, but at the end of the day we've got to make decisions that are best for our baseball team and our organization long-term and that's the conclusion that we made.''

Hillman spent 12 years working in the New York Yankees' system and won a couple of manager of the year awards in the minors. He then went to Japan for five years and was considered a major league manager-in-waiting; he built a reputation for working well with younger players, being attentive to details, possessing good communication skills.

But with the Royals, many young prospects such as Alex Gordon haven't panned out so far. And expectations were raised this season, a year after Zack Greinke won the AL Cy Young Award.

The Royals just couldn't score for Greinke, who was winless in seven starts before beating the Indians at home in Hillman's last game. The six runs were the most Greinke got in support this season, but it was already too late for Hillman.

"I'm thankful for the opportunity to get to manage today,'' Hillman said. "You don't want to go out on a seven-game losing streak.''

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