In the loop at The Coop
Trey Hillman is in serious negotiations to be the next manager of the Kansas City Royals. The former Clippers manager's name has also popped up in conversations about who will replace Joe Torre as manager of the Yankees.
Since leaving the Clippers, Hillman, 44, has managed the Nippon Ham Fighters for the past five years. Nippon beat Bobby Valentine's Chiba Lotte Marines 6-2 Thursday to win the Pacific League championship series in Japan.
Hillman was a finalist to be the manager of the Texas Rangers and the Oakland Athletics in recent years.
The hero of Nippon championship was former Clipper-of-the Year Fernando Seguignol.
Seguignol belted a three-run homer over the center-field wall at Sapporo Dome off southpaw Yoshihisa Naruse's changeup.
''I just concentrated on my swing in that situation,'' said Seguignol. ''I wanted to show my great appreciation to my teammates and the Sapporo fans.''
The Ham Fighters will face either the Chunichi Dragons or the Yomiuri Giants in the Japan Series championship best-of-seven series getting under way in Sapporo from Oct. 27.
Clippers infielder D'Angelo Jimenez, outfielder Alex Escobar and left-hander Micah Bowie have joined right-hander Jason Simontacchi, outfielder Michael Restovich and second baseman Bernie Castro in electing to become free agents. All six were outrighted to Columbus recently.
Jimenez hit .368 with 13 doubles, 2 triples, seven home runs in 50 games with Columbus before being recalled by Washington on June 25th. With the Nationals, Jimenez hit .245 in 73 games.
Jason Simontacchi was 0-1 with a 5.91 ERA in two games with Columbus before being called up to Washington. He appeared in 13 games for the Nationals and went 6-7 with a 6.37 ERA. His season came to an end in July because of an elbow injury.
Baseball America announced Restovich's and Castro's decision. Restovich hit .270 for the Clippers with 20 HRs and 58 RBIs in 97 games. Michael finished the season on the DL with a strained right oblique. The injury was sustained during batting practice.
Castro led the I.L. in stolen bases (34), playing in 118 games, hitting .280.
Bowie was 4-3 with a 4.55 ERA as a starter and reliever, but missed a lot of time because of hip problems. Micah was 0-2 with a 3.95 ERA in three major league rehab starts with the Clippers. Escobar never played a game this season with the Nationals because of shoulder and ankle problems. He appeared in seven rehab games with Columbus, hitting .148.