Royals GM Dayton Moore points out to the KC Star that Trey Hillman has led the Nippon Ham Fighters to their 2nd consecutive Japan Series with a team that’s “last in every offensive category”. So he should be very well versed in doing more with less, in other words.
While I’ve yet to read what’s so cool about Hillman essentially pulling a Chuck Fairbanks on his Japanese team, Royals Review takes more pertinent facts into account :
Hillman has no MLB experience, but he outdueled Bobby Valentine in the 2007 Japan Series and brought the first JPB title to a franchise that in Japan has classically been a laughingstock and was even banished from Tokyo to the northernmost semi-Siberian island of Hokkaido. Reportedly, he read Japanese anime comics and a translated copy of Bushido (The Way of the Samurai) upon taking a job managing the Nippon Ham Fighters to learn about Japanese baseball culture, yet he was fiercely criticized by one of his starting pitchers for being too cold and calculating in yanking him from bases loaded jam. Hillman also carries a stopwatch with him at all times during games, perhaps as a reminder that he needs to pace himself – baseball games are marathons, not a sprint. He’s a Christian who dedicates his success to God. He’s Texan. And, he loves his twangy country guitar, having released a Christmas CD in Japan. Taken together, what do these facts and rumors mean? Nothing. I’m just surprised, and somewhat excited in a way that’s totally irrational, that GMDM is thinking outside of the box with this hire.