Bell hired to manage Royals quagmire

Associated Press

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The Kansas City Royals hired Buddy Bell as their manager Tuesday, three weeks after Tony Pena resigned.

Bell, the bench coach for the Cleveland Indians, has previously managed the Detroit Tigers and Colorado Rockies.

Pena, who managed the Royals for two-plus seasons, resigned May 10 after a loss in Toronto.

Bell takes over a team that has the worst record in baseball (13-37). The Royals are 20 1/2 games behind the Chicago White Sox in the American League Central, and have lost six straight.

''This will be a great loss to our major league team and organization, but we're ecstatic for Buddy,'' Indians general manager Mark Shapiro said. ''This is a great opportunity that he wanted and that we are confident he will succeed in.''

Kansas City was 5-12 under interim manager Bob Schaefer.

Bell has a career record of 345-462. Bell beat out Art Howe, Charlie Manuel, Terry Collins and Schaefer for the job.

In other news: Hitting coach Jeff Pentland was fired Monday by the struggling Kansas City Royals, who have lost six straight games and whose 13-37 record is the worst in the major leagues.

Kansas City's team batting average of .246 is the fourth-worst in baseball, and the Royals' on-base percentage of .309 is the second-worst in the majors.

Pentland, 58, was in his third season with the Royals. Kansas City named Andre David, its minor league hitting instructor the past five years, to replace him for the rest of the season.

''Andre understands our organizational hitting philosophy,'' general manager Allard Baird said in a statement. ''He has worked with a number of our young players, as well as some veteran players that came up through the organization.''

David managed the Gulf Coast Royals in 1998 and 1999 and the last part of the 2000 season. Previously he was with the New York Mets organization.

The Royals, who had Monday off, open a series at home Tuesday night against the New York Yankees.