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Pitt Gorilla
08-15-2006, 11:30 PM
Wow, could the Royals be heading in the right direction?!?

08/15/2006 11:47 PM ET
By Jon Greenberg / Special to MLB.com

CHICAGO -- The Royals beefed up their scouting operations with the announced hires of four people on Tuesday.

General manager Dayton Moore named Mike Toomey and Donnie Williams as his special assistants and Gene Watson as Major League scout.

Steve Williams was named assistant director of scouting by the Royals senior director of scouting Deric Ladnier.

Williams moves to the Royals front office after nearly six years with the Detroit Tigers. He has been the Tigers' East Coast scouting supervisor since 2001.

"This newly created position will help us bolster our scouting staff," Ladnier said in a news release. "Steve has 19 years of scouting experience and brings instant credibility to this position."

Toomey comes to the Royals from the Nationals where he served as a pro scout. He had been with the Nationals, and before that the Expos, since 2002. He was the national crosschecker for the Expos.

Williams has been a scout with the Devil Rays since 1996. Watson has served as a Major League scout with the Marlins since 2003.

"The Royals are extremely fortunate to hire three quality individuals like Mike Toomey, Donnie Williams and Gene Watson," Moore said in a news release. "These are three people with excellent character and a wealth of baseball knowledge."

Last week, the Royals hired J.J. Picollo as director of player development and Rene Francisco as special assistant to the general manager for international operations.