Hendry scouting for Yankees

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Former Chicago Cubs general manager Jim Hendry was hired Tuesday to be a special assignment scout for the New York Yankees.

Hendry spent 17 seasons with the Cubs and was GM from July 2002 until he was fired on Aug. 18, unable to help the team win the World Series for the first time since 1908.

Yankees general manager Brian Cashman said he believes Hendry will be an invaluable resource.

"He can scout amateur players; he scouts pro players for us," he said. "He's as connected in the game as you can possibly be. Everybody loves this man."

New York also promoted Steve Donahue to head athletic trainer on Tuesday. He succeeds Gene Monahan, who retired after 39 seasons as head trainer and 49 with the Yankees overall. Mark Littlefield, who had been the Yankees' head minor league athletic trainer, becomes assistant athletic trainer with the big league team.

Assistant general manager Jean Afterman was given the additional title of senior vice-president

Billy Eppler was promoted from senior director of professional personnel to an assistant GM and Will Kuntz becomes manager of pro scouting, promoted from pro scouting assistant.