Major League Baseball roundup
(The Sports Xchange) - Bench coach Chip Hale was granted permission from the Oakland Athletics to interview for managerial openings with the Minnesota Twins and Arizona Diamondbacks. Hale was scheduled to be in Phoenix on Tuesday to meet with general manager Dave Stewart. He was a finalist for the Seattle Mariners job that went to Lloyd McClendon last offseason. - - First baseman Eric Hosmer made good on a Twitter invitation to Kansas City Royals fans to meet players at McFadden's bar after a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Division Series on Sunday. In a tweet at 12:04 a.m. CT Monday, Hosmer issued the open invite to a fan base frenzied by Kansas City's first postseason series victory in three decades. A video from McFadden's showed Hosmer and closer Greg Holland spraying champagne at the 500-plus fans who came to the bar for the extended celebration. - - After one season as Chicago Cubs hitting coach, Bill Mueller resigned from the job, according to multiple reports Tuesday. Mueller's resignation comes after the Cubs reassigned assistant hitting coach Mike Brumley to another position in the organization. - - Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig was kept out of the starting lineup for Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday against the St. Louis Cardinals. Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said Puig was not injured but that he decided to use a lineup that "gives us the best chance to win today." The 23-year-old Puig has struck out eight times in 12 at-bats in the series, including seven straight times at one point, and was batting .250 after the first three games. - - Qualifying offers climbed to $15.3 million from $14.1 million in the last offseason for eligible free agents. During the past two offseasons, none of the 22 players who received qualifying offers took them. (Editing by Frank Pingue)
