The Astros are a minor league team playing in the majors. Mills had nothing to do with the Astros horrible record.
Exactly. I'm not sure why people didn't expect 100+ losses from this team. They lost 100+ last year and traded away every remotely decent player from that roster either midseason last year or during this season. They *should* be historically bad.
In any event I think it showed terrible restraint firing a guy on a Saturday night. There was nothing about Saturday's game that was out of the ordinary in terms of the Astros' last two months. There was no reason that game should have been the straw that broke the camel's back.
I dont think last nights game had anything to do with the timing. And when you play 6 games a week, whatever day you pick is likely to follow a game. Is Saturday night worse than any other night? I feel, and apparently Luhnow did also, that their just wasnt anything to gain by waiting. I believe he thought their WAS something to gain by seeing if the current squad responded to different leadership and coaching. Why wait till spring training? Seems like anything learned pushes your timetable for recovery that much farther ahead. There was no question what Brad brought to the clubhouse or how the team was responding to it.
Strikes me as poor foresight to fire someone after a game in the middle of a series. Firing him was valid, the manner in which they did it was unnecessarily complicated and a little dickish. Luhnow said he knew for a week and he decides to bring down the hammer on a Saturday night? I don't understand that thought process at all. I understand why baseball people were rattled by it. Hell Monday is a day off, perfect time to announce it.
Exactly what I said, I have no issue with the firing, but they could have done it this afternoon once the series was finished, and had a replacement ready by Tuesday. timing seemed odd, unless there was some other underlying issue that they aren't announcing (playing time for certain people being my guess if there is).
This was nothing more than a power play by Jeff. Setting the tone for the new regime. He's a student of moneyball correct? He wants an potential manager to understand the focus of this ball club and it's not winning games, it's developing players. Wether to Keep or flip Luhnow is here to build up the minors and sell off assets. This had nothing to do with wins and everything to do with Mills refusal to play Wallace everyday.
That isn't how it is at all. The quote said the anger was "around baseball" not "in baseball.". This means from baseball people around the game, as opposed to within the league offices. Why should baseball people be angry because an owner mismanaged the minor league operations of one team? Why should they be angry that a team is moving divisions when the assumption was that a team was going to be forced to move...why not the Astros? A baseball person being dismissed in the manner this was handled? That would irritate most baseball people. You know, they feel that one of their own was treated unfairly.
According to the Chron, Pettini may be a candidate for the full time gig but not necessarily at the top of the list. It would be awkward to have him be the interim manager only to go back to being the bench coach once a new manager is hired. That's why they didn't give him the temp job.
He may as well have rolled the dice and taken the interim job. If he doesn't get the full-time job he may be let go anyway when the new manager brings in his own people.
Heard Brett Dolan say on 790 this morning that it was merciful...that Mills' mother is in ill health and is likely dying. He hasn't been able to see her much during the season, as she lives in California. I don't really have a problem with the firing nor how it was done. That it somehow inconvenienced the media isn't even remotely interesting to me.
I really wonder why he didn't resign, unless he either wanted the rest of his money or he felt he owed it to the team to finish out his contract. I would guess the latter since Mills seems like a good guy. I'm sure he'll be somebody's bench coach next year (perhaps Terry Francona's again).
I honestly feel bad for Brad Mills. Handing him the keys in the first place was like handing him oranges and asking him to make lemonade. It just wasn't gonna happen.
Sounds like spin to me. Like another poster mentioned he could have resigned. I remember how loudly Luhnow expressed his desire for Wallace to play everyday when Charlie interviewed him last week. Mills sitting him was the straw that broke the camel's back.
I think it was abundantly clear that Brad Mills was in over his head. The, "They would have lost 100 games with (insert historically great manager)" is, while true, a false narrative. The team was sloppy, it was collectively terrible at getting on base (and this year is leading MLB in Ks) and the bullpen (and, to a lesser extent, everyday roster) was poorly managed. You can absolutely judge Brad Mills on more than wins and losses. Timing-wise.... You don't hold 11pm news conferences after traditional news cycles end (and on Texan game night, no less) unless you're actively trying to bury the story. Season-ticket packages go out this week (IIRC) and they've had tremendous upheaval. Perhaps they felt another transaction was a little too much for fans to handle? Plus, they want to roll into the offseason with a clean slate - new unis, new league... don't mar that up with a firing (I'm guessing). Now they get to add a new manager...... It's going to be a big offseason of change.
