Astros Hire Brad Mills As Manager

Heh, wrong Mills.

Well good luck Brad Mills, it was nice having you around.

So for all it's worth, the Nats hire last, and Bobby Valentine and Don Mattingly are both still available. Intriguing.

Any other fans getting sick of this Philly connection crap?

Was this guy hired for any other reason than he knew Ed Wade from the late 90s? Seriously I can't find one piece about what this guy brings to the managerial table aside from riding Francona's coattails, he knew Ed Wade and was only acceptable after Drayton's good ole boy approach failed.

He doesn't even meet the one main requirement set forth by both Drayton and Ed: experience.

This sucks...And if Garner still shows his face at MM this year then the man has no shame. They've done nothing but crap all over him for 3 years now...Damn it!

I pointed out after Acta took the Cleveland job that Mills is essentially the same coach philosophically, just without the major league managing experience. I think it's a good hire if that's what they were going for.

There's no sense in worry about Drayton's minglings... that ship sailed when he ran Hunsicker out of town. I just thought, for once, it might accidentally lead to something good happening and Garner would be given a second go...mostly because Ed and Drayton gave the perception they were going to do this publicly and publicly they said the first thing they wanted was MLB experience.

Nope we go with the guy nobody else even noticed or wanted.

dejota you are insane. Mills is a great hire. If you think that bringing back Garner 2-3 years after firing him is a good idea then I don't get your reasoning. Garner is an adequate manager. That's it. He's not good but not bad. I agree that Garner shouldn't have been fired in the first place or should have been given another season, but that would've been one of the more embarrassing things in franchise history to rehire Garner and show how incompetent we are, and don't tell me oh Wade is just going with what's familiar to him because that's exactly what it sounds like you are doing. Mills might not have the MLB managerial experience but he has plenty of experience nonetheless. He managed for 11 years in the minors and was bench coach for arguably one of the smartest franchises in baseball behind one of the smartest managers in baseball. As for riding his coattails he was Francona's teammate and college roommate so I'm sure that he knows just as much about the game as Terry. I don't expect for him to be the second coming but he's got the knowledge. I love the hire. As for this quote:

"Nope we go with the guy nobody else even noticed or wanted."

That is entirely untrue. He had already interviewed for a managers job or 2 in past years and heck the braves fan above said that he would like for him to replace Bobby Cox. That's pretty high praise considering the Braves have one of the most impressive historys in terms of managers. I mean Bobby Cox, Casey Stengel, George Stallings, Fred Haney, etc.

Mills and Francona went into Boston and did the unthinkable in getting Boston to win the WS after years of curses and heartbreak. Just look at the 2004 ALCS against the Yankees. That might be one of the best managerial and coaching jobs ever. Keeping your players going and convinced that they can still win it against the best franchise ever. If you can help keep a team in that mindset and just generally set that tone that you can win it all no matter what from day one then you're gonna win some ballgames. Sure Garner was good but he couldn't manage a team the first half of the season or get it done when it counted in the series and Mills will at least be able to bring a freshness. You can point towards a large amount of managerial errors or bad decisions Garner made in the WS and playoffs. He got there and I love him for it but we don't need someone to try and repair their reputation.

Instead reach down and have faith. Have the same faith that Bud Norris will comeback next year and be successful or that Jason Castro become a great MLB catcher. Don't act like Drayton yourself and completely neglect development. Have some faith that Brad will get it done. All managers including Francona, La Russa, Cox and Torre had to start somewhere. I'm not saying he'll be one of those guys, but come on the next few years is close to a wash anyways so stick with him and hope that he develops into a solid manager.