I know this doesn't fit into the political nature of our friendly little site, but if I am known for much, I am known as a huge baseball fan. The Astros hired a new manager yesterday and I wanted to give everyone here a primer in case they don't follow baseball as closely as I do. I'll even try to set aside some parallels with politics, so I can remain with the theme of the site.
First, you should know that Brad Mills has been an assistant coach with the Boston Red Sox for the past six years. In that time, they have been to two World Series and also been to the playoffs just about every year. As the bench coach, he was Terry Francona's chief assistant. When you are hiring a manager, your choice is usually between a retread and someone that is up and coming. The choice is similar in the NFL and NBA. When you are a former manager, there is probably a good reason why you are a former manager. So, if you hire a former manager you hope they have learned from their first experience.
When you hire someone like Mills, you typically look at the successful organizations and find top assistants. No organization has been more successful than the Red Sox this decade. So, getting someone from that organization makes a lot of sense. What style Mills will bring to the team remains to be seen. He has a reputation for being tough, but that might have been by design in Boston. Sometimes, head coaches delegate certain responsibilities to their assistants, so Terry Francona may have asked Mills to be the heavy. Time will only tell in this regard.
This is where we get to the part about expectations. Baseball is very different from basketball and football. In those sports, a superior coach can scheme his way to victory. Baseball is a much more individualized sport. 90 percent of the action is pitcher against hitter. That is purely a talent issue. So, 90 percent of baseball success or failure is predicated by talent. As the ol' saying goes, "even the best jockey can't win the Kentucky Derby on a mule." The same is true for baseball managers. The Astros aren't exactly a mule, but where most horses that run the derby are three or four years old, they are the proverbial ten year old horse being sent out to stud.
They had the oldest roster in baseball last year and those guys will only be a year older this year. The kids on the farm are clearly not ready for prime time. Jason Castro and Bud Norris might be the notable exceptions to that statement. However, the club may be forced to throw in Tommy Manzella and Chris Johnson at shortstop and third base. If you are asking yourself, "who in the heck are those guys," that's the whole point. Even people that read Baseball America aren't going to recognize too many of the Astros' prospects. There are some good ones at the A ball level, but above that the cupboard is pretty bare.
In other words, baseball is a sport where the general manager has a whole lot more to do with success than the manager. If a manager is really good or really bad they might have a positive or negative impact on ten games. The Astros are more than ten games away from being a contender. If Mills is really good he might elevate them to a .500 record, but all indications are that this team will get worse before it gets better.
I suppose the whole point is that while the sports section made a huge deal out of this hire, it really doesn't change that much. You have an old team and bloated payroll with a farm system that is still a year or two away from bearing decent fruit. Here's hoping Astros management sees what just about everyone else can see. Mills deserves more than the two year contract that they gave him (which would have gotten them Manny Acta) and here is hoping they allow him to grow with the team beyond those two years. Unless he is completely incompetent, he deserves that much.
All those teams suck.
Uncle Drayton spoke at a teabagging rally? Really? One more reason not to like him...
I would have liked to see Dave Clark get the job. He coached the 2A Hooks to a Texas League Championship a couple of years ago. He was a better than average player for a number of teams and he was a coach with the Astros this year. He was the one who really helped Hunter Pence become the hitter he is and he knows a lot of the minor leaguers potential.
Until the Astros learn to handle the draft and really do their homework they are doomed to be the have-nots of the National League. They did a good job in selecting Jason Castro but, for the most part, their last 5 years of picks have sucked.
you are right mills deserves more than a 2yr contract but don't hold your breath that mgmt will do anything except "stay the course". it was a smart move to hire from boston, and if mills would be allowed to bring some philosophy and practices from boston he could be successful. unfortunately for mills he will be expected to work boston magic with one hand tied behind his back, forced to work mcclane style. i think you know this outcome is likely, and i'll go so far to say if mills could do what he should be able to do, he could perform magic with a one year contract.
awhile back the astros were the ONLY franchise to not change the rule to bring in outside food, in order to keep baseball affordable to loyal fans. uncle drayton held a press conference, first citing the recession was not in houston or texas and next citing his contract with ARA. perhaps the astros should return to the dome due to the recession hitting harris county officially (meaning when our sports authority has financial woes?) chron ran a story yesterday about a 7mil shortfall due to JPMChase (who was bailed out and already repaid) something about accelerated loans and needing some property tax money bailout from harris county residents. i seem to recall commissioners court set up the sports authority to build all the fine stadiums with a promise of private wealth paying and "never" being a burden to taxpayers. mcclane and friends were a part of this private wealth - any chance the 2yr contract was engineered to help drayton keep his options open? strangely the comments at chron ran 99% ranting against the sports authority and the audacity to come to tax payers with the shortfall. odd because people like me and people who are tea party proud were on the same side. also interesting as i too recall mcclane's tea party speech and found it typical two face GOP to say "preserve our way of life" omitting of course that his way of life is a rich "bidness" man. needless to say i left the 'stros when they left the dome, as i grew up in the 70's with the $1 bleacher seats when a poor kid could be an "astro buddy". i toured enron park before it opened with a contractor who told me some of the bearings of the opening roof were ordered incorrectly yet they were used to keep the project ahead of schedule. so i've been waiting for the day the thing malfunctions, hoping he is right that it will "probably work out". i wish mills all the best and hope a little boston can go a long way here. i do always wish the astros well like i do the men who have the misfortune to work for mattress mac. but i say to hell with drayton mcclane, "too big to fail" empires and the sports authority getting their hands on any property tax money in harris county!
Yeah, he was an assistant with the Phillies and Expos. Plus he managed in he dodgers and cubs farm systems.
Mills? American league managment is much, much different from National League management. Does he have any national league experience? And he only gets my approval if he likes to squeeze.
The Houston Astros? Who or what are they?
I quit concerning myself with the team the day, not so long ago, that it's owner, Drayton McClane, spoke at the teabagging rally and said it was important to "preserve this way of life". Darned if I can figure out how preserving McClane's way of life, putting more money in his pocket, is important to me or our country.