The biggest question for me on the Brad Mills firing comes down to this: At what point was he supposed to be a successful manager? Think about it. Mills was put in a position to fail from the get-go. When he was hired in 2010, the Stros were coming off a 74-88 season in which they finished next to last in the NL Central.
A rebuilding process followed, as Houston began to trade away all of its assets, until 2012 when Mills looked up and was managing the worst team in Major League Baseball, with Jose Altuve as his best position player and Lucas Harrell the best starting pitcher.
What, exactly, was Mills supposed to manage?
Mills at least deserves credit for holding himself accountable for the 171-274 record in his time as the Astros' manager, but everyone knows this isn't all on him:
"Every day, we tried to get the players the best they possibly could, and that was the goal every time out," he said. "We wanted to get them better; we wanted them to play well. Sometimes it just didn't work out, and if I'm going to sit here and point fingers, that's not right. There's some responsibility on my part as well."
He was hired by former owner Drayton McLane when McLane appeared to be losing interest in the franchise. Then the Astros were sold to Jim Crane and we knew a huge cosmetic change was coming.
Mills was a part of that change from the beginning, though it is interesting to see him fired at such an irrelevant point in the team's development -- August 2012. Why not before the season or after it? And why was he hired in the first place?
To lose and get fired afterward. Call it destiny.
The Crawfish Boxes have this on Mills being a good man who was justifiably let go and the impossible situation he was in. No one can really say what the expectation ever was here.
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