Mills exit a relief for all parties involved

As you read what I decided to write this late Sunday evening, remember that I don’t wish anyone ill-will or for anyone to lose their job. I sure wouldn’t want someone to wish that on me. When I type or tweet about someone getting fired, its all about the sports fan in me and realizing they will still get their cash. That all said, Brad Mills had to go and it probably should have come at the all-star break. I still think Brad with veterans around him and in a more competitive situation would have done much better but this team and organization were just a bad fit for the guy. A new day is dawning for the Astros organization, players and fans so I’d recommend either get on the train, jump off or simply stare at it with a silly grin on your face as it passes you by.

Brad Mills had his moments in which he looked like someone who I’d feel comfortable leading my baseball team. That said, those were outweighed by the many moments that left you throwing a chair at your TV. His bullpen usage, lineups and game strategy just seemed out of place, was he trying to develop or was he treating every single game like game 7 of the World Series? I get playing to win and understand that ultimately that’s the goal but the Astros are at a different phase in their existence. Wins are important right now but making sure Brett Wallace can hit left-handed pitching or Fernando Martinez is what the Mets thought he’d become back in the day should be top priority. Mills, too often, didn’t seem to have those same goals in mind or even pretended to be interested in development. The timing of his firing makes me believe that the front office might have seen the same philosophical difference I was seeing. They probably will never say, out of respect for Millsy, unless Jeff Luhnow has a movie made out of him and it’s about one of the worst seasons in baseball history.

The funny aspect of all this is truly that out of everyone involved in this mess, Brad Mills is probably sleeping the best tonight. I’ve never been fired from a job but I’ve had my bad days and I had a hard time sleeping those evenings. Now, I can’t imagine having the number of bad days as Brad had to endure, knowing there was very little you could do more. While we complain about certain aspects of Mills’ philosophy, I’m sure he believed he handled everything the best he knew how. Millsy is free, he is free from all of us arm chair quarterbacks who complained and whined after every lineup card was posted on twitter. He is also free from an organization that was basically burned to the ground and is now being rebuilt with a different blueprint. The Astros will continue to lose but Brad will no longer have to cover for his players and try to smile when deep down he wanted to break something, very badly.