Brad Mills Fired By League-Worst Houston Astros

Brad Mills led the Houston Astros to a league-worse 39-82 record, and now the Astro’s management have led Mills to the door.

The team’s manager was fired Saturday night along with two members of his coaching staff, the Associated Press reported. The team announced the shake-up in an email a few hours after the team dropped a 12-4 decision to the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Also fired along with Brad Mills were first base coach Bobby Meacham and hitting coach Mike Barnett. The team has said that general manager Jeff Luhnow will name an interim manager and replacements for the other fired staff members in a news conference scheduled for Sunday morning.

In his third season with the Astros, Brad Mills was on a steady decline. He led the team to a 76-86 finish his first year; then, in 2011, the team dropped to 56-106 and was on pace to lose well more than 100 games again this year.

Brad Mills is the first coach in MLB to be fired this year.

After stumbling out of the gate this season, the Astros were never able to find their stride and, during the season, have dumped a number of high-price veteran players to acquire prospects. More than $40 million has been cut from the opening day roster, the Associated Press reported.

Mills tried to remain positive but said that the trades gutted the team.

“When we first got here it was kind of a slow transition. Now all of a sudden with the new regime changes and things we decided: ‘Let’s do the whole thing now,’ ” Brad Mills had said before his firing. “It definitely puts things in a situation where wins are tougher because you’re dealing with a lot of inexperienced individuals.”

Though Brad Mills had the Astros on pace for the worst finish in franchise history before being fired, he is no stranger to winning either, the Houston Chronicle’s Ultimate Astros blog noted. Before he was hired by the Astros in 2010, Mills served as bench coach of the Boston Red Sox for six years, winning two World Series titles during that time.