Every morning, we compile the links of the day and dump them here... highlighting the big storyline. Because there's nothing quite as satisfying as a good morning dump.
New Astros owner Jim Crane fired team president Tal Smith and general manager Ed Wade this evening.
New team president and chief executive officer George Postolos issued a statement saying, "With the change in ownership, we would like a fresh start in baseball operations.”
You have to wonder what that means for manager Brad Mills, who is 132-192 in two seasons. The Astros lost 106 games in 2011. A new GM and a new owner usually means a new manager, too.
If Mills is next to go, would the Red Sox consider him as their manager? It seems unlikely.
Although Mills was widely respected during his five years as Terry Francona's bench coach, hiring somebody so closely aligned to the former manager wouldn't seem to make much sense.
Boston Globe - Could changes in Houston affect Red Sox?
It's a pretty slow news day for the Sox, so we're left to play a little game of 'what if?'.
Any interest the Sox may have in Brad Mills is purely speculation at this point. We do know he was a great bench coach while he was here. And that the Sox were looking to at least interview some current-managers for their opening, but were denied. It's possible that Mills was on that list.
This also coincides with ESPN's Gordon Edes reporting that neither Valentine nor Lamont have received an offer from the Red Sox. Is it possible that the Sox are delaying their decision to see how the Mills situation plays out? Possible, yes. But incredibly unlikely.
Unless the Sox are 100% certain that Mills is their guy (and, again, they haven't even interviewed him yet) they could be waiting a looooong time for him to become available. If he ever does get fired. Mills future most likely won't be decided until after the Astros settle on a new GM. That's usually how these things play out. New GM is in place, then the new GM decides whether they want to make a manager change.
Again, unless the Sox aren't sold on either Valentine or Lamont, and are 100% certain that Mills is the right guy, this is a silly conversation to be having.
In conclusion, I have wasted the past 5 minutes of your day. But it's not my fault. I blame Society. And Pete Abe. But mostly Pete Abe. He's the one that threw that half-baked theory out there. I just ran with it.
Rest of the links:
ESPN - No Red Sox offer for Bobby Valentine yet | Words of caution regarding Bobby V | Herald - In MLB, experience wanted | WEEI - Reports: A's hire PawSox hitting coach Davis
