Corpus Christi Caller-Times' Joel Roza has a letter to Brad Mills:
Old, bad and boring would be the ode to the current Astros. The Texas Rangers are more exciting than them; the Houston Texans are more exciting than them. Even the injury-riddled Rockets can generate more excitement than a lame duck baseball team that continues to screw up when it counts the most. Even former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta won’t come here.
Brad, I’m not sure what Ed Wade, Tal Smith and Pam Gardner have you told you about your new boss, but patience is not really one of his virtues. You’re the fourth Astros manager since the start of the 2007 season. You’re the sixth this decade. Loaded with talent or not, Drayton McLane expects results and you’ve got a little over a year to do it. The Astros passed on Acta because he wanted an extra year of job security and some patience with this team from the front office. Obviously, you’ve taken this position feeling as though you can do the job in accordance with the win-soon or else mandate. It’s certainly not impossible for the Astros to be a contender in two years, but it’s highly unrealistic. You’re hedging your bets on Jason Castro, Tommy Manzella and Chris Johnson panning out as successes, Berkman and Oswalt playing with confidence and swagger again, not to mention just staying healthy, Carlos Lee hustling and second base somehow not being the same black hole that it’s been since Biggio hung em up.
In other words, you’re inheriting a mess...
...Brad, I hope nothing but the best for you. I hope you get to live out every last second and every last dollar of your brand spanking new multi-year, multi-million dollar contract. I hope you become as hallowed and legendary a manager as the Astros have ever known. I hope you make that front office look like geniuses again. I don’t expect much out of you right off the bat, so don’t get down whenever the fans get a little restless with a team that’ll be largely fresh and young in comparison to last season’s senior citizens club. You’re the new manager now and the city of Houston, and everyone else in Astros Nation, welcomes you to town. Even if the popular pick was Phil Garner and the organization’s preference was Acta. It’s all good. Just relax, shape your team, shape your coaching staff and bring in some of that Red Sox mojo if at all possible.
We’re all behind you… until you get fired and we’re all back here again.
We didn't come out here to play tiddlywinks, son.
-Hal Smith
