More Francona on Mills

Terry Francona appeared on WEEI's Dale & Holley Show, and spent some time talking about Brad Mills. Here's part of the transcript:

It’s interesting that the general manager in Houston now was the general manager in Philadelphia when you guys were there. Do you think that worked to his advantage?

I think it got him an interview. I think Millsy had to kind of take it and go from there, which is good. Ed Wade’s a good guy. We’ve been through a lot together. Shoot, he had to fire me, and that’s not easy for him and it wasn’t a whole lot of fun for me. But we’re still really good friends. And I think a lot of Eddie. He’s a solid, solid guy. Cares about people. I think he and Millsy are a very good match together.

What kind of manager do you think he’ll be?

You know, I don’t know. I know one thing, he’s cheap. He’s not going to pay for any cabs for his coaches. You’re going to have start working on that. [Laughter] You know what, this will be interesting, because he’s always kind of had to formulate his feelings around how I felt. I mean, that’s what a bench coach does. You give your opinion, but the decisions come down to me. Now, he’ll be making those decisions. The game won’t be going too fast for him. He’s been doing this his whole life. He’s got a great feel for baseball. He’s a very good person. He’s got a combination of a lot of good things that should help make him successful.

I was surprised that Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane spoke so glowingly of a phone call you made to Drayton McLane to give your endorsement for Brad Mills. He was pretty open about how important that was to him.

Well, he actually called me and I was really impressed. So many times in this game people make calls to maybe cover their backside or just to say they did it. He came armed with questions — and good questions. And I actually really enjoyed it. We had a fun conversation. In fact, toward the end of the conversation we both kind of commented that we were ready for spring training. He’s a really likable guy, got a lot of personality. And again, you’re talking about Brad Mills, one of my favorite people in the the world, so, yeah, I told him how I felt. And I hope it did help. That was the whole idea.

Is it possible or likely you’re going to have to find somebody else as well? Is somebody going to go with Mills to Houston?

I think Millsy is in the process today of trying to get some thoughts together on his staff. I think it’s a possibility but I don’t think it’s a probability.

Interesting...