Mills has been working with the Red Sox as bench coach for manager Terry Francona for the previous six seasons, winning two World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. Mills previously worked with Francona as a member of his coaching staff (first base coach) from 1997-2000. After being fired by then Phillies GM Ed Wade with Francona and three other coaches in 2000, Mills joined the Cubs as an advanced scout in 2001 and then worked as the bench coach for the Montreal Expos in 2003 prior to joining the Red Sox in 2004.

This is Mills’ first Major League managerial position after serving as a Minor League manager for parts of 11 seasons. He managed for affiliates in the Chicago Cubs (1987-92), Colorado Rockies (1993-96), and the Los Angeles Dodgers (2002) organizations. Mills replaces interim manager Dave Clark, who replaced the fired Cecil Cooper on September 21 of the 2009 season. Clark was the Astros’ third base coach prior to being named interim manager. Clark was a finalist for the job and was promised a spot on the team’s Major League field staff for the 2010 season if not hired as manager.

The Astros have not reached the playoffs since playing in and losing the World Series to the Chicago White Sox in 2005. Two of the previous four seasons have been losing seasons for the Astros, finishing fifth in the Central with a 74-88 record in 2009. Mills is the fourth manager hired by the Astros since the middle of the 2004 season. Houston was only one game out of first place on July 22 but went on to lose 42 of their final 67 games of the 2009 season. Roy Oswalt spent the remainder of the season on the DL with teammate Mike Hampton while Russ Ortiz was released in July.

The company plans to sell the Cubs to the family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, the founder of TD Ameritrade. Tribune Co. also plans to sell Wrigley Field and related properties of the club to the Ricketts family. The Cubs filed for Chapter 11 to protect the club’s new owner from any creditors of the Tribune Co. Tribune Co. filed for bankruptcy protection in December of 2008 but did not include the Cubs at the time.

The Tribune Co. will sell 95 percent of the Cubs to the Ricketts family while keeping the remaining five percent of the franchise, which was purchased from the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. in 1981 for $20.5 million. The Wrigley Co. is a candy maker. The first plans announced for the sale of the Cubs came in 2007 but the recession and the crumbling credit markets put the sale on the back burner. The deal with the Ricketts family will top the record deal of $660 million for the sale of the Boston Red Sox in 2002.