I have nothing against Brad Mills but...

The All Star break can be very cruel for slumping managers. It is a natural transition time and a point where if a change has to be made, it will be as smooth as it can be.

Which brings us to Brad Mills.
It is NOT his fault that the Astros suck, but MAN they are a big ole pile of suck.

Their pitching sucks, their bullpen is Godawful and I hate to say it, but they may have to deal Hunter Pence and Michael Bourn. They might be the only chips that have any value. If they can flip two players for a pair of players each, they might have four players to build from.

Either way, the Astros are the worst team in baseball.

They look like they have a clear run at the #1 pick over all in next June's draft.

And oh yeah. They have a new owner coming in.

All of these point to Brad Mills having to get his resume ready.

I am not saying he's not a good baseball mind. He clearly is with his time on Terry Francona's coaching staff.

I am not saying he isn't a potentially good manager.

And I am not blaming him for the current state of the Astros.

All I am saying is when the worst team in baseball enters the All Star break knowing that new owners are on their way, it is a rotten chain of events for the current manager.

The current ownership gets to show the fans that they are still trying and the new ownership would have no issues dumping an interim manager.

If he had a long track record, then he might be safe. But it is easier to dump someone with only a year and a half on their resume.

What I'll say is this: Brad Mills will probably get axed and will eventually get another managing gig. (If Jim Riggleman and his nondescript resume was good to get hired over and over again, then Brad Mills will do fine.)

And one more thing.

Astros bench coach Al Pedrique might be getting a new gig!

When a manager gets canned, they usually take a look at the bench coach to take over temporarily. Bittersweet but good news for Al!

And guess what? He has managerial experience. When the Diamondbacks dumped (unfairly in my view) Bob Brenly, Pedrique managed the team the rest of the way in 2004.

He wasn't exactly John McGraw. He went 22-61 in those 83 games, but hey! He wasn't dealing with a great team either.

It might be time to cut bait with the Fish

On May 26th, the Marlins behind Anibal Sanchez's complete game shutout swept the World Champion Giants and moved to within 1 game of first place.

They were 10 games over .500 and my prediction that they would win the Wild Card looked pretty good at the 1/3 mark of the season.

The Marlins have lost 18 of their last 21 games.

We are more than halfway through June and they have a grand total of one win this month.

They got swept by the Phillies.
And of this writing they are in last place.

They went from 10 games over .500 to 5 games UNDER .500 in less than a month.

I wrote last Sunday that Edwin Rodriguez's job might in trouble.

Now I can imagine him being fired in mid game.

Something needs to be done in Florida and firing the hitting coach ain't it.

I'd like to see the Marlins get a quality innings eater... or a dominating reliever...

Instead I think Rodriguez is getting a pink slip.

I'm rooting for him. He's an underdog baseball lifer. But I also think Bobby Valentine is looking at rentals in South Florida.

Edwin Rodriguez should get his resume ready

Seriously Edwin... I hope you don't think you have job security!
Marlins owner Jeffrey Loria is a little quick with the trigger finger when it comes to showing managers the door.

It worked in 2003 when he dumped his buddy Jeff Torborg and brought in ancient Jack McKeon. The result was the 2003 World Series title.

Since then? Well Joe Girardi had the team in contention despite a microscopic payroll in 2006... and was fired.

Your predecessor Fredi Gonzalez led the Marlins to back to back winning seasons despite the leagues lowest payroll... and was fired.

You? You have one of the most talented Marlins rosters in their history. Expectations are high.
The Marlins were tied with the Phillies in the loss column on May 26th.

Since then the fish had flopped, losing 12 of their next 15 games including a nice big fat 8 game losing streak.

Better start winning, Edwin.
Joe and Fredi got jobs... but their resume was a little bit better.

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Bob Geren got fired? WHY? WHAT WENT WRONG?

I've been calling for Bob Geren to be axed for more than 2 seasons.
It's amazing that he has lasted longer than a Presidential term, taking a team that was a regular playoff participant and seeing them turn into a sub .500 non entity.

It's not ALL his fault but it clearly wasn't working.
Bob Melvin is the new manager. During Geren's first season (2007), Melvin took an unlikely and seemingly overmatched Diamondbacks team and led them to a 90 win season and homefield advantage in the NLCS.

They got to within 4 games of the World Series with Eric Byrnes as their top offensive threat and Livan Hernandez as their #3 starter.

In that time the D'Backs have been dismantled and rebuilt with 2 other managers.

And Geren stayed put in Oakland... until now.

The A's could use a little overachieving.

Or who knows?
Maybe Geren should have gotten ANOTHER 4 1/3 seasons!

The Jim Leyland watch begins... will he be fired or will he quit?

Less than 2 games in and it is inevitable. Jim Leyland's time in Detroit, as fun as it was in 2006 and until the last week of 2009, is going to come to an end.

Will he walk away like Lou Piniella?
Or will the Tigers just give him the axe?
Or will they "promote" him to a meaningless executive title?

But it is going to happen and probably before the All Star Break.
If they keep losing, who knows? He may not make it to May.

Make no mistake, it is going to come to a close.

I predict Jim Leyland will walk away before they can fire him, and he will do so on July 1.

Anyone else care to make a prediction?