Mills in familiar spot
Run with Tito similar to ’04
CLEVELAND — Once in a while, Indians manager Terry Francona and bench coach Brad Mills will look at their team and see reminders of their Red Sox past.
“I really can’t pinpoint one certain topic,” Mills said yesterday at Progressive Field before Game 6 of the World Series. “But the thing that does come up is just the way these guys like each other. Especially the ’04 team. I mean, the ’ 07 team was close, too.
“But this team is real close, just like our ’04 team. And maybe even more so, with their families and the children and these guys. They came up through the minor leagues together, where in Boston, a lot of times those guys didn’t come up together.”
The 59-year-old Mills is in his fourth year on the Indians coaching staff under Francona, and the ninth year as his bench coach overall. They ran the show in Boston from 200409, winning a pair of World Series.
“The ride, always (when) you’re playing this late in the year, it’s fun,” Mills said. “And that compares (to Boston) as well. But a younger group of guys. Not the superstars. I mean, we had a couple superstars there, and those guys really bonded. These guys bond really well. ... It’s probably more comparisons than differences.”
Nine years with Tito accounts for exactly half of Mills’ 18 years as a major league coach or manager. And because of the World Series run the Indians have made in 2016 with the help of a diligent and open-minded staff — look at their aggressiveness using relievers — Mills might wind up with his second chance to manage.
“If I got the opportunity, I’d really enjoy it and look forward to it,” said Mills, who left the Sox after six seasons to become the Houston Astros manager from 2010-12.
The Colorado Rockies, who have a vacancy, have been tied to Mills. Indians president of baseball operations Chris Antonetti yesterday confirmed he has received inquiries about Mills but said he wanted to stay away from specifics “at this point.”
“He’s Tito’s right-hand man, and he really helps execute a lot of the planning, the logistics of when we’re going to work out, practices, all the communication within a game to get players ready,” Antonetti said. “(Mills is) certainly very deserving of another opportunity to manage.
“One of the things that separates him too as a person is he’s always looking to learn. And he can reflect back and talk about all the things he’s learned as a player as a coach, as a manager in his time in Houston, and the things he’s now learned again as Tito’s bench coach this go-around.”
Mills was on Francona’s coaching staff in Philadelphia before he was the bench coach with the Sox, and their relationship stretches all the way back to shared days at the University of Arizona.
Mills, then, knows how significant this year has been for Francona, who yesterday joked about how hated he was in Boston at times.
“I used to laugh and tell like some of the (local media here) probably know, when I left Boston, like I said, if I went to Beirut, it would be like the perfect place to go from Philly to Boston,” Francona said. “I mean, there were a lot of times I thought my name was, ‘You suck!’ Because that’s all I ever heard.”
Francona has been humbled by this year’s group, Mills said.
“The front office, this group of guys, and to be able to come to this point for all of those guys,” Mills said. “That’s what gives them pleasure, and that’s what he’s happy about. There’s no doubt it means a lot to him.”
When Mills was let go by Houston late in the 2012 season, the Indians weren’t the only team calling with a major league coaching gig. But the familiarity with Francona was an overwhelming draw.
Francona wasn’t the Indians manager yet when they first discussed a reunion, which made Mills Tito’s third base coach for 2013 before he slid over to bench coach.
“I had just gotten let go. So I’m in a situation where I was pretty much in limbo and I said, ‘Yeah, I’ll definitely consider it,’” Mills said. “We talked a few more times periodically before he got the job, and then things happened to work out. I had a couple of other opportunities that were very good. But to be in a situation where you’re with somebody that knows you and knows what you do, and I know him, I think all of that kind of helps.”
The staff dynamic in Cleveland isn’t exactly the same as it was in Boston, but that’s to be expected with different personnel.
“We had John Farrell, who’s a little bit more experienced,” Mills said. “You know he was in the front office here in Cleveland before he went over, things of that nature.”
Come Opening Day, Mills could be alongside Farrell in the ranks of big league managers.