Houston Astros manager Brad Mills, right, discusses a call with umpire Gary Darling, left, during the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, in Houston. Mills was wondering whether a ball hit by Steve Pearce, ruled a triple, was actually a home run. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)
Houston Astros manager Brad Mills, right, discusses a call with umpire Gary Darling, left, during the third inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers, Saturday, Aug. 11, 2012, in Houston. Mills was wondering whether a ball hit by Steve Pearce, ruled a triple, was actually a home run. (AP Photo/Dave Einsel)
Houston Astros starting pitcher Dallas Keuchel, left, gets a visit on the mound from manager Brad Mills (2) in the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Friday, Aug. 17, 2012, in Houston. Arizona won 3-1 and Keuchel earned his second loss of the season. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
Houston Astros manager Brad Mills, right, argues a questionable call with home plate umpire Jerry Meals in the first inning of a baseball game against the Milwaukee Brewers Friday, Aug. 10, 2012, in Houston. Brewers' Nyjer Morgan advanced to first base after striking out on a missed catch error by Astros catcher Carlos Corporan. Morgan went on to score on a Ryan Braun double. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
HOUSTON (AP) ? The struggling Houston Astros fired manager Brad Mills and two members of his coaching staff Saturday night.
Mills was in his third season as manager of the Astros, who have the worst record in the major leagues at 39-82. The team announced the moves in an email almost two hours after Houston lost 12-4 to the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The club also fired hitting coach Mike Barnett and first base coach Bobby Meacham. The Astros said first-year general manager Jeff Luhnow will name an interim manager and other staff members in a news conference Sunday morning.
Mills became the first big league manager to be fired this season. He was 76-86 in his first season with Houston and a franchise-worst 56-106 last year.
The Astros got off to a rough start again this season but really went into a tailspin during the summer after trading several high-priced veterans mostly for prospects. They have slashed almost $40 million from their opening-day roster and have a remaining payroll of just $21.3 million.
Francisco Cordero and Jed Lowrie, two of Houston's three highest-paid players, are on the disabled list. That leaves Ben Francisco as the only active player making more than $750,000.
Luhnow traded Carlos Lee to Miami on July 4 as the Astros went all in on their rebuilding effort under new owner Jim Crane. They have gone 7-32 since that deal, including a franchise-worst 12-game losing streak.
Lee was only the first piece to be jettisoned, however. After that, Houston got rid of pitchers J.A. Happ, Brandon Lyon, David Carpenter, Brett Myers and Wandy Rodriguez before wrapping up a busy month by sending third baseman Chris Johnson to Arizona.
The trades left Mills in a compromised position with the youngest roster in the National League. He talked often about trying to get the inexperienced players to "do the little things right." He hoped that if they could start doing that it would lead to more wins.
But instead the losses continued to pile up, including a 4-34 slide during one stretch, and after Saturday night's particularly embarrassing loss in which the Diamondbacks scored nine runs in the fifth inning alone, Astros executives decided it was time to move on.
Crane bought the team from Drayton McLane last fall for $615 million in a transaction that requires the club to move from the NL Central to the AL West in 2013. Crane realized that things would probably get tougher after all the deals, but he wasn't necessarily prepared for what transpired.
"We made a lot of trades and once we made that decision ? Jeff started moving some of the talent ? we knew we might slide back a little bit, but we didn't think it would be this bad," Crane said recently.
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