Ran into Millar the other night at a function -- OK, in a club -- and he says he is a free agent this off season and that it would be "really cool" if he could sign with the Astros. He said he was just talking, no one had made any contact on either side to this point.
Whether this is a good idea for the Astros or not, I don't know. I am just relaying information.
Millar is definitely not going back to Toronto. From what I gather, he did not like it much there at all. At any rate, he wants to get back to the NL, and Houston would be a nice fit for him because he lives in Beaumont (he has a wife from there and three or four young children.) And he's already got the ranch thing covered; it's a nice little spread between LaBelle and Fannett, kind of resembles a rice paddy with a fence around it more than a ranch, but whatever.
He said he realizes he is past the point where he is an everyday starter, and he is working hard on being a serviceable utility guy and good RH bat off the bench. He can play 1B, and 3B and LF-RF, after a fashion. That's why he wants to get back to the NL. In the American League, he is a platoon DH, which he hates.
I looked up his batting splits last night. This past season his platoon differential was pretty big (.723 OPS vs. LHP, .615 vs. RHP), but before that and career-wise, he is almost dead even vs. LHP (.796) and RHP (.815). I don't know if this season was an anomaly, or a trend.
The Houston bench wasn't exactly stellar in 2009, and practically all of them are FAs, I believe. So there might be an opening for Millar. He is supposed to be great in a clubhouse, too. Whether that is true or not. . . Dude talks pretty much incessantly, so I am just giving the highlights here. He was hanging out with Tracy Bird and Mark Chestnut, the country singers. They had been promoting a charity golf tournament/concert thing they put on, and when I talked to them I think it is fair to say no one was feeling much pain.
Anyway, I don't have any idea on contract issues, but if anyone in the Astros front office is looking for a hard-working, moderately talented, manic-bordering-on-annoying 1B-3B-OF with a stick, I know where you can find one. He's pretty easy to find most weekend nights.
