Mills will manage in the majors for the first time, although he has managed a total of 11 seasons in the minors with three organizations.

General manager Ed Wade said Mills agreed to a two-year contract, with a team option for the third. The Astros made an offer to former Washington Nationals manager Manny Acta over the weekend, but Acta took the Cleveland Indians' job instead.

The Astros fired Cecil Cooper on Sept. 21.

Mills was the Phillies' first-base coach from 1997 to 2000, when Terry Francona was the manager. Wade was the Phillies' GM from 1998 to 2005.

Dodgers. Jamie McCourt has filed for divorce from Dodgers owner Frank McCourt in Los Angeles.

Frank McCourt fired his wife as the team's chief executive officer on Thursday, a day after the Phillies eliminated the Dodgers from the playoffs. Jamie McCourt's filing states that she is seeking reinstatement with the team.

She also lists the Dodgers as a community asset that she partially owns.

Noteworthy. The $845 million sale of the Chicago Cubs, Wrigley Field, and other assets from the Tribune Co. to the Ricketts family was completed, more than 21/2 years after the franchise was put on the market. The family of billionaire Joe Ricketts, the founder of Omaha, Neb.-based TD Ameritrade, takes a 95 percent controlling interest in the baseball franchise and its storied ballpark.

Washington named Kasey McKeon director of player procurement and Jay Robertson as special assistant to general manager Mike Rizzo. . . . Toronto appointed Paul Beeston president and CEO of both the club and Rogers Centre for a three-year term. Beeston had taken over from Paul Godfrey on an interim basis in October 2008. . . . Outfielder Gabe Kapler signed a one-year deal to stay with Tampa Bay.