The Astros have hired Cardinals assistant general manager/director of scouting Randy Flores as their new general manager. The team announced the decision Friday evening.
“Randy has had a tremendous impact on the Cardinals over the past 10 seasons,” Houston owner Jim Crane said in the release. “Throughout the interview process, we were very impressed with Randy and his experience in scouting and player acquisition. We are happy to welcome Randy and his family to the Astros and look forward to getting to work on bringing another championship to Houston.” Flores and Crane will meet the media at an introductory press conference Monday morning.
It’s a surprise turn of events. The Athletic reported Thursday that Brewers assistant general manager Matt Kleine had emerged as the front-runner for the job. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Houston offered Kleine the general manager job Wednesday night, hours before Milwaukee won its first World Series.
While it’s unclear what exactly changed, The Athletic suggested that Kleine was vying for the title of “president of baseball operations” earlier in the week. They write that Milwaukee’s AGM never withdrew his name from the race, although it’s possible there was some sort of deadlock in negotiations over title and/or salary.
In any case, it is a momentous step in Flores’ career. The 51-year-old is taking charge of a baseball operations department for the first time. Flores had spent more than a decade in St. Louis’ front office, rising through the ranks from director of scouting to assistant general manager during the 2018-19 offseason. He was coincidentally hired as scouting director in 2015 to replace Chris Correa, who was fired and ultimately jailed for illegally accessing the Astros’ internal databases early in Jeff Lunhow’s tenure as general manager.
Flores is a former major leaguer, a left-handed reliever who played in 350 games with four teams between 2002 and 2010. He won a World Series ring in 2006 with St. Louis. After retiring as a player, Flores completed a master’s degree in education while working as an assistant coach with the USC baseball team. He also ran a company that provided video surveillance reports on amateur gamers. Flores’ experience in amateur recruiting has been reflected in his role with the Cardinals, where he has run drafts for 10 years.
St. Louis has had a lot of success as a draft and development organization over the years, especially in the middle rounds. They had started to fall behind in pitcher development in the early 2020s, leading to a few shoulder seasons and their continued retooling. The Cardinals appear to be back on the rise thanks in part to a core of position players like JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker And Alex Burleson.
The Cardinals have also had their share of misses. They used the first round selections on Delvin Perez, Nolan Gorman, Zack Thompson, Cooper HjerpeAnd Chase Davis during Flores’ term. However, no club will have a clean draft record, and they found potential building blocks in Wetherholt and Walker. Winn, Burleson and the current top prospect Joshua Baez were second-round or competitive balance sheet picks. They nabbed some usable starters Andre Pallante And Kyle Leahy deeper into the project.
Flores’ scouting experience will take on increased importance in Houston as they navigate a potentially closed competitive window. The Astros returned to the playoffs for the ninth time in the last 10 years, but that was largely by default thanks to one of the worst divisions in history. Houston snuck into the postseason with an 81-81 record, their worst in a full season since 2014. The White Sox swept them by a combined margin of 13-6 in the Wild Card Series.
Crane clearly wasn’t satisfied with returning to the playoffs. He left former general manager Dana Brown shortly after the trade deadline. After the season, Crane decided not to re-sign free agent manager Joe Espada. Flores will be responsible for leading the manager search and dealing with important questions on the roster.
Houston still has a handful of star players, including the presumptive AL MVP. Yordan Alvarez. They have one of the best shortstops in the game Jeremy Penaan ace in Brown Huntera closer elite Josh Haderan above average corner player in Isaac Paredesand a solid starting receiver in Yainer Diaz.
All of these players are within two years of reaching free agency. Peña will be a free agent after the 2027 season, potentially as the No. 1 player in the class. Paredes will join him on the open market next winter. Alvarez ($26 million per year) and Hader ($19 million per year) are signed through 2028. Brown and Diaz are under arbitration control for two years.
Meanwhile, the Astros inflated contracts for José Altuve And Carlos Correa. They still have one too many infielders and would have to eat money to find a buyer. Christian Walkerwho will earn $20 million next season. They have one of the worst outfields in MLB and are missing at least one starting pitcher behind Brown, Pierre Lambert, Hayden Wesneski And Christian Javier.
The Astros finished last season with a competitive payroll of around $238 million, as shown by MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker (via contributor Ethan Hullihen). They have an estimate for 2027 in the range of $210 million to $215 million, assuming no competitive bidding. Jake Meyers, Taylor Trammel, Ronel Blanco And Bennett Sousa.
Houston has never guaranteed an individual player more than $150 million. Crane was content to let Correa, Alex Bregman And Kyle Tucker leaving when they hit free agency – the latter via trade before his walk year. All or part of Peña, Alvarez and Brown could trend toward contracts in excess of $150 million to $200 million. Last August, MLB Pipeline ranked Houston’s farm system as the second worst in the major leagues (above San Diego’s). Right steering wheel Cam Smith and reliever AJ Blubaugh were their only real contributors pre-arbitration last season. Smith has impressed defensively, but hasn’t performed to the level the Astros expected when they made him a key part of the Tucker deal.
There is an overall deficit of young, controllable talent. This is only natural after years of being one of the best teams in the league, constantly increasing prospect capital and picking at the end of drafts (in addition to draft packages for 2017). Flores and his team will attempt to thread the needle and avoid a complete rebuild after 2027 or 28. This is made especially difficult because one of the league’s owners and senior advisor, Jeff Bagwell, are both heavily involved in baseball operations. They’re not going to tear everything down over the next few months, but they’ll need to balance the roster and potentially consider a future-oriented move or two along the way.
Chandler Rome, Katie Woo and Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic reported just before the club’s announcement that Flores was a serious candidate for the job.
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