The Astros have hired Cardinals assistant general/director of scouting Randy Flores as their new general manager. The team announced the move Friday night. “Randy has had a huge impact on the Cardinals over the past 10 seasons,” Houston owner Jim Crane said in the press release. “Throughout the entire interview process, we have been completely impressed with Randy and his experience in scouting and player acquisition. We are happy to welcome Randy and his family to the Astros and can’t wait to get to work bringing another championship to Houston.” Flores and Crane will meet with the media during 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 favorite for the job. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Houston offered the general manager job to Kleine on Wednesday night, hours before Milwaukee won its first World Series. Although it’s unclear exactly what changed, The Athletic suggests Kleine had been seeking the title “president of baseball operations” earlier in the week. They write that the Milwaukee AGM never took his name out of the race, although it’s possible there was some kind of deadlock in negotiations over the title and/or salary. In any case, it is a momentous step in Flores’ career. The 51-year-old takes charge of a baseball operations department for the first time. Flores had spent more than a decade in St. Louis’ front office, rising from scouting director to assistant general manager during the 2018-19 offseason. Coincidentally, he had been hired as director of scouting in 2015 to replace Chris Correa, who had been fired and ultimately jailed for illegally accessing the Astros’ internal databases at the beginning of Jeff Lunhow’s tenure as general manager. Flores is a former major leaguer, a left-handed reliever who appeared in 350 games with four teams from 2002-10. 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 on the USC baseball team. He also ran a company that provided video scouting reports on amateur players. Flores’ experience in amateur scouting has extended to his role with the Cardinals, whose drafts he has managed for the past 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 begun to fall behind in pitching development in the early 2020s, leading to some middling seasons and constant restructuring. The Cardinals appear to be on the rise again thanks in part to a core of drafted position players like JJ Wetherholt, Masyn Winn, Jordan Walker and Alec Burleson. The Cardinals have also had some misses. They used first-round picks on Delvin Perez, Nolan Gorman, Zack Thompson, Cooper Hjerpe and Chase Davis during Flores’ tenure. However, no club is going to have a flawless record in the draft, and they have found potential cornerstones in Wetherholt and Walker. Winn, Burleson and current top prospect Joshua Báez were all second-round or competitive balance picks. They got a couple of useful starters in Andre Pallante and Kyle Leahy later in the draft. Flores’ scouting experience will take on added importance in Houston as they navigate a potentially closed competitive window. The Astros returned to the postseason 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, its worst in a full season since 2014. The White Sox swept them by a combined 13-6 margin during the Wild Card Series. Crane was clearly not 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 rehire free agent manager Joe Espada. Flores will be tasked with leading the managerial search and addressing some big roster questions. Houston still has a handful of star players, most notably presumptive American League MVP Yordan Alvarez. They have one of the best shortstops in the game in Jeremy Peña, an ace in Hunter Brown, an elite closer in Josh Hader, an above-average corner infielder in Isaac Paredes and a solid starting catcher in Yainer Díaz. All of those players are two years away from hitting free agency. Peña will be a free agent after the 2027 season, potentially 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 have inflated the contracts of José Altuve and Carlos Correa. They still have too many infielders and would need to spend money to find a candidate for Christian Walker, who will make $20 million next season. They have one of the worst outfields in the MLB and are missing at least one starting pitcher behind Brown, Peter Lambert, Hayden Wesneski and Cristian Javier. The Astros finished last season with a competitive fiscal payroll balance of around $238 million, as shown on MLBTR’s Payroll Tracker (via contributor Ethan Hullihen). They have a 2027 estimate in the range of $210-215 million, assuming Jake Meyers, Taylor Trammell, Ronel Blanco and Bennett Sousa do not bid. Houston has never guaranteed an individual player more than $150 million. Crane was content to let Correa, Alex Bregman and Kyle Tucker walk when they hit free agency, the latter via trade before his walk year. Some or all of Peña, Álvarez and Brown could be trending toward contracts in excess of $150-200 million. In August, MLB Pipeline ranked Houston’s farm system as the second-worst in the majors (above only San Diego’s). Right fielder Cam Smith and reliever AJ Blubaugh were his only real contributors before arbitration last season. Smith has impressed defensively, but he hasn’t hit the mark the Astros hoped when they made him a key piece of the Tucker deal. There is a general deficit of young and controllable talent. That’s natural after years of being one of the best teams in the league, constantly seeking prospective capital and picking at the back of drafts (on top of losing picks for 2017). Flores and his staff will try to thread the needle and avoid a complete rebuild after 2027 or 2028. That is made even more challenging by having one of the league’s most active owners and top advisor, Jeff Bagwell, both heavily involved in baseball operations. They’re not going to tear down everything in the coming months, but they’ll need to balance the roster and potentially consider one or two future-oriented moves 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.
