Astros Hire Randy Flores as General Manager: the Cardinals Executive Takes Over, With a Manager to Hire by Monday
Flores, 51, spent 11 seasons in the St. Louis front office and becomes the 15th general manager in Astros history. He will be introduced Monday morning at Daikin Park, and his first job is the dugout: Houston still has no manager.
HOUSTON - The Houston Astros hired St. Louis Cardinals executive Randy Flores as their general manager on Friday, ending a search that began in August and landing the club's new baseball chief three days before free agency opens. Flores, 51, becomes the 15th general manager in franchise history and will be formally introduced at a news conference Monday morning at Daikin Park, the Associated Press reported.
Flores spent the last 11 seasons with the Cardinals, joining as director of scouting in 2015 and rising to assistant general manager of amateur and pro acquisition after the 2018 season. Before the front office, he was a left-handed relief pitcher who spent most of an eight-year major-league career in St. Louis. In Houston he replaces Dana Brown, who was let go on August 24 with his contract set to expire after serving as general manager since January 2023. Three assistant general managers and Hall of Famer Jeff Bagwell, a special adviser, ran baseball operations in the interim.
"We're happy to welcome Randy and his family to the Astros and we can't wait to get to work on bringing another championship to Houston," owner Jim Crane said in the announcement reported by Reuters. The hire surprised the rumor mill: reporting in the last day had Milwaukee Brewers assistant general manager Matt Kleine as the leading candidate for the job.
The inbox waiting for Flores is not small. Houston still needs a manager - Joe Espada's contract was not renewed after the Astros were swept by the Chicago White Sox in the Wild Card Series - and the roster he inherits just made the wrong kind of history: an 81-81 record that won the American League West for the fifth time in six years and made Houston the first club without a winning record to reach the playoffs in a non-shortened season. The standard here is higher than that: the Astros have reached the playoffs in nine of the last 10 years and won the World Series in 2017 and 2022. Flores starts Monday, with free agency opening the same day.
