Astros' GM Search Has a Top Target: Milwaukee Assistant Matt Kleine, the Low-Payroll Builder Houston's Owner Went Looking For
Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports Kleine is Houston's choice to replace Dana Brown - no deal yet - out of a Brewers front office that just won 103 games and a World Series on a bottom-third payroll.
HOUSTON - The Astros' search for a general manager has narrowed to a name. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reports that Milwaukee Brewers assistant general manager Matt Kleine is Houston's top choice for the job, though a deal to hire him has not yet been agreed upon, according to MLB Trade Rumors' account of the report. Kleine has been in the mix since August, shortly after Dana Brown was dismissed, and another Milwaukee assistant, Matt Klentak, received interest but removed himself from consideration earlier this month.
The fit matches the brief owner Jim Crane set. Rome has reported Crane wanted a general manager from inside a club finding major-league success on a low payroll, and Milwaukee is the model: a bottom-third payroll, the postseason in eight of the past nine seasons, and in 2026 a franchise-high 103 wins and the first World Series title in club history. Kleine has spent 19 years in that front office, hired as an associate scout and promoted to assistant general manager after the 2023 season.
The field behind him was long - former Nationals president Mike Rizzo, Rays assistant Kevin Ibach, White Sox assistant Josh Barfield, Cardinals assistant Randy Flores, Royals senior vice president Scott Sharp and Braves assistant Ben Sestanovich were all publicly connected to the vacancy - which makes a single named top target the news: the search phase is ending, whenever the deal phase does.
What Kleine would inherit is a club trending the wrong way on paper: Houston's win total has slid from 106 in the 2022 championship season to 90, 88, 87 and 81, Jeremy Pena, Isaac Paredes and Christian Walker reach free agency after 2027, Yordan Alvarez, Josh Hader, Yainer Diaz and Hunter Brown after 2028, and an expected offseason lockout sits over all of it. The Astros have never given a free agent more than $100 million. If the deal is finalized, the new GM's first winter will test exactly the low-payroll craft Houston went shopping for.
