Astros Hire Randy Flores as General Manager: What Houston Is Getting Days Before Free Agency Opens
The Houston Astros hired Randy Flores as general manager on Friday night, three days before free agency opens and two days after offering the job to someone else.
Flores, 51, spent the last 11 years in the St. Louis Cardinals front office and has run their drafts for the last decade. He becomes the 15th general manager in Astros history and will be introduced Monday morning at Daikin Park, the same day the free agent market opens. Chandler Rome of The Athletic first reported the hire.
Houston’s First Choice Was Someone Else
Brewers assistant general manager Matt Kleine had been the frontrunner, and Houston offered him the job on Wednesday evening. It fell apart. Per reports relayed by MLB Trade Rumors citing The Athletic, a dispute over title or salary may have been the reason, though neither Kleine nor Milwaukee has confirmed that on the record.
Kleine, 40, has spent 20 seasons with the Brewers and recently signed an extension that Houston would have had to buy out. Owner Jim Crane was seen with him at the Houston Sports Awards earlier in October. Former Nationals general manager Mike Rizzo also interviewed, as did Astros assistant general managers Charles Cook and Gavin Dickey.
Losing a frontrunner over money two days before you hire his replacement is not a great look. It is also recoverable, because Flores was not a consolation prize.
Who Flores Is
He pitched in the majors from 2002 to 2010, a left-hander who went 11-5 with a 4.61 ERA, 202 strikeouts and four saves across 347 relief appearances and three starts for the Rangers, Rockies, Cardinals and Twins. He won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 2006.
Then he built a second career. He pitched at USC and earned his degree there in 1997, coached the Trojans’ pitchers in 2013, worked as a college baseball analyst for ESPN and the Pac-12 Networks, and founded a company that produced video scouting reports on amateur players. St. Louis hired him as director of scouting in 2015 and promoted him to assistant general manager after the 2018 season, most recently with the title of assistant general manager of amateur and pro acquisition.
Crane’s statement was short and pointed at the thing Houston actually wants. “Randy has had a huge impact on the Cardinals over the last 10 seasons.” Flores said he was “excited and grateful for this amazing opportunity” and that his family is “excited to make Houston home.” The terms of his contract were not disclosed.
This is his first time running a baseball operations department.
The Job He Just Took
Houston went 81-81 in 2026 and won the American League West anyway, its fifth division title in six years and the worst record ever posted by a first-place team in a full season. The Astros clinched on the final day with a 9-0 win over the Athletics, then got swept by the Chicago White Sox in the Wild Card Series.
Dana Brown was terminated as general manager on Aug. 24 after four seasons, with Crane installing himself atop baseball operations alongside senior adviser Jeff Bagwell and the assistant general managers.
Crane was open before the hire about what he was looking for. “I think you’re watching some pretty good teams that don’t have big payrolls,” he said, adding that “experience is valuable but not necessary.” Jeff Luhnow, James Click and Brown all arrived without having been a general manager before. Houston keeps hiring first-timers and keeps getting to October, so the pattern is at least defensible.
Flores gets three days to settle in, with the GM Meetings in Las Vegas the week after. Hiring a career scouting executive days before the market opens says Houston would rather fix the pipeline than buy its way out of trouble. An 81-81 division winner probably needs to do both.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
