The St. Louis Cardinals are in the middle of a rebuild under the leadership of president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom. One of the most important members of Bloom’s staff is Randy Flores, assistant general manager and director of scouting.
Flores has been a key part of the Cardinals‘ minor league restructuring. He helped take the organization from one of the league’s lowest-ranked farm systems to one of the highest. With his success in St. Louis’ minor league turnaround, the Houston Astros had their interest drawn to Flores.
Astros General Manager Opening Could Be Filled Before Halloween
In August, the Houston Astros cut ties with general manager Dana Brown and have since been on the hunt for his replacement. Chandler Rome of The Athletic reported that the Astros could fill the opening before the end of the World Series. Five candidates are at the forefront of the search, none of whom have run their own organization before.
There are three internal candidates, but reports are unclear whether they have struck any interest in the eyes of owner Jim Crane.
The two-month search could come to a close, allowing the Astros to tackle other areas of concern ahead of the impending lockout on Dec. 1. No frontrunner has been noted yet, but with the Astros’ apparent urgency to fill the position, one could emerge in the coming days.
Randy Flores: From The Rubber To The Front Office
Randy Flores, a former major league pitcher, played for four teams during his eight-year major league career, but joined the Cardinals front office in 2015. He began as the scouting director, but was promoted to assistant general manager in 2018 under former president of baseball operations John Mozeliak.
Flores is not only an option for the Astros, but could be a target for the Los Angeles Angels if Mozeliak were to have the interim tag removed from his title.
Flores has been instrumental for St. Louis as Bloom continues to build a consistent pipeline. The Cardinals were named the No. 4 system in the big leagues by MLB.com, before they got to include their deadline hauls and draft selections.
They stuck at No. 4 due to the graduation of top-100 prospect JJ Wetherholt. With Houston’s core aging, the Astros need someone that can take their No. 29 ranked farm and build it back up the way that Bloom and Flores did in St. Louis.
The Cardinals are still in the rebuild, which could incline them to do their best to keep Flores in the Gateway to the West. If Flores does depart the Cardinals will have to begin their search for a new director of scouting and potentially assistant general manager despite the team emplying three currently with Flores included.
Cardinals Assistant General Manager Gaining Interest From Astros