The Astros hired Randy Flores as their new general manager on Friday, as the longtime Cardinals assistant GM was the choice to succeed Dana Brown as the head of Houston’s front office. Flores was one of 10 known candidates linked to the Astros’ search, and MLB.com’s Brian McTaggart adds another name by reporting that the team spoke to Yankees bench coach Brad Ausmus about the GM vacancy the day before Flores was hired.
Ausmus has been the Yankees’ bench coach for the last three seasons and was the Athletics’ bench coach in 2022. The 57-year-old is best known for his two stints as a big league manager (with the Tigers from 2014-17 and with the Angels for the 2019 season) and his 18-year playing career. Ten of Ausmus’ 18 seasons were spent in Houston, where he was a teammate and friend of Jeff Bagwell, a senior advisor to the Astros’ baseball ops department and a known close confidant to owner Jim Crane.
In terms of front office experience, Ausmus worked as a special assistant to then-Angels GM Billy Eppler in 2018, and as a field executive for the Padres from 2011-13. He interviewed for the Astros’ GM job before Brown was hired, and Ausmus also spoke with the club about becoming their next manager in the wake of A.J. Hinch’s departure following the sign-stealing scandal, prior to Houston’s hiring of Dusty Baker.
With Flores now in place, McTaggart suggests that Ausmus could again be a contender for the manager’s job. Ausmus is obviously a known quantity to the organization, though his hiring wouldn’t help the perception that Crane and Bagwell (and not Flores) are the ones making the biggest decisions in baseball operations.
Then again, as The Athletic’s Chandler Rome puts it, “Crane has never cared much for optics,” with Rome citing the fact that Crane’s disagreements with former GM James Click led to Click’s dismissal just days after Houston won the 2022 World Series. Rome also notes that Brewers assistant GM Matt Kleine and Crane were seen attending the Houston Sports Hall of Fame ceremonies a few weeks ago, which added to the perception that Kleine was a leading choice for the GM job.
According to an earlier report from Rome, Kleine was offered the GM job on Wednesday night. It isn’t clear what caused negotiations to break down between Kleine and the Astros, though the fact that Ausmus apparently interviewed a day after the offer to Kleine is an interesting wrinkle. The Astros also took the somewhat unusual step of interviewing Oz Ocampo for an assistant GM job earlier this week, before their new general manager was in place.
Whether Flores was a fallback choice or not, it’s essentially irrelevant now that he actually has the GM job, though Rome notes that the lengthy interview process has left Flores with little time to maneuver before the impending lockout on December 1. Hiring a manager will be one of the first items on his plate, and if not Ausmus, McTaggart suggests that Albert Pujols, Yadier Molina, or Morgan Ensberg could be considered as candidates.
Pujols and Molina obviously have ties to Flores from St. Louis, and the two Cardinals legends have both shown past interest in becoming big league managers. Ensberg is a known quantity to both Flores (they were college teammates) and the Astros as a whole, as Ensberg played with Houston from 2000-07 and spent several years as a coach and manager in Houston’s minor league system.
