Trick or Treat? Astros Get a New GM

Happy Halloween, Astros fans. Jim Crane left something on our porch Friday night, and we’re all trying to figure out whether it’s candy or a rock.

The Astros hired Randy Flores as the 15th general manager in franchise history. Flores is 51, has spent more than a decade in the Cardinals’ front office, and has run their drafts for the last 10 years as scouting director and then assistant GM.

He also pitched eight seasons in the big leagues as a lefty reliever and won a World Series ring with St. Louis in 2006.

There’s even a Halloween twist. The Cardinals hired Flores as scouting director in 2015 to replace Chris Correa, the executive who went to prison for hacking into the Astros’ database. You can’t make this stuff up, can you?

Until Thursday, everybody thought this job belonged to Matt Kleine, the Brewers’ assistant GM. He walked the red carpet with Crane at the Houston Sports Hall of Fame event earlier this month.

The Athletic’s Chandler Rome reported that Houston offered Kleine the job Wednesday evening, hours before Milwaukee won the World Series. By Friday night, Flores had it instead. It appears that Kleine never pulled his name out, but sources told Rome he may have wanted more money or the title of president of baseball operations.

So who turned down whom? Did Kleine walk away from Houston, or did Crane refuse to give the man who just helped build a World Series champion the authority he asked for?

What kind of authority will Flores really have?

After Dana Brown was fired in August, Crane, Jeff Bagwell and three assistant GMs ran baseball operations by committee. Crane is about as hands-on as an owner gets, and it seems that Bagwell is still heavily involved in baseball decisions.

If Kleine asked for the president’s title and Crane said no, that may tell us how Crane feels about anybody else running the show. Or it could just possibly be that Kleine asked for way too much and lost the bet.

Flores has never run a front office. His first job is hiring a manager to replace Joe Espada. After that, he inherits a team that went 81-81, got swept by the White Sox, and had one of the worst minor league systems, according to various surveys.

Will Flores pick the next manager, or will Crane and Bagwell pick one and let Flores announce it? Is he going to rule the roost, or is he a puppet with a nice title?

And I am curious: Why was Crane seemingly so hurried in making the choice? Was it that he’d just done his homework, had his top 2-3 and pulled the trigger? Or did he feel he needed someone in place by December 1, when the lockout will apparently start?

I’ll give Flores this much. His drafts seem to have found some pretty good players after the first round, and a team with Houston’s farm system needs a man who can find players like Roy Oswalt (20th), J.D. Martinez (20th) and Dallas Keuchel (7th).

Flores and Crane meet the media Monday at 10 a.m. at Daikin Park. Watch carefully who fields the questions about the manager search, and that may tell you a lot about who’s really in charge.

So what did Crane leave on our porch, a trick or a treat?