Trying hard to give the troops some items to chew on.
Randy Flores has stepped into the Astros’ general manager job, and from Dan P’s viewpoint, there are five big challenges that he faces:
- New Job Requirements – Flores has not been a general manager before. We can talk about all his exposure to the front office with the Cardinals and all that happens – his drafting skills, etc. But, it is a new job, and he has never been THE MAN. He has never been the focal point for reaching out to other organizations and making proposals and trades or being the top dog when it comes to signing free agents or working through arbitration.
When any of us have gone through a promotion situation we can say we need to hit the ground running, but if we are saying we are totally efficient without a learning curve in these situations, we are not being truthful.
- Squeezed Schedule – On top of on-the-job training, a tight schedule is in place. The current CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) with the players expires at midnight on December 1.
As our buddy Chip Bailey has stated, the teams have until that date (approximately 3 weeks+ from today) to make moves with assurance. Can Flo understand his team and their needs, and have a plan in place quickly enough to support either signing free agents or trading away assets within that short time frame? That feels like a big ask.
- Heightened Expectations – Jim Crane was very clear that he did not plan on going through a rebuilding phase that basically the team just needed tweaking to be a championship contender.
The reality is that the Astros 81-81 record was an outlier for even making the playoffs, much less contending for the championship. Yes, the 2023 D’Backs went 84-78 and somehow squeezed through to the World Series, where they were hammered by the Rangers as the Astros sat to the side, ruing an ALCS loss to those same Rangers.
Does Flores have enough bullets to even have the team repeat that .500 record with their starting pitching in such a fragile situation? Astros’ offseason: A snapshot of the starting pitching – ALL THINGS ASTROS
Jim Crane has shown he is willing to change GMs at a supersonic rate. How will Flores handle his boss’ heightened (unrealistic) expectations?
- Working with eyeballs over his shoulder – Jim Crane has stated that Randy Flores has “full authority” over baseball business going forward. Yet, Jeff Bagwell will still be around, and Crane stated he will continue to step in on financial matters when asked or when he feels it is warranted.
I believe he is actually saying that Flo is fully responsible for everything baseball-wise, even if… Crane steps in and stops something from a financial standpoint or if he steps in because Bagwell whispers back of the baseball card data in his ear.
All owners have and should have the final say on many things that happen with the clubs that they own. But they also should show how much they should be trusted in making baseball decisions. Did Flores take this job believing he will have more power than he will actually have? Or did he know there would be restrictions and decided he wanted to be one of 30 MLB baseball GMs in the world no matter what the situation?
- Threading the needle – Flores needs to thread the needle on replacing Joe Espada’s empty manager spot. Manager candidates were interviewed or chosen to interview before and after he was hired. If he wants his guy – how does he tell Jim and Jeff no thanks on Brad Ausmus who was interviewed before he was hired and Luis Urueta, who was chosen to interview before he was hired. Does he bring Ausmus back for an interview and then after talking to all candidates, choose the one he really wants – Albert Pujols? Morgan Ensberg? (This space for hire)?
In his eventual choice of manager, we may well see how much “full authority” means.
Any thoughts out there?
