Could New Astros GM Randy Flores Poach Descalso, Jay from Cardinals?

For every action, there is usually a direct reaction.

In the case of the St. Louis Cardinals, the action taken by the Houston Astros on Friday to hire Randy Flores as their new general manager, could result in a reaction that could be further damaging to the rebuilding Cardinals.

Flores, a relief pitcher on the Cardinals’ 2006 World Series championship team and a valuable member of their front office over the past 10 seasons, landed his first position as the head of a front office when the Astros named him GM on Friday night.

One of Flores’ first tasks with the Astros will be to hire a new manager, and he is expected to consider several candidates with strong ties to the Cardinals.

Newly inducted Cardinals’ Hall of Famers Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina have both indicated that they want to manager at the big-league level. Flores, who played for the Cardinals from 2004-08, was teammates with both superstar former players, both of whom retired as players in 2022. Both are managing Winter League teams this offseason – Pujols in the Dominican Republic and Molina in Venezuela. Molina, who served as an advisor and coach in the Cardinals dugout for home games this past season, has been ejected four times this season in Venezuela – three of them coming in the past week.

Pujols, one of four players in the history of MLB to hit at least 700 home runs, might still be viewed as something of a villain to Astros fans after St. Louis and Houston did battle for years as NL Central Division rivals and in the NL playoffs. Pujols hit one of the most famous homers in Cardinals’ history in Game 5 of the 2005 NLCS when he took Houston closer Brad Lidge deep for a game-winning home run. The Cardinals beat the Astros in the 2004 NLCS, while the Astros rallied to beat the Cardinals in the 2005 NLCS.

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Flores could also consider two other former coworkers with the Cardinals for the Astros managerial job. Daniel Descalso, the Cardinals current bench coach and a member of the 2011 World Series championship team in St. Louis, has made it known that he wants to be a big-league manager, and he was a finalist for the Chicago White Sox managerial opening last winter before losing out to Will Venable.

Jon Jay, a teammate and close friend of Descalso’s from their time playing together for the Cardinals and winning a World Series together in 2011, could also be a consideration for the Astros managerial job in Houston. If Descalso or Jay are hired by the Astros, they would almost assuredly try and take the other with them to serve on their coaching staff.

Already, the Cardinals are tasked with replacing Flores, their director of scouting from 2015-18 and their assistant GM from 2018-26. Cardinals president of baseball operations Chaim Bloom thought so highly of Flores abilities as a talent evaluator that he kept him on staff in St. Louis this past season after talking over for the departed John Mozeliak.

Flores was instrumental in the Cardinals drafting current Cardinals’ standouts Alec Burleson, Jordan Walker and Masyn Winn in the first two rounds of the 2020 MLB Draft. He also nabbed standout rookie second baseman JJ Wetherholt with the No. 7 pick in the 2024 MLB Draft, pitchers Liam Doyle and Tanner Franklin in the 2025 MLB Draft and high school center fielder Trevor Condon in 2026. Doyle (No. 2), Franklin (No. 6) and Condon (No. 7) are some of the highly ranked prospects in a Cardinals’ Minor League system that was ranked No. 2 overall by Baseball America.