Cardinals extend front office members Michael Girsch and Randy Flores

GM Michael Girsch and Assistant GM/Scouting Director Randy Flores both received contract extensions from the St. Louis Cardinals this past week.

The St. Louis Cardinals confirmed to Derrick Goold of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Monday that they are extending both GM Michael Girsch and assistant GM/scouting director Randy Flores to multi-year extensions, which will keep the core of the Cardinals front office in tact for the foreseeable future.

Both front office executives have been speculated to be candidates for various jobs around baseball, but have chosen to remain with the Cardinals beyond 2022. Girsch even turned down an interview with the New York Mets for their president of baseball operations role last offseason.

While there has been frustration with the Cardinals front office in recent years for lack of spending or making splashy moves, both Flores and Girsch have widely regarded as great minds in the game and credited with some of the best moves the Cardinals have made in recent years.

In Goold’s piece covering the extensions, he referenced that Girsch has been credited by John Mozeliak for pulling off the Jordan Montgomery-Harrison Bader trade, and Flores has been the orchestrater of the Cardinals recent draft success, including a 2020 draft that has an extremely high ceiling with Jordan Walker, Maysn Winn, Tink Hence, and Alec Burleson.

Girsch has served in his role as GM since 2017, and joined the organization way back in 2006 as the Coordinator of Amateur Scouting. Girsch has risen within the organization due to his innovation and helping modernize the Cardinals organization.  Flores pitched for the Cardinals from 2004-2008 and became the Director of Scouting in 2015.

The proof will be in the pudding for this Cardinals front office over the next few seasons. Both executives deserve the praise they have received thus far, but the true fruit of their work will be shown in if Girsch’s acquisitions and Flores’ draft choices can raise the Cardinals level of play in 2023 and beyond.