After weeks of leaks, secrecy, and confusion, the Colorado Rockies have finally hired their new head of baseball operations to lead the front office. The Rockies—as always—held their cards close to their chest
for the entire search, making no official statements until said search was complete.
That statement came on Friday, when the organization announced that they had hired long-time baseball and football executive Paul DePodesta and named him president of baseball operations.
It felt like a very “Rockies” decision to hire an executive who had been out of baseball for a decade. Despite an extensive baseball resume early in his career, DePodesta has served as chief strategy officer for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns since 2016. Even baseball insiders were unsure if they should take the rumors seriously when they began to emerge on Thursday afternoon. DePodesta was never among any of the leaked candidates throughout the search, although Rockies owner and CEO Dick Monfort would claim DePodesta was the first candidate interviewed via press release on Friday.
The hire has been divisive, especially after it was alleged that two top candidates—Amiel Sawdaye of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Matt Forman of the Cleveland Guardians—walked away from the position. It was reported that Sawdaye had turned down an offer while Forman had withdrawn his candidacy over a potential unwillingness from Dick Monfort to allow them full autonomy to make major personnel decisions. It has been speculated that the new head of baseball operations would be unable to remove long entrenched members of the front office, to whom Monfort has been extremely loyal over the years.
This would make sense considering new reporting from multiple sources that DePodesta will be permitted to hire his own staff—including a general manager—to work underneath him. So while long-time members of the organization such as vice president and assistant general manager of scouting Danny Montgomery and vice president of international scouting and development Rolando Fernandez would remain in their positions, DePodesta would at least have the autonomy to create his own team for daily baseball operations. Both Montgomery and Fernandez have been with the Rockies since the team began play in 1993.
DePodesta has a busy week ahead of him. He will be attending the general manager meetings in Las Vegas starting today, and he’ll be introduced on Thursday at Coors Field after those meetings conclude. In the middle, he will likely be looking to start making moves both with the roster and with his own group of personnel.
Meanwhile, faithful Rockies fans will be working to wrap their heads around the hire and figure out how they feel about it.
Despite coming out of both figurative and literal left field, there is definitely a case to be made for DePodesta’s hire.
An early proponent and adopter of advanced metrics and analytics, DePodesta was the right hand of Billy Beane for the “Moneyball” Oakland Athletics of the early 2000s. As such, he has experience with team building on a budget with a focus on drafting, player development, and keeping a healthy farm system. While the Rockies aren’t exactly cheapskates, it’s not a secret they have less money to work with than larger market teams like the dreaded Los Angeles Dodgers.
DePodesta has brought his philosophy of analytics and player development to all of his stops in professional sports, including his two-year stint as general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers themselves, and even to football with the Cleveland Browns.
When DePodesta arrived in Cleveland, the Browns were bottoming out similarly to what the Rockies have done. In 2016 and 2017 they went a combined 1-31 before initiating a full-scale rebuild. That rebuild culminated in a 2020 campaign where the Browns made the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and won their first playoff game since 1994 under first round quarterback Baker Mayfield.
DePodesta also has significant experience working with owners that are cheap, meddlesome, or even both. The Schott-Hofmann ownership group of the Oakland Athletics was notorious for slashing payroll and a refusal to pay their star players or free agents. With the Dodgers he worked under the dysfunctional—but temporarily profitable—ownership of Frank McCourt, and in a later stint with the New York Mets he worked under the Wilpons. With the Browns he worked under owner Jimmy Haslam, who has infamously overridden the decisions of his front office on multiple occasions. Despite that, DePodesta found some modicum of success at all of his stops in various team front offices.
On the other hand, DePodesta hasn’t found sustained success, and in baseball he rarely stayed in one place for long. In his five years with the Athletics they made the postseason three times—including a few division wins—but were first round exits each time. He was fired from the Dodgers after just two seasons despite compiling an overall winning record when the team had a losing record in 2005. It was one of just two losing seasons the Dodgers have had since 1999, but it is rumored DePodesta was fired by McCourt for a combination of not living up to expectations and pressure from local sports media outlets that did not agree with his analytical approach.
Although the Browns found temporary success while DePodesta was there, the team’s collapse with the publicly messy ousting of Baker Mayfield and his alleged role in bring in quarterback Deshaun Watson can’t be ignored. The Browns traded for Watson—whom was already known to have extensive off-field controversies—sending a haul of draft picks to the Houston Texans. The Browns then signed Watson to the largest—and first fully-guaranteed contract in NFL history only for him to perform poorly on the field and ultimately lose the starting job after a series of injuries. However, it is also important to consider how much Haslam was involved in the controversy given his history of exerting his own will over his front office.
It’s also worth noting that while DePodesta’s analytics-based approach was indeed pioneering back in the early 2000s, he is now re-entering baseball in an era where almost all teams have adopted advanced analytics and data. If anything, after a decade away from baseball DePodesta might now find himself behind.
Ultimately, the Rockies did technically do what was asked of them. By hiring Paul DePodesta they brought someone in from outside the organization with no prior history with the Rockies, and they brought in someone who both understands and is a proponent of analytics. There definitely is a chance DePodesta can indeed help drag this organization kicking and screaming into the modern era of baseball
There’s no way of knowing whether this hire will work or not without waiting to see what happens. After 33 years consisting mostly of failure ending with the last four miserable seasons at 20th and Blake, the Rockies certainly haven’t earned the benefit of the doubt.
However, if this move does work out even a little bit, it will represent a tremendous step forward for Rockies baseball.
Arizona Fall League
Arizona Fall League Fall Star Game: American League 5, National League 4
Colorado Rockies and Salt River Rafters prospects Charlie Condon and Cade Denton both had a chance to play in this year’s Arizona Fall League All-Star Game, affectionately referred to as the “Fall Stars Game.” Denton pitched a scoreless inning of relief with a strikeout, though he did run into trouble by giving up a hit and hitting two batters. Condon entered the game as a pinch hitter and ended up getting two plate appearances. He went 0-for-1 with a walk and scored a run.
Help Support Braylen’s Brain Surgery and Recovery | GoFundMe
Rockies prospect utilityman Braylen Wimmer suffered a seizure on his way to an Arizona Fall League game last week and was unfortunately diagnosed with a brain tumor. His friends and family have organized a GoFundMe campaign to help him cover his surgery, recovery, and other medical bills.
DePodesta not the type to cut corners in rebuild, peers say | MLB.com
Thomas Harding breaks down the hire of Paul DePodesta as the Rockies embark on a much needed rebuild. DePodesta’s peers describe him as someone who won’t cut corners and instead will face the challenges of a rebuild head-on.
“As long as ownership is on board with that type of patience, Paul has the ability to build it from the ground up,” said [JP] Riccardi, currently a NESN commentator on Red Sox and Triple-A Worcester broadcasts. “You’ve got a great fan base there. They support the team, really, really well. And you want to reward them for their loyalty. But it’s not going to happen quickly.”
Also discussing the DePodesta hire is Patrick Saunders of the Denver Post, who has compiled a list of questions for the new president of baseball operations. Perhaps the most painfully blunt is this:
“Finally, there is this. Since Cleveland hired DePodesta in January 2016, the Browns are 56-99-1. So the question: ‘Why do you think you can turn around the Rockies’ fortunes?’”
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