Multiple sources—including MLB.com’s Thomas Harding, ESPN’s Jeff Passan, and the New York Post’s Joel Sherman—reported Thursday afternoon that the Colorado Rockies finally have a hire for their open head of baseball operations position.
The position has been vacant since the resignation of Bill Schmidt following the end of the 2025 season. The Rockies are known to have interviewed multiple candidates. The most recent known finalists were Amiel Sawdaye of the Arizona Diamondbacks and Matt Forman of the Cleveland
Guardians. It was reported that one of the two turned down an offer while the other withdrew their candidacy.
The Rockies’ new front office leader is long-time baseball and football executive Paul DePodesta, who is currently serving as the chief strategy officer of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns.
DePodesta, 52, is a graduate of Harvard University and has been in multiple sports executive roles since 1995 when he interned with the now-defunct Baltimore Stallions of the Canadian Football League.
His first worked in baseball with the then-Cleveland Indians in player development and scouting, eventually rising to the role of special assistant to the general manager before leaving to join the Oakland Athletics. In Oakland he served as the assistant general manager to Billy Beane and was a prominent figure of the “Moneyball” Athletics of the early 2000s. He was an early adopter and proponent of advanced analytics and sabermetrics.
DePodesta served as the general manager for the Los Angeles Dodgers—his only full GM role—in 2004 and 2005. The Dodgers went 164-160 during his tenure, but he was fired after the end of a difficult 2005 season. It was one of just two losing Dodgers seasons since 1999.
After being fired by the Dodgers, he served as both a special assistant for baseball operations and eventual executive vice president for the San Diego Padres from 2006-2010. He then was the vice president of player development and scouting for the New York Mets from 2010 through 2016.
DePodesta joined the Cleveland Browns front office as their chief strategy officer in 2016, where he has been until making the jump back to baseball for the Rockies’ open position.
With the Browns, DePodesta helped oversee a rebuild of the long-struggling “Factory of Sadness” after they went a combined 1-31 in the 2016 and 2017 seasons—including the second 0-16 season in NFL history.
In 2020 the Browns went to the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and had their first playoff victory since before the original Browns moved to Baltimore and became the Ravens.
DePodesta was also involved in the Browns’ ill-fated trade to acquire quarterback Deshaun Watson from the Houston Texans for three first round draft picks, as well as a third and fourth round pick. The Browns then signed Watson to a five-year, $230 million fully guaranteed contract. It was both the largest contract and most guaranteed money in a contract in NFL history, as well as the first fully guaranteed contract.
He also served on the board of directors for Sears Holdings Corporation from 2012 to 2022.
DePodesta inherits a team fresh off one of the worst seasons in league history and seven consecutive losing campaigns—including three straight seasons of 100 or more losses. He will be tasked with attempting to modernize and revitalize an ailing franchise that has long been accused of being stuck in the past.
This is a developing story and Purple Row will provide updates as they become available.
