Nov. 9: DePodesta is aiming to hire a general manager and other front office personnel by the time of the winter meetings, according to Jon Morosi of MLB Network.
Nov. 7: The Rockies formally announced DePodesta as their new president of baseball operations today.
“Paul’s previous work in MLB set the foundation for many aspects of the way the game is analyzed today and we are thrilled for him to be a key figure in our future,” executive vice president Walker Monfort said within today’s press release. “Under his leadership, we will evolve the Colorado Rockies into what we know will be an exciting new era. Hiring Paul is an essential first step to the evolution of our baseball department and we’re confident that he will not only maximize our current personnel but will also bring in additional leaders from outside the organization to help lead us forward.”
Nov. 6: The Rockies are reportedly in agreement with Paul DePodesta to run baseball operations. The team has yet to announce the hire, nor whether he’ll be the general manager or president of baseball operations. In any case, it’s a stunning move that brings DePodesta back to baseball after a decade.
DePodesta has worked with the NFL’s Cleveland Browns since January 2016. He has not been the general manager. His relatively vague title has been chief strategy officer. DePodesta has worked under a few GMs in Cleveland — the past five of which have come under executive vice president and GM Andrew Berry. He has seemingly held a high-ranking scouting/player acquisition position without ever having the top spot in football operations.
The Browns have made the playoffs twice in the past eight years and are coming off a 3-14 season that had them in last place in the AFC North. They’re currently 2-6 and at the bottom of the division as they’re amidst another rebuild.
Before his move to the NFL, DePodesta was a high-ranking baseball operations executive. He’s probably most famous for his time as the assistant general manager with the A’s under Billy Beane. That’s due largely to the success of Moneyball, the Michael Lewis book chronicling the A’s being at the forefront of using more advanced player metrics to succeed despite significant budgetary constraints. That was adapted into an acclaimed 2011 film in which Jonah Hill played a composite character that was largely based on DePodesta.
While Moneyball’s popularity makes DePodesta most associated with the A’s, his highest-ranking MLB position came when he accepted the general manager job with the Dodgers in 2004. DePodesta was just 31 years old at the time. He held the role for two seasons, winning 93 games and the NL West title in 2004. The team stumbled to a 71-91 showing the following year, and the Dodgers fired him at the end of the ’05 campaign. DePodesta worked as a high-ranking assistant with the Padres and Mets for the next decade before making the jump to the NFL.
Now 52, DePodesta returns to baseball almost 20 years since his last GM job. He’s facing a monumental challenge. The Rox are coming off a 43-119 season that is tied for the third worst of the modern era. Their -424 run differential was somehow even worse. They were the first team since 1899 to be outscored by more than 400 runs. They scored the second-fewest runs in MLB despite playing half their games at Coors Field. They allowed 122 more runs than the next-closest team.
Despite the abysmal state of the major league roster, the Rockies don’t have the kind of high-end farm system that one would expect from a club that has finished fourth or fifth in the division in seven straight years. Baseball America credited them with two Top 100 prospects on their latest update in August: recent top five picks Ethan Holliday and Charlie Condon. As a result of those consecutive lottery picks, the Rockies are prohibited by the CBA from picking any higher than 10th in the 2026 draft.
There aren’t many buildings blocks on the MLB roster. Shortstop Ezequiel Tovar, center fielder Brenton Doyle, and starting pitcher Chase Dollander have the best chance to be key pieces of a long-term contender. They’re all coming off underwhelming seasons. Hunter Goodman was the team’s best player in 2025. He was one of only four primary catchers to hit 30-plus homers, but he’s a 26-year-old coming off a breakout season in which his strikeout and walk profile was poor. He’s probably more of a good complementary player than someone who’d be one of the three to five best position players on a contender.
On top of all that, the front office faces the unique challenge of building a pitching staff that can succeed at altitude. They’re always likely to face heavier pitch counts and workloads over the course of a 162-game season at MLB’s most hitter-friendly park. Colorado hitters need to adjust to different pitch movements at home and on the road. They’re in a division with the two-time defending World Series winners. The Padres have won 90-plus games in two straight seasons. The Diamondbacks and Giants have been around average of late, but both teams have the kind of impact position player talent that the Rockies have not developed since the Nolan Arenado and Charlie Blackmon heyday.
DePodesta will be the surprise choice to turn things around. The Rockies had seemingly settled on Diamondbacks assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye and Guardians AGM Matt Forman as the finalists last week. Bob Nightengale of USA Today writes that Sawdaye rejected Colorado’s offer, while Forman took himself out of consideration. That led them to go well outside the box for DePodesta.
It’s Colorado’s first external GM hiring in more than a decade. They’d stayed internal with the promotions of Jeff Bridich and Bill Schmidt. DePodesta’s first task will be the final managerial decision of the offseason. Interim skipper Warren Schaeffer has been in limbo since the team moved on from Schmidt at the end of the regular season.
Thomas Harding of MLB.com first mentioned that DePodesta was a strong candidate for the position. ESPN’s Jeff Passan mentioned that they were nearing a deal, while The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal, Brittany Ghiroli and Zac Jackson first reported the agreement was in place.
Image courtesy of Ken Blaze, USA Today Sports.
Oh boy, “Google boy” is back
He was awful as the Dodgers GM. Doesn’t understand baseball.
I think if he can make the A’s win 100 games then he can turn around the rockies
That was mostly on Billy Beane, Art Howe, and some of the Oakland A’s players, not DePodesta.
Any of us commenters could turn the Rockies around too. They really have nowhere to go but up.
A’s won 100 thanks to Sandy Alderson. Beane did very little and took an incredible amount of credit.
Billy Beane attributed much of their success in those years to DePo. The A’s would not have had those players without what he brought to the table in terms of statistical analysis. That was the point made in the book Moneyball.
The A’s had gone through 3 losing seasons under Howe before DePo came on board and in his 5 seasons with the Athletics they had the best record in baseball.
When DePo took over the Dodgers for the 2004 season they had not been to the playoffs since 1996. That first year he made some controversial moves, but the Dodgers were back in the playoffs. That was during the McCourt era. He had purchased the team in the winter of 2003-2004 and hired DePo in February. McCourt was a plague on baseball, much as Fisher and Nutting are today.
The core players were taken by Alderson. Aside from Zito, the big time players that made Oakland great in 2000-03 were Alderson and the scouting department. Beane took a lot of credit for that. It explains why DePodesta and Ricciardi saw limited to no success with their tactics running a club.
Not at all. Beane and Alderson have both spoken extensively on this over the years and given much of the credit to DePo. Beane believed in him and had the team act on his suggestions, but DePo was the one who came up with the scouting and analytics methods that resulted what happened on the field. DePo was a scout in Cleveland before he was a “Moneyball” guy. You are entitled to your opinion but the guys that were there take precedence in my view.
DePo took a Dodgers team that had not been to the playoffs in 9 years and with a few moves created a team that went to the playoffs their first year. Any problems there after that were because of McCourt. One of the few owners to ever be forced to sell by MLB.
DePo was in charge of scouting for the Padres and they had the highest percentage of draftees reach the majors. Back then the draft was 42 rounds.
The A’s had Tejada, Chavez, Zito, Hudson, and Mulder. Moneyball was not the reason they won 100 games
baseball-reference.com/teams/OAK/1998.shtml
Tejada was a rookie that played to a negative WAR in 1998.
Chavez played in 16 games in 1998.
Zito was drafted in 1999. Might want to read Moneyball about that one. Beane didn’t want to draft him. He wanted Sheets.
Hudson was called up in 1999 even though he had a 4.54 ERA in AA the previous season because of Depodesta.
Mulder didn’t play for the A’s until 2000 and wasn’t very good until 2001.
Moneyball had everything to do with those team’s 100 win seasons in 2001-2002.
outinleftfield you just made my case. What, rookie seasons are impactful out of the gate? Not always. Yet you could not go further as Beane’s work was dismal in-comparison.
Moneyball killed what could have been a dynasty. Resulted in yearly ALDS exits thanks to arrogance over baseball fundamentals. 2001 and 2002 were underachievements and you just propped it up. Well done.
They talked extensively about a guy that could not lead a baseball team, and helped the A’s flame out in October? That’s great praise. Let’s not pretend they didn’t self sabotage themselves. If they taught sliding, they win the 2001 ALDS. If they learned to bunt they win the 2002 and 2003 ALDS. Lowered expectations is the new excellence?
Padres prospects are so good they’ve traded many and miss only a few. Really appears Colorado made a mistake here.
No sense in trying to discuss this with someone who has no sense.
its, you are hopeless. Are all the commenters on this website as clueless as you are?
They were 3rd best in MLB over that period but spent about 25% of what the Yankees spent.
Shawn?
Bak Pak if you have a disagreement make a case. Otherwise you really do not have much of a reason to complain. Much like the outinleftfield guy that just cried in the corner and muted me. Slinging insults means you handed me a win, and that’s a shame.
It is hilarious you actually believe Beane and DePodesta were successful. The A’s run after 2003 has been abysmal, and perhaps philosophy contributed. Yes they do not spend. Yes, they have also been mediocre in the drafting, scouting and trade department. But hey, considering Colorado’s track record maybe it’s a perfect fit.
I think this is a good hire, on his worst day he is better than Bridich and Schmidt. Time will clean this tell of course, and this will take multiple seasons to clean this mess up.
Steinbrenner2728: Art Howe? He was an awful manager, especially with the Mets.
3rd best and zero ALCS appearances.
Remember, in the McCourt Public Divorce?! In depositions, the McCourts were found to be using Dodgers’ team revenues as their personal ATM machine to buy many properties and houses and too live the lifestyle of the rich and famous spending all the funds that was traditionally and thereafter spent on the Dodgers major league roster and farm system, So, the Dodgers bad year in De Podesta’s 2nd year with the Dodgers for which he was fired was really the fault of the McCourts for siphoning off all the Dodgers huge revenue streams for personal uses and for not spending that money on the team. De Podesta should not have been fired. MLB Commissionere took actions after that to publicly fire the McCourts and ban them from baseball ownership.
John Fisher is now MLB’s worst owner destroying a proud A’s franchise with a storied history including 4 World Series Championships in Oakland and 3 in a row in the Dynastic Oakland A’s run in the 1970;s. The Oakland A’s are tied for 3rd place with the most World Series Championships with 9. (also with 9 Championships are the Dodgers and the Red Sox).
Remember, Billy Beane turned down a very lucrative offer from John Henry to be POB of the Red Sox before the Red Sox broke their curse and started winning modern championships. Beane was divorced, his daughter was young and living with his Ex in California. Beane turned down the Red Sox offer to not miss that time as a Co Parent with his daughter growing up in CA, So Beane turned down Henry’s very lucrative offer and would not move from CA to Boston. . . The rise of the Modern Championship Red Sox was because they adopted “money ball” statistical analysis tactics and then added big money spending to that equation also. If they couldn’ get Billy Beane, then the Red Sox made up for it by hiring others who were also pioneers in statistical analysis like Bill James and then added the big money spending component that Oakland never had/used. Results were multiple World Series Championships in Boston.
Red Sox modern championship teams were based on moneyball statistical analysis techniques plus the ability to also spend larger than the A’s ever could spend on their much tighter budgets.
Money ball did not kill anything. Moneyball happened well after the Dynastic A’s of the 1970’s. Free Agency and the shoe string budgets of former A’s Owner Charles O. Finley killed the A’s Dynasty. Lawsuits challenging Finley’s hard fisted contracts and brutal negotiations with players and their agents lead to free agency and killed that A’s dynasty.Billy Beane played for the A’s in the late 80’s and became an executive after his playing days. Beane was on the A’s 97 World Series championship team. Beane became GM in 1997 well beyond the A’s Dynastic period of the 1970’s…
Had Beane taken the Boston job and achieved the same results as he’s had with the A’s he would have been quickly out of a job. Being with the A’s was safe and protected him.
Moneyball won them zero American League pennants and cost them numerous October opportunities. Re-write history like Hollywood, it does not change the fact that they’ve squandered numerous opportunities thanks to their attempt to reinvent the baseball wheel. Please stop using the payroll excuse. Blowing 2-0 leads in the ALDS to NYY and Boston was not because they were short on cash.
We remember the divorce and the very lean, uninspiring years DePodesta had in LA that resulted in a lot of hype and not a lot of results. You’ve basically said he cannot succeed without a large payroll.
McCourt was given the LAD provided he hire DePodesta. Once he saw how he operated, he got rid of him. And before DePodesta goes off and talks about his collegiate playing days at Harvard, he played JV football and JV baseball.
Yes, but there are more qualified candidates out there for the Rockies to settle for DePodesta.
extreme113: But even if there are, you don’t know if any of them expressed interest in the job.
Hiring DePodesta was not a condition of McCourt being approved as the new owner of the Dodgers. Put down the pipe and take off the tin foil hat.
There are no junior varsity sports at Harvard or any other NCAA school.
gocrimson.com/news/2019/7/30/7_30_2019_644.aspx
gocrimson.com/sports/football/roster/1994
Is there some reason you feel it necessary to lie?
Beane was a major driving force in the A’s Front office.
Don’t minimize Billy Beane’s contributions….
Contributions: early playoff exits.
outinleftfield: “Hudson…had a 4.54 ERA in AA…because of Depodesta.”
Huh? How could a GM cause a player to post specific stats?
Alfred, DePodesta hit circle instead of X on his PS3 back then, according to Bak snack and outtolunch. Had to be his fault.
Stop being such a putz. If you are going to quote me, post the entire quote.
“Hudson was called up in 1999 even though he had a 4.54 ERA in AA the previous season because of Depodesta.”
Hudson was called up because of Podesta even though he had a 4.54 ERA in AA the previous season. If Podesta is not pushing for him to be called up, he is in AA or AAA that season.
Maybe if you listened to T.J. Simers and Bill Plaschke. The youngest GM in the history of the game, and he worked for Frank McCourt. He brought Moneyball to LA, and to a franchise that hadn’t sniffed a post season victory in 20 years. Nobody wanted to hear about cheapskate McCourt bringing in a GM that was going to build a roster “using a computer”.
What is the point?
I would listen to Plaschke about scotch whisky. He will not steer you wrong about something he is as passionate about as good scotch. Definitely would not about modern baseball analytics. He once said “I tend to get too excited and write with my heart on my sleeve and my foot in my mouth.” That is what he did when writing about DePodesta. Facts are not as important to him as a good story and that has always been his problem.
How was he awful as the dodgers gm?
How was he successful?
1st playoff appearance in 9 years. That is successful.
I mean, I’m not saying he was great, but iirc he was decent for a first time GM. Lowe, Penny, and Drew were all successful acquisitions. The Bradley trade was a failure, I think his background with dumpster diving in Oakland didn’t do much to inform him on that but it was his first time as GM.
That’s fair, Angels fan.
He got the Dodgers to the playoffs after a decade of futility and did it with McCourt as the owner. That was a miracle.
He was not awful for the Dodgers. Were you one of those people parroting the “heart and soul of the team” BS when he shipped out the drug dealer, Lo Duca? He acquired Brad Penny who went 2-0 in the 2003 World Series for FL. He brought in Steve Finley that went off down the stretch and hit a walk-off grand slam to clinch the NL West title and their first postseason victory for the first time since gibby. Thanks to Lima time. DePodesta signed Jeff Kent, JD Drew and Derek Lowe and all put up good numbers. He was always handcuffed by a cheap corrupt owner who was embezzling from the Dodgers dream foundation and a terrible manager in Jim Tracy who thought Juan Pierre was better than Matt Kemp. Who didn’t understand baseball?
14thor the entire point of Moneyball was to perform without a large payroll. Did he need a high payroll to hide his deficiencies as a baseball man? Why the excuses? Why all the veteran moves and excuses? Again, you are making the point that his tenure should have been more successful based on a larger payroll to use than the A’s and his acquisitions. It seems you don’t understand baseball if you actually believe he had no power to get rid of the manager.
DePodesta operated with an owner stealing from the team’s chairty. A charity he forced players to donate to. The man had no payroll to operate with. That’s why he utilized the buyout with Scott Boras to secure JD Drew on a 5-year $55 million contract with buyouts. He gambled on Milton Bradley and pulled in a solid Jeff Kent. He did good and that weird 2005 record of 99 losses and watching Jason Phillips be the cleanup hitter netted the organization Clayton Kershaw. His hiring alone was a signal the owner was cheap. You think Monfort will spend when they get the Moneyball guy?
DePodesta sold the team on the idea they could contend by spending less. Same idea sold by JP Ricciardi to the Blue Jays in 2001-02. Excusing his less than impressive run as GM does not help him.
14thor: Who didn’t understand baseball?
Neuman: Rock solid rebuttal.
You answer yourself with one of your 6 accounts?
I think the article understates the long-term value of Hunter Goodman.
DePo was terrible for the Dodgers. He acquired troubled players like Milton Bradley, because he thought his off field troubles wouldn’t cause issues. He doesn’t understand that once a player like that is on your team, they ruin team chemistry and prevent you having a positive culture. Depo thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. Yet he has won nothing including his time with the Browns, amazing he can still find a job.
Zerbs perfectly sums up the “moneyball” execs; numbers triumphs over intangibles. Milton Bradley is a headcase? Yes, but his numbers create wins. Character? Who cares. Yet DePodesta rode the A’s gravy train where the success was contributed mostly by the very scouts, coaches and philosophy they tried to destroy in Oakland.
He also acquired players that put them in the playoffs in his first year and again in the two years after he was fired. DePo is usually the smartest guy in the room. Hard to find many rooms where he isn’t.
Of course, the Rockies hire a football guy to run baseball operations. Sigh.
he worked for the As for many years before moving the the NFL so I wouldn’t exactly say a football guy lol
you’re right but it’s bizarre to put him at the top of the org when he 1.) hasn’t been involved in baseball for a decade and 2.) spent that decade with one of the worst run franchises across all the major sports leagues
I wish him luck but if it backfires then it will easily look like one of the worst hirings ever
A bit like Kim Ng. Even if you have talent, being away from a FO for ten years is a lot of learning curve.
OTOH, the Rox virtually make no big moves, so it hardly matters whom the GM is.
mostlytoasty: That’s actually not your judgement to make. It’s solely up to those who own and run the Rockies organization.
It’s up to them and them only to hire and fire as they see fit.
When you own and/or run an organization, it will be your judgement and decision to make then and then only.
@alfred what a clown take lol. You’re really arguing nobody is allowed to make judgments on the signing of a GM or coach or player? Do you know what site you’re on?? Can I go through every comment you’ve made on this site and complain about having an opinion on anything since you don’t own a team?
mostlytoasty: Have an opinion all you like, but don’t expect anyone to take you seriously.
@joebrady. I think his trades with the dodgers aged well. It looked terrible at the time. He’s probably not bad for the rockies. Not sure if it could get worse when your scraping the bottom.
Indians, A’s, Dodgers, and Padres.
And Mets
Makes sense to go get a football guy with all the 14-7 scores @ Coors Field.
Tells me you haven’t watched the Rockies the last couple of years if you think they could score seven!
He’s always been a baseball guy, lol. The Browns hired a baseball guy to run their football operations. Now he’s back in baseball.
“The Browns hired a baseball guy to *ruIn* their football operations. ”
I fixed it for you.
Naw, Jimmah and Dee ruined the Browns all on their own.
The Haslam’s are responsible for that.
That would assume the Browns were good. The only good decision the Browns made was to leave Cleveland and change their name.
I guess Elway was busy.
Or they wanted a better golf cart driver.
You might want to pay attention or at least read the article you are commenting on.
So far, the posters are just having a little fun with a ‘Rox being the Rox’ move. You seem very, very angry.
Not sure what you are reading Joe, but there has been quite a lot of hateful comments to this point in the thread about this hiring. Not fun to read at all.
Beane and Podesta were on the cutting edge of the modern MLB analytics movement that has produced many World Series Championship winning teams including all the modern Boston Red Sox championships.
Missing from the A’s equation was the budget and ability to spend money to keep their great core of players in place and add free key agents to fill any holes in the team to to win championships.
The A’s did not have to spend like the Yankees and the Dodgers, but if they spent even at an average or above major league level, then it is a very high probability that the A’s would have won more championships.
The Red Sox run proved that money ball + adding more payroll =championships.
Rockies plan to go back 20 years is passing with flying colors
Impressive considering they were already 20 years behind to start
I would say this is a bad hire for most other teams but it’s just crazy enough to make sense for the Rockies. Their player development can’t get much worse under DePodesta
But he was 20 years ahead of his time back then, so it all evens out.
In 2007 they were in the WS. Are you saying in 2 years they will be back there because of Depo? I could see that happening. Not likely, but possible.
If anything getting to 2005 is actually them catching up with the times.
Even the chief strategy officer DePodesta gave up on the Cleveland Browns.
AFTER trading for and giving that freakshow Deshaun Watson the worst contract in NFL history of course.
That was the owners choice as clearly stated multiple times so don’t think I would be grouping anyone else in with that.
@Zac S.: The Watson move was 100% pushed by the owner. DePo was actually very much against it.
Haslam said a week ago in an interview with the Athletic that he was the one responsible for that trade. That DePo had advised against it.
I just know that when the Rockies owner first met him, he was expecting to see Jonah Hill
I can see Depo showing up for the first day and Montfort thinking “This doesn’t look like the guy in Moneyball”.
For anyone wondering, this is who Jonah Hill was in Moneyball.
Maybe Brad Pitt as GM now?
I could see them doing that. “This isn’t the guy from Moneyball! Get me the guy from Moneyball!”
Cue the Rockies introducing Brad Pitt and Jonah Hill as their new PBO and GM.
Thanks. At first glance, I thought it was this guy:
baseball-reference.com/players/l/loducpa01.shtml
I had other ideas:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pauly_D
Bart Harley Jarvis, no, it is not. Maybe this is why you’ll never win Baby of the Year.
Yes, but I am the bad boy of the competition!
You are, but a pediatrician told me that you have an aggressive underbite and a completely flat back of the head.
he’s the Baby of the Year’s Rockies to Taffy Lee Fubbins’ Dodgers
I’d feel remiss if neither of us mentioned Michael Patrick Perkins.
*Porkins
The player you linked to made over $31 million dollars in his career.
Rather good for a player who is mostly forgotten these days.
And that may be well more than the man who now “runs” the Rockies will make.
Still, the best of success to him.
I hope he does well.
Ps.if I flagged or muted you, I apologize. Did not mean to
LoDuca was one of the first trades DePo made with the Dodgers. Brought in Brad Penny. No, not Brad Pitt. Much better pitcher.
That trade brought in Murphy who was part of the trade for Finley.
Be better off hiring Jonah Hill one could argue
Not exactly. He’s a composite character for most of the A’s front office/sabermetric community
This. DePodesta specifically asked not to be portrayed in the movie, so they created the Peter Brand character to fill his role.
I would be mad if they cast Jonah Hill to play me
Especially if you were a multi-sport athlete like DePodesta. You want to have WHO play me? F that.
Rockies must’ve liked how well he did with the Cleveland Browns. That’s the model franchise for Monfort.
1st day here. Can already tell you are the kind of troll that I don’t want to read. Why does it seem like so many of the supposed Dodger fans on this website are so filled with hate like you? Glad they give us the ability to mute trolls.
well said BP….and I’m a Dodger fan. The level of ignorance, wrapped in a package of arrogance here is distressing. I’ve been here for years and all I can say is that this classless stuff can be found in just about all fanbases. Honestly, the only real correlation to humility I can see is prolonged lack of success. The fans of the Rockies, Angels, Twins seem to be the nicest people here. Kind of sad.
I’d say there’s a 100% chance that Montfort just finished reading moneyball the other day and said hire one of those guys!
“Find me a guy who can find guys who get on base!”
It’s incredibly hard.
I always assumed if you were safely in a lifeboat, you would not try and board the Titanic. Noble of him though, if not a bit foolish.
Good for them. Why bother trying to get better when already making so much money by losing.
Leaves baseball for 10 yrs and ruins the Browns and now runs the Rockies. Very Rockie like..Monfort is a great for baseball.
Monfort: If I hired you, what would be your first order of business Paul?
DePodesta: I’d probably try and extend Kris Bryant’s deal through his age 41 season. That way we know we have him forever.
Monfort: (calls secretary) – Print Mr. DePodesta a 10 year contract right now. Leave the total blank. We’ll let him to decide the salary.
Didn’t read the article huh. no one knew what he did for sure and Jim haslam is who ruined the clowns.
He was behind the worst trade in thr history of sportd
He was never a decision maker in Cleveland.
The Browns weren’t knocking the barn doors off before he got there
The Browns had one playoff appearance in the 12 years before he got there and 2 in the 8 years he was there.
Ah yes, it was DePodesta who ruined that proud, model franchise; the Cleveland Browns.
Jimmy Brown would be rolling in his grave.
He wasn’t the GM in Cleveland. He suggested, not made the decisions. Helps if you actually read the articles you are commenting on.
We was the driving force behind the trade. Helpful if you spoke of things you actually know. This is a well estabished fact. Try harder not to show your ignorance
You really need to stop reading Wikipedia. Depo was an advisor, not a decision maker in Cleveland. He didn’t sign checks, Haslam does, and he didn’t make trades, Andrew Berry did.
In an interview with The Athletic’s Dianna Russini last month, Haslam said the Watson call was his.
DePo advised the GM and owner on STATS, the data.
Try harder not to confirm your ignorance.
Haslam said just a couple of weeks ago that Depodesta had tried to talk him out of the trade and that it was Haslam’s decision. Just maybe Haslam knows who was responsible?
I have no words.
Enjoy your spreadsheets, Rockies fans.
If those spread sheets somehow convince Monfort that his team sucks and that he shouldn’t try to out-GM his GMs, it’d be a massive improvement.
Moneyball 2.0 resurrecting a joke in Colorado.
During his time in Oakland, the A’s had the highest win percentage in baseball. I am sure that Walker Montfort is hoping that by bypassing his dad in this hire and bringing in an out-of-the-box hire like DePo, that they can capture a little of that magic.
Monfort, but yes. Hopefully for Rockies fans sake the son doesn’t repeat the mistakes of the fathers.
Monfort. Sorry. Can’t even blame it on spellcheck.
Sounds like he has a rocky start with Rockies fans.
Next they’ll hire Dave Stewart and Tony LaRussa to assist in the front office.
Only if they have a no-host bar
NorCal Blue
Tony La Russa was arrested for DUIs in 2007 and 2020.
In 1985, Stewart was arrested for lewd conduct, which was ultimately reduced in 1987 to soliciting a prostitute.
seriously man? If you knew ANYTHING about this man, you would be embarrassed by this statement as it illustrates just how ignorant you are. Go away, please.
Announcement forthcoming of Scott Hatteburg as team manager
Ron Washington as bench coach/infield coordinator would work
Ron is having medical issues he is probably gone for good
he was making noise about wanting to resume his work in LA before they dismissed him – i’m kind of with you, i’d be iffy on bringing him back in real life
but he was such a help to Hatteberg in Moneyball that I’m sure Scott would be leaning on him for advice behind the scenese
Pretty stunning. Rockies hire a famously analytics-obsessed exec, which is about as unexpected a direction as you could possibly guess they’d go.
Do you think that Dick Montfort handing the reins to Walker Montfort had anything to do with the sudden shift in tactics from practically no analytics to a highly analytics based FO?
Well it can’t get any worse. DePodesta at least has experience compared to others they interviewed. I think no matter who the Rockies hired, they were going to be condemned due to their history of failure. Hiring someone who has not been in the organization needed to happen. It’s a done deal so let’s move forward and see what he can do.
I agree. Thanks for an actual comment about the story.
I imagine the Rockies have to dig pretty deep to find decent candidates.
People here in St, Louis think John Mozeliak will eventually take some sort of job in Colorado after a bit of time off. (I doubt Mo would take another POBO job, but he’d be a good special assistant to help get things going.)
This is the guy responsible for drafting high school shortstop Gavin Cecchini ahead of high school shortstop Corey Seager. Four picks in the top 75 of that draft yielded only Kevin Plawecki, who split his time between career back-up and quad-A catcher.
That would be Sandy Alderson. Pay attention son. Pay attention.
I do sir, I do. Sandy Alderson placed DePodesta in charge of the draft.
Nope. Listen to what Alderson said. Great interview with Mike Francesca in early 2013 that goes into that situation in detail. Alderson made the call.
Once you do that, go look at the Baseball America’s 1st and last mock draft and their prospect rankings for that year’s draft. From the beginning they had Cecchini going to the Mets baseballamerica.com/stories/2012-mlb-mock-draft-20… and graded higher than Seager. baseballamerica.com/rankings/ba-500-2012/
If you are going to try to pick apart every draft in hindsight, then you are going to have a long week doing so. Every single GM has passed up multiple players that went on to become star players. All of them.
Then come back and say hindsight is 20/20 and you are full of it.
Google Boy is back
Plaschke is that you?
Surely this is a joke.
It’s not a joke. And don’t call me Shirley.
This actually might make a little sense. Bring in a guy who will overhaul an organization that’s way behind on analytics and in a timeframe where the expectations of winning are clearly still down the road a ways.
Peter Brand is back.
is he bringing shedeur with him ?
It makes sense to bring “legendary” to Colorado with Coach Prime just down the road.
He can’t hit for power, he can’t run, he can’t field but what can he do?
Get on base, of course.
As a Browns fan I’d just like to say “thank God”
He was not the problem there. The problem has always been Jimmy Haslam.
I guess Brodie Van Wagenen wasn’t available
I understand he is known for ANALYTICS – Something the Rockies have refused to spend money on. Let’s see if he has a free hand. I am a wait and see.
Baby steps…
mlb.com/news/rockies-set-to-use-new-hitting-techno…
I think people that are good with numbers will always bring some skill to the table. But even numbers are a perishable skill. I’m betting that almost every metric used ten years is now obsolete.
DePo had a degree in economics from Harvard and was an athlete as well. Later he was a scout before he moved into analytics. He has a talent for numbers and an athlete’s understanding of the game.
I sincerely doubt that just because he has been away from baseball that he has not kept informed on the underlying numbers and statistics. One of the algorithms he developed while with the Dodgers is still being used by most teams as far as I know. He also developed one that is used extensively in horse racing, even though he has never held a job in that industry.
DePodesta is the reason (at least in my head canon) that Adrian Beltre did not re-sign with LAD after 2004. Good luck Colorado, this isn’t going to go well.
Beltre left the Dodgers and had 5 consecutive subpar seasons while earning 60 million dollars. The Dodgers dodged a bullet. What subsequently happened years later was probably enhanced.
Beltre wasn’t ever going to repeat his 2004 stats but I remember him being solid in Seattle until he got hurt in 2009. Safeco field was an even more extreme pitcher’s park back then too.
If by ‘subpar’, you mean averaging a 4.2 bWAR, then yes.
After being 9.6 WAR in 2004 that was subpar although that is contextual isn’t it. Beltre was such a talented player.
Nobody expected him to come close to a repeat. He would have gotten a whole lot more money, like closer to A-Rod money, from someone if he had been projected to repeat. He was worth more to Seattle than they paid him despite Safeco killing a lot of his value. I know contracts and players in general were valued differently back then, but top stars, even non A-Rod ones were being paid signifcantly more than that by then.
Beltre was the 2nd highest paid 3B by AAV at the time and that wouldn’t have changed if he signed with the Dodgers. It would have been the difference between 3/30 with 2 team options vs the 5/64 guarantee that Seattle gave him. I don’t blame him for taking that much more guaranteed money. McCourt really blew that one because Beltre really wanted to stay. Instead of giving him what he probably deserved, McCourt used that against him in negotiations.
I remember all that and was ridiculous. Even for the time 5/64 was not an overpay for a player with his track record but given the massive debt used to buy the team and what came out about McCourt’s use of team finances isnt a surprise at all he was trying to be cheap about it. As a Mariners fan was exciting at the time to get him and Richie Sexson even if hindsight says they should have been rebuilding, not spending to win.
For the time it was a large amount of money. A top 25 overall contract and it made him the 2nd highest paid 3B. He was not in the same category as Arod or Bonds in terms of pay, but he was very well paid. That doesn’t mean it was an overpay by any means.
The McCourts were looting the Dodgers revenue streams to by a bunch of mansions, cars, jets etc and not spending the Dodgers revenues on Dodgers players and far m system according to legal deposiitons in their very public divorce proceedings in LA. If LA had a normal owner instead of the McCourts, then Beltre might have resigned with the Dodgers and might have received better coaching to avoid long slumps etc and been a better player in LA with lineup protection also..
McCourt was the one that made the decision of how much to offer Beltre, not the GM. That 3/30 offer with 2 option years was about half the guaranteed money that the Mariners offered. but still would have made him the 2nd highest paid 3B in AAV behind Arod.
Beltre has said often that he made a mistake in those negotiations with the Dodgers. ““It was a mistake on my part to show it too much, that I wanted to stay [with the Dodgers],” he said. “The owner wanted to use that against me in the negotiation … I wanted to stay there forever.” McCourt misplayed his hand and lost a future HOF player. You have to place the blame on McCourt for that one.
Even with a high AAV for the time, should not have capped at 3/30 plus options. Defense wasnt valued the same way at the time, and probably wasnt clear yet that he was one of the best defensive players in modern history, but in a park not called Safeco very likely would have been an above average bat from 2005-2009 with a generational glove, and been a steal at 5/64. Even at safeco, using modern valuation was a positive value for the Mariners. An equivalent to Beltre at that time would be paid very well today.
And what evidence do you have to support that theory?
Good for Paul. He joins the Cleveland Browns of Baseball…
Rockies looked at the success of the Browns and wanted some of that.
Browns fans rejoice. But so should Rockies fans.
I imagine being a baseball analytics guy in the oughts and teens might not provide much help in the twenties. It’s not as if the Rockies lack an analytic department, but it’s been lapped by all the other teams.
My guess is he will be fine on the analytics front and he is well aware of changes in baseball analytics and will bring people to help update the Rox approach. Hard to say if it goes well but can’t get worse, and no doubt if hes the hire, the intention is to become a modern team that integrates advanced analytics into all facets of the game.
The Rockies are at the bottom of baseball in analytics.
I highly doubt this will work out well.
Now Chris Pratt for hitting coach and Brad Pitt as GM! Perfect
Rockies new rotation:
Johnny Manziel
DeShawn Watson
Dorian Thompson-Robinson
Shedeur Sanders
I forgot about this asshat. Wow.
You looking in the mirror again?
WIW, that is not a clever retort.
Just curious what strategy did he commission while with the Browns? was it to accumulate low draft choices?
The strategy surely was not consistency
Nice to see Depo back in baseball. He is an incredibly intelligent guy and if anyone can figure out what it will take to win in Colorado, he can do it.
I read this as Kris Bryant becomes Free Agent.
Yep. Thad Levine was his childhood friend, so G possible.
He hasn’t really had any success, has he. Billy B was really the architect in Oakland and Paul D failed in LA, didn’t amount to anything in NY or SD, went to a sport he didn’t have experience in and it showed, and is now coming back to a sport he left a decade ago and jump right in to an org that’s at the bottom with very little in the way of prospects.
Yup. Makes sense.
Depo’s first year in LA resulted in a division title, first one on 8 years.
You should dig deeper into the facts.
De Podesta is a baseball asset who was ahead of his time.
Rox need help rebuilding their Front Office, player development, scouting, drafting etc.
De Podesta will not be working alone.
He will be hiring a whole team of complementary MLB professionals to help him make it work in Denver.
Big news for Moneyball fans
Terrible hire, true to form.
I always felt like he got a raw deal from McCourt and probably would have ultimately been successful. Hopefully he’ll get a longer leash in Colorado.
Look at it this way. Leaving the Browns and going to the Rockies is at least an upgrade for him
There had to be many more deserving people that would have jumped at the chance to run the Rockies. This makes sense if 50 qualified candidates turned down the job.
DePo was at the forefront of the statistical analysis that created modern baseball. Looks like the Rockies are finally joining the 21st Century. Good luck Depo.
Wait till he gets a load of Kris Bryant!
The Rockies have pretty much ignored analytics for a long time.
So maybe the Rox hired DePodesta to oversee the building of that department, and they’ll hire a GM to oversee the day to day operations.
That could work. We’ll see.
Ethan Holliday? Any relationship to former Rockies slugger Matt Holliday?
Son
😂
Well, Monfort has finally read Moneyball. He keeps up like this and they’re going to be a competitive team once the 21st Century really gets going.
Their circus, their monkeys.
Should be interesting.
Oy. Look, it’s good that they’re finally acknowledging that this is the 21st century. But…
This is the worst team in baseball. And it’s not close. They have zero championships. One pennant. They’ve never finished first in their division. They have just three 90 (or better) win seasons in their history, zero 95 win seasons. Their location gives them intrinsic disadvantages unlike any other franchise. They’ve got no manager, and they’re a month behind in searching for one. Free agency has begun. The GM meetings start Monday. Owners meetings in 2 weeks. Winter meetings in a month.
And they bring in a guy whose highest level experience was two lackluster years as a GM twenty years ago. And he hasn’t been in the sport at all for a decade.
Sounds to me like this is the best they could do. And, that this is the best job he could get. This is futility-palooza.
Oy.
Could he really do worse than what’s been going on in Denver? Franchise is a train wreck
So let me get this straight…..when nobody in baseball used the google machine in the 90’s-2000’s besides Beane and Depodesta the best they did was like the 6th best team in baseball. And now that everyone applies the google machine Beane is annually one of the worst teams in baseball. Can anyone argue against these very specific facts?
statmuse.com/mlb/ask/mlb-team-with-the-most-wins-1…
Dang. So easy to forget the good A’s teams.
Generally league avg offense touted as built on Hatteberg types. But they had Chavez and Tejada on the left side. And the rotation was one of the very best in baseball.
Rotation was so nasty. It starts and ends there. Especially given every contending team had stacked lineups back then. Actually is anything Moneyball failed a legendary staff. Every other staff of that caliber has a World Series ring.
Moneyball did not fail the A’s. It kept them afloat and competitiive. If the A’s had had well funded ownership that could have spent at least for an average or above average payroll and not have fire sales of their best players every 4-5 years, then the A’s would have won even more championships than the 4 World Series Championships that the A’s won in Oakland in the Before “Money “Ball statistical alalysis years .
“Money Ball” statistical analysis has been proven to work best when the team can also spend at least average or slightly above average for MLB teams for a season.
The Rays spend less, use money ball statistical analysis and have made the World Series 1X and made the playoffs many times in the past 20 years. If the Rays had spent a little more $$ along with the statistical analysis, then they win at least 1 WS.
Their rotation (Hudson, Zito, Mulder) which had nothing to do with Moneyball kept them afloat. They had the largest payroll in baseball consistently before Beane got his hands on the team and he ran it straight into the ground. Now the team is a dumpster fire. It’s business malpractice what they did. I don’t need an essay to bring that to light lol. Sorry man I’m just not going to read your paragraphs take care I’ll catch you on the next one.
See my posts above.
Beane and Podesta were decades ahead of their time introducing statistical anaysis to MLB.
Maybe, if the A’s had kept their little secret and not had a book and a movie both made on their groundbreaking tactics,techniques and statistical analysis in finding very high value, low cost talent in areas that most other MLB teams had ignored,then, perhaps the A’s would have won a World Series Championship with their statistical analysis and money ball strategies.
Money Ball statistical analysis has been copied by virutally all MLB teams.
Every team including the Red Sox, Dodgers, Rays have benfited by the statistical analysis in MLB developed by Beane and De Podesta.
Hiring De Podesta to rebuild your front office and MLB team would be like hiring Bill Walsh, in his prime, to rebuild your NFL Front Office, Team, scouting, draft and widely copied West Coast offense to modernize and rebuild your NFL team to position your team to compete for championships.
The Rox are very lucky to get De Podesta.
Good luck to them!
The Stuart Sternberg Owenership era in Tampa Bay has featured heavy use of “Money Ball” statistical analysis techniques pioneered by Billy Beane and Paul De Podesta with the Athletics in Oakland. . The result for he lower budget Rays?Since “money ball statistical analysis was adopted by the Rays Front office and Team, the Rays’ transformed from one of the least successful teams in the league to a perennial contender, often outperforming expectations despite having one of the lowest payrolls in the MLB.
Many Rays Fron t Office Executives have been hired by other teams to implement “Money Ball”statistical analysis methods and techniques throughout their front office, scouting, player development, drafts and on field decisions.
Example, Andrew Friedman was hired by the Dodgers from the Tampa Rays. In the 30 years prior to Friedman joining the
Dodgers from Tampa, the Dodgers have 1 Championship. Since Friedman joined the Dodgers, the Dodgers have 3 Championships.And, yes the Dodgers also have money to spend so their system is a heavy hybrid analytics model + ability to spend on free agents. But, the Dodgers consistent excellent drafts, farm system and free agent signings are all made based on a strong analytics ‘money ball” type player analysis.
The Rockies have historically been right in the middle of the pack in player payroll and still average nearly 30,000 fans per game, even in the worst of times with strong attendance for visiting team fans included.
I like the chance for a stronger analytics presence in the Rockies front office, plus a thorough restructuring of player development and scouting. Rockies fans are a patient bunch and know results will not be immediate, but they also remember that they made the playoffs starting from scratch in their 3rd year of existence, long before analytics took hold across the league.
For Rockies fans, there is at least hope for changes that may improve the entertainment experience.
I thought the monforts don’t believe in evolution
I am going to answer my own question: The person who said, “There’s a new sheriff in town,” was Kevin Malone, the former general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. He made the declaration upon becoming the general manager in 1998. He later resigned under pressure in 2001. I thought it was this guy, getting old sucks!!!!!!
So the GM meetings start tomorrow and they don’t have a GM.
Yeah, this is fine.
Moneyball is not enough anymore. A’s succeeded with money ball bc they were doing it before others. Those kinds of players get scooped up others now as well and those match ups are exploited by other teams as well. To succeed now the only way is unlimited spending like dodgers or excellent scouting and player development. Not sure that is his skill set….
A few thoughts…
1) The problem with the Moneyball narrativewas that it never mentioned pitching.
2) What DePodesta did do is manage to replace some major producers with basically castoffs and replicate the production…using analytics. No small fete.
3) Depodesta has been cursed to work under several of the worst owners of major sports franchises in the past two decades. Haslim in Cleveland is a real piece of work.
4) Depodesta is neither a baseball nor football person. He is strictly a statistical analyst, and could apply his methods to almost any industry. If under a good supportive ownership, and teamed with solid baseball people, he could be successful.
But the Colorado organization has been so inbred for so long that its a doubtful proposition.
Boys, they brought in a President to get rid of the fat on he team and the bloated contracts. Possibly they will not even hire a manager until the middle of the season.
At least they hired someone outside the organization and that has experience running a baseball ops. Probably won’t see how well he does for a good 4 years so it’s going to be a rough ride for Rockies fans…
You are right. Most of us are way too pessimistic about the management.. Build up the team using the Tiger’s model and get their GM,
Thought has there been any names connected to Colorado Rockies for manager as seems like they are the last team with open manager spot, seems like want to take care of that before winter meetings
Failing up
rockies hired a baseball “guru” in Depodesta. baseball can be managed
like any other business, take widgets for example…or watchbthat scene in Back to School. Depo is the guy driving the silly car and bowtie
No not pudgy Jonah