3:04pm: The Rockies have formally announced the hiring of Byrnes.
“I’m incredibly excited to be able to bring Josh into our group,” DePodesta said within today’s press release. “Few executives in baseball share his combination of intellectual curiosity, breadth of experience, and on-field successes. We are extremely fortunate to add him, as he immediately strengthens our entire baseball operation.”
9:43am: The Rockies are set to hire Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes away as their new general manager, per Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Though he’ll have the GM title, Byrnes will be second in command in the new-look Rox front office that’s headed up by recently hired president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.
Byrnes, 55, is a seasoned front office veteran who has previously run baseball operations for both the Padres and D-backs, holding the title of general manager with each club. Byrnes is also a former assistant GM within the Rockies organization itself, having held that role in Denver from 1999 through 2002, so he’s something of a known commodity for owner Dick Monfort.
Byrnes was one of Andrew Friedman’s first hires after being named president of baseball operations in Los Angeles. He’s spent 11 years as one of Friedman’s top lieutenants, supervising both the scouting and player development departments for the Dodgers. Byrnes’ résumé is an impressive one. He’s spent more than a decade as a key figure in the front office for a Dodgers club that has won three World Series titles in that span. Prior to that, he headed up a pair of other front offices in the NL West and also served as an assistant GM with the 2003-04 Red Sox during their curse-breaking World Series victory.
That’s 26 straight seasons as either an assistant GM, a general manager or a senior vice president of baseball operations. Prior to that run, Byrnes cut his teeth as an advance scout and scouting director in Cleveland under legendary general manager John Hart. Byrnes also overlapped with another advance scout and rising star in player development during that time … his new boss, DePodesta.
All of those prominent roles give Byrnes ample insight into how to best reshape and build out a Rockies infrastructure that has lagged far behind the times. Colorado has the smallest analytics department and smallest front office, in general, of any team in baseball. Under the Monfort family’s ownership, they’ve been either loyal to a fault or downright insular, depending on how one prefers to frame it. Byrnes and DePodesta figure to make numerous hires to beef up the Rockies’ data practice, player development department and broader baseball operations setup.
He’s been with the Dodgers for a while now, this is a good move. At least Rockies are hiring externally and from organizations that have a winning track record.
It’s a good start but they’re still going nowhere until Monfort sells the team to someone that isn’t a completely moron that will let their FO run things without interfering constantly.
At least the Rockies are maybe(?) finally realizing that they need to change some things and modernize a bit, based on some of the personnel moves they’ve made in the last few months. I’d love to see them start being competitive, I want some reason to be able to convince my friends in Denver to care about baseball xD
Monfort’s handed over all baseball responsibilities to his kid, Walker, who is a completely different personality. They have awful talent at the major league level so will suck for a while yet, but ownership is not an issue anymore.
@Seamaholic One big reason Rockies don’t have much at the big league level is because our highest paid player has the hunchback of Notre Dame. That money could have gone to literally anyone else or multiple players and it would have been so much better.
One player doesn’t hamstring an organization, especially one making just $27 million a year. The problem for the Rockies is three fold.
They only had one position player that was MLB average in 2025, Hunter Goodman. They had 7 players that made 80 starts or more that were below 1.0 WAR. There are simply not enough decent players on that side of the game to make up for problem #2.
That is that their pitching staff is horrible. Their ERA and FIP were both more than a half point higher/worse than the next worst team. Even adjusted for the ballpark they play in, the Rockies pitching staff was the worst. How bad were they? The Angels were the 2nd worst staff by fWAR and they had a 6.4 fWAR. The Rockies had a 1.1 fWAR. As a staff! In bWAR the Rockies had a 1.3 WAR. The best was the Phillies at 28.4 bWAR and 24.4 fWAR.
For those that don’t know, WAR is based on replacement level players. If a team consisted of just replacement level players they would win 48 games according to the data. The Rockies pitching added just 1.3 wins above that.
If they team had exceptional offense like the Cubs who had a 39.4 bWAR on offense it might be ok to have a 1.1 fWAR or 1.3 bWAR from the pitching staff.
Unfortunately, the Rockies had a -5.2 bWAR from their position players as a whole.
Now for the nail in the coffin. The Rockies only have two impact prospects in their organization. Holliday who won’t be ready until 2028-2029 and Condon who should get a cup of coffee at 1B this coming season. That is it.
So to recap:
Terrible position players
Horrible pitching
Not much help on the horizon in the system
That said, I think the two guys they have at the top in the FO can get the job done, it will just take a few years to do so. Patience Rockies fans. By the time Holliday gets to Denver they should be ready to make a push for a wild card spot.
From the outside it looks like the next generation of Montforts are in charge now and they are bringing the team into the 21st Century. For Rockies fans this should be an exciting time. The team may not get any better on the field in 2026, but with Byrnes spearheading a makeover of the amateur scouting and baseball development side and De Podesta in charge of the baseball operations overall, all they need now is a couple of assistant GM’s that can take an active role in the economic end and the data end and they are in business.
This makes me wonder: do baseball executives ever have NDAs? Like, presumably the Dodgers have lots of proprietary in house analytics that we would rather other orgs. do not know the details of. But execs change teams all the time. Anyone have insight on this?
“they would rather”
Good question. I would say yes, but if anyone knows please let us know!
I’d say he’s got a long road ahead of him. But hey good luck!
According to what i have been able to find the answer is yes. Most front office personnel have to sign NDA’s, this is detailed in a 2021 novel titled “Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control our Lives”
Thank you Rsox!
Rsox, a tremendous amount has changed since then in regards to NDA’s. That includes a federal law in 2022 and a California law that takes it even further from that same year. What would make it even harder in baseball is that if an employee created a particular process, they cannot be prescribed from utilizing that process unless it is central to the previous employer’s business model.
Basically, its really, really hard to enforce an NDA unless the former employee has trade secrets and no one else does business that way.
Byrnes may not be able to tell the Rockies how much the Dodgers spent on their personnel, but he can certainly set up his scouting and baseball development staffs exactly the same way as the Dodgers with instructions to look for and train for the same attributes and skills the Dodgers do.
Unless the Dodgers patented technology, he can certainly purchase the same technology as the Dodgers and use it in the same manner.
NDA’s today can only prohibit the sharing of specific proprietary information or processes. If other teams have the same technology available to them, it would be hard to keep Byrnes from parsing the data received from that technology in the same way the Dodgers do. Or if the Dodgers look for certain attributes when scouting it would be hard to say that the Rockies cannot look for the same attributes.
Skip – if the system is filed with the patent office…thats off limits. Ny thing is the arent in a straight analytics situation. It’s a narrow margin at elevation. They have to keep running good baseball people put of town. Im a former Rockies Midwest League Scout by the way
NDA? Theft of proprietary data is a federal crime and a former St. Louis Exec who went to Houston did time for it
At worst, Colorado at least stole an executive away from a division rival.
Calling the Rockies the Dodgers’ “rival” is perhaps a tad generous.
More than a tad
Josh Byrnes when he pees
He did terrible in Arizona, so much that he was fired mid season… I hope he does better now…
Ya they get credit for hiring someone with knowledge of how better organizations operate, but I was never impressed by Byrnes’ own work.
Then why would the Dodgers hire him???
Yeesh.
Because personal relationships matter. Freidman probably likes/trusts/works well with Byrnes. The Dodgers haven’t exactly been forced to rely on player development.
Most GMs in sports fail, but they typically originally get their GM positions by being well-respected front office execs.
Yet, MLB Pipeline had their farm system #1 at the end of the season. So, while they haven’t had to rely on it, they have still been developing it.
I agree with your statement, but I’m not sure it’s an example of a best practice. Risk averse organizations tend to play it safe and recycle known commodities rather than invest in new ideas.
It keeps the talent pool shallow and allows some people to stay in the business longer than they should.
Yeah… the Rockies have been doing that. Tell me how that has gone.
Time will tell whether or not it’s a good move, but the Rockies have been the worst organization in all baseball for over a decade now, so anything they do that is different than what they have been doing is a big win for the organization and their fans.
Years ago. You don’t think he learned from his mistakes since then?
Some guys do. Some guys don’t. It’s very difficult to say.
I wonder if Galen Carr will move up in the Doder front office….
Baby steps. Gotta start somewhere.
Woah did the Rockies actually make a logical decision??????
He spent 11 years with the Dodgers as their top LT so they had to be happy with his work. Monfort will not sell so we need to get past that idea. Hopefully they’ve changed their mindset and saw what a disaster they created. As Rockies fans we said the FO had to be revamped and it’s happening. They are taking steps in the right direction and as a lifetime fan I’m pleased to see that.
If Jonah Hill leaves, there’s presumably a succession plan with Byrnes, too. Glad to see the Rox putting better decision-makers in place!
Byrnes didn’t cut it as Dback GM or Padre GM, but maybe he learned something along the way and his time with the Dodgers may give him additional insight he lacked. However, in stating the obvious, he can’t be any worse than the man he replaced. Good luck Rox
He’s a good hire. When it looked–for one brief shining moment–like Jed Hoyer might be fired by the Cubs, he was on my short list.
it’s a good hire. however, even the best carpenter can’t make quality furniture from mulch.
Jesus was a carpenter.
As someone who worked in a baseball front office (associate scout with the Nationals) in a previous career. Never have I worked in a field where trust and faith are so hand-and-hand. It’s why you always see this in the game. Front office people hire people under them that they have previously worked with in the game.
Dpcollects – as a former Rockies pro scout…bingo. Rockies ran off their good baseball people. Many came from Montreal and left for Atlanta. Monfort meddled so much in what you know is already a difficult job and one at elevation.
Maybe try to hire the head of Scouting and development of the dodgers too. And anyone else from LA.
I’m surprised he stayed with the Dodgers so long. For example, Anthopolous took a pillow contract with the Dodgers after leaving the Jays but left as soon as he was able. Seems like Byrnes was frequently considered by other teams…maybe he was holding out for PBO but that offer never came.
Didn’t he turn down multiple opportunities to interview for POBO jobs? I swear he said no to the Red Sox
Lots of less-qualified execs said no to the Red Sox before they hired Breslow.
To be fair, Byrnes knows what it’s like in Boston from his years there with Theo. The scrutiny can be a lot for some to handle. No matter what Byrnes does there is literally no way he can make the Rockies worse
I worked as a police officer and was assigned to a regional crime squad. Years after that assignment I get a call from the squad lieutenant who moved on to the DEA, and I followed. I retired from the gov and went into private industry. A couple years later DEA friend had moved into Homeland Security, and I unretired into HSI NYC. So this chain of jobs happens in every business and sector.
I have a friend with a similar career path except he stayed in the private security sector. You probably know him.
Thank you for your service sir.
If SLC is gonna get a team, the Rockies can’t suck. There would need to be a healthy rivalry.
Good move for the lowly Rockies.
In related news I’ve decided to leave my job as a CEO of a Fortune 500 company to become an Uber driver
I call BS on you even having a job
There is something to be said for lower stress levels & not being jammed into a cutthroat rats race
I have an Asian friend who retired at 55 from her VP job at a large company because she got tired of arguing with OWGs (old white guys). Even an old white guy like me had to laugh.
Now a whole lot less stress and a whole lot of traveling. Must be nice.
Another retread. One of these days the Rockies will try for some ingenuity. It’s a toss-up as to which team is the worst run team in all of MLB, the Rockies or the Angels.
Lol you think hiring a top fo guy from the dodgers who has overseen scouting and development for 10+ years is a “retread?” LA has been very successful in these areas during Byrnes’ tenure especially considering the draft, etc constraints they’ve been working with. Some people actually learn and improve with experience ya know.
The hirings of DePodesta and Byrnes, are excellent first moves. As a Rockies fan, I’m pleased. I look forward to seeing how they rebuild the team.
Is Rox the fourth national west franchise that he has worked with?
This looks like a shockingly good move by the Rockies, so credit where credit is due.
They’ve already announced that Schaeffer will be their ’26 manager.
Hiring good front office guys then taking twelve steps back by hiring a guy like LaRussa would be a very Rockies thing to do.
Question is do they move the young talent that they actually do have in order to strip it all the way down & start from scratch.
I would love for the Braves to get their hands on Tovar
Tovar should be one of the guys they build around, not trade after a down year.
I’ll second your hope for us getting Tovar from them, even if it’s unlikely to happen, but who knows.
Good move by the Rockies.
“Head coach”? This is BASEBALL, Chunks. Also, they already hired a manager.
Well a few baseball teams have “offensive coordinators” now so maybe head coach isn’t so strange
Is Toby Tony’s son?
Two of the most brilliant minds in baseball. One from an analytics viewpoint and the other from a scouting standpoint. I think the NL West needs to look out for the Rockies in about 3 years.
That is a huge loss for the Dodgers.
They have to convince their scout back pocket to join them. Have to find pitching period that can throw at elevation. The margin for error is tiny
I get the feeling they’ll have both number crunchers and eyeball scouts with those two. Maybe that helps.
If they advance to 2003, explain how they went to the World Series in 2007?
I’ll explain it because I was there. The Rockies were largely built at their inception by the same people who built what would become the strong Montreal Expos org of the mid 90s. That lasted through the 2007 WS and until mid teens. Monfort meddling frustrated an already difficult situation. Many of those people on the baseball side ended up in Atlanta and built their Series winner. Colorado had very good baseball people at one point
This is a move I believe strongly in. I was calling for this move when Colorado let Jeff Bridich go in 2021. I’ve wanted to see the Colorado Rockies target either John Mozeliak or Josh Byrnes to be their General Manager.
Yes, Josh Byrnes has been a General Manager; and yes his teams provided variable results.
But there have been many General Managers and Managers who’ve been with one organization and succeeded; then failed with another – or visa versa.
The one consistency Josh has provided at every level of every organization he’s been with is EXCEPTIONAL BASEBALL OPERATIONS expertise. He’s been the Senior Vice President of Baseball Operations for the Dodgers for 11 years, and in those years has produced league leading farm systems. He’s led their player development efforts, which means he’s been involved in analyzing the Waiver Wire for talented ball players.
All of these areas of experience will be critical in helping to advance the direction of the Colorado Rockies organization.
Good move! I want to see competitiveness in the Rockies.