DENVER -- Focusing on a history of innovation and a background of winning baseball, the Rockies announced the hiring of Paul DePodesta as president of baseball operations on Friday morning.
DePodesta, 52, had been serving as chief strategy officer for the NFL’s Cleveland Browns. He takes over a Rockies team that has had a club-record seven straight losing seasons, including 43-119 in 2025.
“I have always kept my eye on baseball, and this is an incredible opportunity to help make an impact in the next chapter of the Rockies,” DePodesta said. “Building a consistent winner here is a shared goal and one that I am eager to embrace alongside Rockies leaders, staff, players and fans. I am ready for the challenge and excited to get started immediately.”
The Rockies are working to be at the forefront in the use of advanced information, and that's where DePodesta comes in. During the early part of his career, he was one of the game’s pioneers in analytics, as chronicled in “Moneyball” -- a book and later a movie on the success of the Athletics in the early 2000s.
DePodesta replaces Bill Schmidt, who stepped down as general manager at the end of the 2025 season. DePodesta is expected to make additional hires to the team’s baseball operations department -- one that has been considered light in terms of personnel. Among DePodesta's responsibilities will be hiring a manager. Warren Schaeffer, who took over as interim manager after the club parted ways with Bud Black in May, is expected to be a candidate.
“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. Under his leadership, we will evolve the Colorado Rockies into what we know will be an exciting new era,” Rockies executive vice president Walker Monfort said in the club’s official press release. “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.”
DePodesta began his MLB career with Cleveland as an intern in 1996 and worked various front office, player development and scouting jobs. His work as assistant GM under Billy Beane with the Athletics (1999-2003) included four straight playoff trips and a cutting-edge approach that became a force in popular culture. He served as Dodgers GM (2004-05), special assistant for baseball operations and executive vice president with the Padres (2006-10) and vice president of player development and amateur scouting with the Mets (2011-15) before switching to football and joining the Browns.
Browns owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam issued a statement of appreciation for DePodesta's efforts:
“We want to thank Paul for his contributions to the Cleveland Browns over the past nine and a half seasons. Paul’s humble and egoless approach encouraged a culture of teamwork and collaboration. He helped modernize our research and analytics departments, and his broad background in professional sports brought a different perspective to our organization. We appreciate the valued role he played in our organization as a member of our leadership team and wish him all the best in his return to Major League Baseball with the Colorado Rockies.”
The Rockies’ announcement noted that he is the only executive to win division titles with five different MLB organizations.
“Today is an exciting day for the Rockies organization as we welcome Paul as our new president of baseball operations,” Rockies owner, chairman and CEO Dick Monfort said. “Paul was the very first person we interviewed, and throughout our conversations with him, Walker and I were both intrigued by his understanding of the game, his positive attitude, his process-based mindset and his influence on the game. This is a special guy with great vision and a great plan. He is a winner, and he is going to win in Colorado.”
An Alexandria, Va., native, DePodesta graduated cum laude from Harvard in 1995 with a degree in economics. He played baseball and football for Harvard.
DePodesta becomes the fifth head of the baseball operations department in Rockies history. Original GM Bob Gebhard arrived in 1992, a year before the team took the field, and stayed until late in the '99 season. He was succeeded by Dan O’Dowd, who came after the '99 season and stayed through the end of the ‘14 season, Jeff Bridich (GM until early in the 2021 season) and Schmidt. Also, late in O’Dowd’s tenure he and Bill Geivett had a share of GM duties, and there was one interim GM, Tony Siegle, after the team and Gebhard parted ways in ‘99.