Rockies hire Paul DePodesta as head of baseball operations

DENVER – The Rockies on Friday hired Paul DePodesta – a longtime baseball executive and former chief strategy officer for the NFLâ€s Cleveland Browns – as their new head of baseball operations.

DePodesta, 52, replaces Bill Schmidt, who stepped down as general manager at the end of the 2025 season. DePodesta – best known as assistant to Athletics general manager Billy Beane during the “Moneyball†era and as the Dodgers†general manager from 2004-05, is expected to make additional hires as the Rockies beef up their front office.

The move comes with the MLB General Managers Meetings beginning on Monday in Las Vegas.

“Today is an exciting day for the Rockies organization as we welcome Paul as our new president of baseball operations,†said owner Dick Monfort said in a statement. “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.â€

DePodesta moved to the NFLâ€s Browns in 2016, but he previously had a lengthy career in scouting and player development in the front offices of several MLB teams.

First hired as an intern with Cleveland in 1996 – where eventual Rockies general manager Dan Oâ€Dowd served as a mentor, along with Cleveland GM John Hart – DePodesta worked in player development, as an advance scout and special assistant to the GM.

DePodesta joined Beane in 1999 and was considered an innovator in statistical analysis for the Athletics through 2003 – a period that saw the team make the postseason in four straight years (2000-03). The two-year stint as Dodgers GM under then-owner Frank McCourt was not as successful.

From there, DePodesta served as special assistant for baseball operations for the Padres (2006-10), and vice president of player development and amateur scouting for the Mets (2011-15) before going to the NFL.

“Paulâ€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,†said Rockies EVP Walker Monfort said in a statement. “Hiring Paul is an essential first step to the evolution of our baseball department, and weâ€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.â€

The expected return to MLB would make DePodesta 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 1999 season. He was succeeded by Oâ€Dowd, who came after the 1999 season and stayed through the end of the ‘14 season; Jeff Bridich, GM until early in the 2021 season; and Schmidt. Also, late in Oâ€Dowdâ€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.

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