Articles by Patrick Saunders

Business

Rockies’ Paul DePodesta on taking job with Colorado: ‘I’m a sucker for a challenge’

LAS VEGAS — Paul DePodesta, the newly hired architect of the Rockies’ rebuild, has been mulling over his plans for more than a month. That’s when he had his first phone conversation with owner Dick Monfort about taking the job as the team’s president of baseball operations. Monday afternoon, in a suite at the Cosmopolitan Hotel on the Vegas Strip, the 52-year-old discussed why he pursued the job, and also laid out a basic framework of his plan to try to reverse the fortunes of a team that lost more than 100 games in three consecutive seasons, including a 119-loss debacle in 2025. “I’ve used this phrase before, but I’m a bit of a sucker for a challenge,” DePodesta said with a laugh. “The reality is that’s usually the situation. That’s why these jobs become available. “I have been part of (a rebuild) a number of different times. And I actually really enjoy it. I love winning — don’t get me wrong, that’s ultimately where I want to get to — but building that, getting to the winning, is incredibly gratifying. So that was absolutely part of the attraction.” DePodesta began his front-office career as an intern with Cleveland in 1996, then moved on to the Oakland Athletics (1999-03) before serving as the Dodgers' GM in 2004-05. He worked in the Padres' front office from 2006 to 2010 and was with the Mets from 2011 to 2015. Since 2016, he's worked as chief strategy officer for the NFL's Cleveland Browns. In a wide-ranging interview with Rockies beat writers, DePodesta discussed how he plans to structure his front office, the level of autonomy he'll be given, his timeline for hiring a GM and a manager, his brief tenure as the Dodgers' general manager 20 years ago, and his role in the Browns' disastrous trade for quarterback Deshaun Watson. Q: Why go to the NFL, and then return to baseball after spending a decade with the Browns? DePodesta: "The reason I left wasn't because I was done or I was tired of baseball or anything like that. It was, I thought, a unique challenge. ... "I didn't have immediate plans, obviously, to come back to baseball. I knew it was going to take me a while to get my sea legs in the NFL. It wasn't going to be like a two-year thing. I was starting from ground zero. I mean, I knew nothing, so I was going to have to dedicate some real years to it. "But, you know, your first love, you kind of always have that in the back of your mind. And there were certain situations in baseball that I've just always been really intrigued by. I thought, boy, if that were ever available, that would be pretty intriguing. And so this was one of those." Q: What intrigued you about the Rockies? DePodesta: "It's actually a mix of things. One thing is certainly the challenge of the (high) altitude. That's part of it, but not all of it. Intellectually, that's certainly a big part of it. But I like the reach of this organization (across the Rocky Mountain region). I mean, to have something that really affects a huge number of people and across a really wide region, is intriguing." Q: With your hire, the Rockies appear to be taking a different approach than in the past. What are the first areas that you can put your finger on and effect some change immediately? DePodesta: "I had a chance to visit with the entire baseball operation on Friday — a Zoom with everybody. That was pretty brief, but I shared this with them: That I don't have all the answers, the secret to our success moving forward. "But I'm pretty confident that with all the people on that call, there are a lot of great ideas, a lot of great experiences, a lot of great observations that I want to hear and that I want to tap into. Ultimately, I want to create both a shared vision for our organization and an identity for what we want our team to look like, both in terms of pitchers and in terms of hitters." Q: What is your thought process about hiring a GM, a field manager, and restructuring the staff? And is there a timeline? "I don't know exactly how much time this will take, but I want to get to know everybody who's here. OK? What I don't want to do is come in and start changing things when I don't even know (everybody). I want to understand how things are done; who does what. "I've been through enough change in the different organizations I've been a part of that I realized that if you come in guns blazing, you end up losing really good people. And so I don't want that to happen. "I don't want to be hiring people like the first week of February, so don't get me wrong, but it's going to take a little bit of time for me to assess what's already in place and then formulate a plan." Q: You talked with interim manager Warren Schaeffer today. Will he get a chance to make his pitch to be part of the staff? DePodesta: "Absolutely. We've had a chance to text a little bit. I reached out to him late last week, and then today was the first time we got a chance to really talk, and got a chance to spend some time with each other. ... The reviews I've gotten from people have been really, really strong about him as a person, about him as a leader, and his passion. So I'm excited to get to know him better, but he absolutely will be part of the process." Q: How much freedom will you get from owner Dick Monfort and Walker Monfort, the executive vice president, to shape the team? DePodesta: "I think we're going to have quite a bit of autonomy to do what we feel is right. Look, everyone has boundaries, right? I think they've been very open to suggestions, to a lot of ideas. I think they're actually not only open, but I think they're excited about doing some things differently, and having some outside perspective. ... One of the things they actually said was, 'Listen, (we like) the fact that (you've) been in a different league.'" Q: What did you learn about during your two-year stint with the Dodgers? DePodesta: "I was really young at the time (31). I think my mindset, what I knew how to do at that point, was to build a roster that could win. I had been incredibly fortunate. Had been in Cleveland, had been in Oakland, both those teams had done nothing but win. So I had an idea of, 'OK, this is what it's going to take to win, and that's the job.' "And the first year in Los Angeles, we won the division and won our first playoff game ... And then it didn't take long after that for me to realize that that's not the whole job. The whole job is about actually building an organization, not just a team, or not just a 26-man roster. So I look back on that now and I realize I just made a lot of mistakes in being able to bring people together from different departments, tying together baseball and business, really incorporating the scouts the way I would have liked." Q: With the Browns, you played a part in the controversial acquisition of quarterback Deshaun Watson. The Browns sent three first-round picks to the Houston Texans as part of a six-pick trade package for Watson. It has not worked out. What was your role? DePodesta: "Here's what I would say, and I truly believe this. I believe that most of the decisions, especially the big ones like that, are organizational decisions, right? I'm not a believer in the 'King Scout' situation where there is one guy who makes every call. ... The jobs are too complex, the decisions are too hard. They impact too many different things. So I always think these sort of collective decisions, it can be hard to get unanimous (opinions) on those types of things. Everyone who was a part of that? We all own that. We just do, that's part of the deal." Want more Rockies news? Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis.