Paul

DePodesta

He’ll be focused on scoring and player development. Tanous spent the last 15 years with the Mets, including the last three as a vice president of player evaluation and a special advisor to David Stearns. The addition, which comes just days after the hiring of Josh Byrnes as GM, seems like another step forward for a Rockies front office trending towards competence.

For a franchise haunted by physics, altitude, and analytics, hiring DePodesta feels like an experiment ripped from a sabermetric fever dream — the Rockies’ first real attempt to conquer the mathematical challenges Coors Field presents. The 52-year-old executive takes over as the Rockies’ top decision-maker after spending the past decade in the NFL as the Cleveland Browns’ chief strategy officer. DePodesta’s revolutionary work with the Athletics two decades ago — immortalized in Michael Lewis’ best-selling book Moneyball — helped redefine how modern front offices operate at the time. He later served as the Dodgers’ general manager from 2004–2005 and as the Mets’ vice president of player development and scouting from 2010–2016. DePodesta faces a daunting challenge in trying to conquer Coors Field’s unforgiving offensive environment and rebuild an organization that hasn’t had a winning season since 2018 and has to contend with a loaded NL West division.

DePodesta will not get a title change in the hierarchy of the Browns’ front office, but he’s serving as the active GM at the moment and could even possibly take over the role moving forward depending on how things shake out. DePodesta is essentially a throwback to the Sashi Brown era after he survived the Brown ouster and now the John Dorsey debacle. DePodesta’s background is in baseball with an analytical view.

That is not a typo. The Browns are bringing in a baseball executive who is perhaps most famous for his time with the Athletics which was chronicled in the book Moneyball. DePodesta also was the Dodgers GM for two seasons in the mid-2000s and had been with the Mets since 2010. DePodesta will work with executive vice president of football operations Sashi Brown, who himself is a former lawyer. Cleveland is going all in on analytics in an attempt to turn the franchise around. Still, hiring a football person or two might not be a bad plan.

Dominik says it is part of DePodesta’s education. The Browns have been clear DePodesta will serve more as a big-picture guy and advisor than a decision maker, so this news is not a big surprise. It is possible Cleveland is easing DePodesta in to what will be a more hands-on role in the future. EVP of football operations Sashi Brown is making final decisions in the front office.