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Paul DePodesta, the president of baseball operations for the Colorado Rockies, is eager to return to the game after a decade with the NFL's Cleveland Browns. He aims for a 'unified' approach in managing the team as he prepares for the upcoming season.
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Paul DePodesta came prepared with more than remarks.
The Colorado Rockies president of baseball operations offered a grin and then a joke and then a laugh. Why not? Heâs eager to see what kind of stamina he has; or how much is still there.
The 53-year-old remembers how long a season can be. The spring training. The games. The travel. The scouting. The deadlines. The hours.
But recollections â after spending the past decade working for the NFLâs Cleveland Browns â and actually experiencing all those things arenât the same. DePodesta knows that. Heâs still excited by all of it.
âItâs been really good to be back,â DePodesta said Thursday. âNot only in the big league stuff, but the minor league stuff and some of the amateur scouting stuff. ⊠Looking forward to getting through the calendar, at least one full time, and I think itâll slow down for us.â
But right now? Well, there isnât any time to stop. Thereâs too much to do and too much to see. Players, coaches, farm system coordinators. There are already plans to log plenty of miles. And not just in terms of altitude.
Along with the Rockiesâ base in Denver, there have been â and will be â trips to Albuquerque, where DePodesta was on hand Thursday to see the Isotopes rally for a 9-5 comeback win over Oklahoma City. A day game that saw Vimael MachĂn drive in three runs, reach base three times and score twice, Blaine Crim hit a game-tying single in the seventh and Adael Amador knock a season-high three hits, including the go-ahead single in the eighth.
Along with Albuquerque, DePodesta is planning visits to Connecticut, Washington state, California, Arizona and even Boca Chica in the Dominican Republic to see the organizationsâ other farm system teams.
Itâs part of the rebuild DePodesta, the man who rose to prominence during the Oakland Athleticsâ Moneyball era, has been put in charge of to align the Rockies with Denverâs other major professional teams.
Itâs a large task, and a difficult one.
While the Denver Nuggets and the Colorado Avalanche have each won a championship in the past five years, and the Denver Broncos were on the cusp of a Super Bowl appearance this past season, the Rockies have been stuck in a quagmire. One Colorado seems unable to get out of.
Paul DePodesta is the president of baseball operations for the Colorado Rockies.
Paul DePodesta spent a decade working for the Cleveland Browns in the NFL.
DePodesta is looking to implement a cohesive strategy in managing the Rockies, integrating various aspects of the organization.
DePodesta is excited to engage in big league activities, minor league operations, and amateur scouting as he returns to baseball.

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All this comes while playing home games a mile above sea level and in the same division as the free-spending Dodgers â according to the MLB commissionerâs office, the Dodgers spent a record $515 million in its World Series-winning 2025 season â as well as the San Francisco Giants, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks, each of whom have had spurts of success.
DePodesta has his work cut out for him as he takes over a franchise that seems to have plenty of drawbacks and certainly detractors. The Rockies, after all, had the worst run differential (-424) and starting pitcher ERA (6.65) in the majors last season.
The Rockies are coming off three straight 100-loss seasons. Last yearâs 119 tied the 2003 Detroit Tigers for the third most in the modern era. In its 33 years of existence, the franchise has pulled together three consecutive winning seasons only one time: 1995-97.
âI think we have to be ourselves,â DePodesta said. âIf you look at those different situations around our division, theyâve all done it a little differently and yet, theyâve all been pretty successful teams. We have to focus on ourselves ultimately.
â⊠But there are things that weâre going to have to do that will be unique to Denver, unique to playing in altitude, that will ultimately help us be successful.â
How quickly that uniqueness comes to fruition, or what it will look like will be determined by the âgroundworkâ DePodesta is trying to set. Really, itâs a philosophy that sees the entirety of the organization moving in a singular direction no matter the level, no matter the players, no matter the coaches.
In other words, everything is intertwined and needs to be treated as such. It certainly couldnât hurt to try and the Rockies donât have a lot to lose.
âThatâs actually what we want it to be is one organization, from the big leagues down to the Dominican, and even into all of our scouting operations,â said DePodesta, who views a big league roster as 50 to 60 players deep. âWeâre really looking for it to be a unified operation. So the way we do things in Denver is going to be the way we do things in Albuquerque and the way weâre going to do in Boca Chica. And thatâs something I think is really important for us to try to get right.â
Itâs why the trips to the various minor league affiliates â like he did with Albuquerque on Thursday â to check on things and communicate has been and will continue to be important.
The Rockies know something different needs to happen. DePodesta just needs to see it through. Itâs just a matter of how quickly all that past stamina comes back.
Oh, and how quickly the tangible results present themselves in Denver.
âThatâs what everybodyâs after is trying to find good young players,â DePodesta said. âThose are foundational players for the organization. We feel like we have that opportunity here with some of the players we have coming through the system, even with some of the players already in Denver. But we still need to actually make that happen.â
David Glovach covers New Mexico United and other sports for the Journal. Reach him at dglovach@abqjournal.com or via X @DavidGlovach