Paul DePodesta, who was famously portrayed by Jonah Hill in the Oscar-winning film, was most recently working for the Cleveland Browns.
DENVER — The Colorado Rockies didn’t so much execute a blast-from-the-past with their hiring of Paul DePodesta so much as they came out of left field.
A source confirmed to 9NEWS the Rockies are finalizing a contract with DePodesta, the former real-life “Moneyball” co-star, as their new president of baseball operations. According to a source, DePodesta is expected to hire a general manager and additional front office personnel.
DePodesta, who received national attention when Jonah Hill portrayed a character based on him in the Oscar-winning film “Moneyball,” has most recently been working for the Cleveland Browns since 2016 as their chief strategy officer. That’s right, the NFL Cleveland Browns, for the past 10 seasons.
But Rockies’ owner Dick Monfort and executive vice president Walker Monfort, the father-son duo that conducted the search for a new baseball boss to replace Bill Schmidt, who resigned after the season, no doubt felt like once you’re a smart baseball man, always a smart baseball man.
Before his time with the Browns, the 52-year-old DePodesta worked for multiple MLB franchises, including the Cleveland Guardians under GM John Hart and future Rockies GM Dan O’Dowd (1996-1998) and the Oakland Athletics under GM Billy Beane (1999-2004), before DePodesta became the Los Angeles Dodgers GM (2004-2006).
After he was let go by Dodgers’ owner Frank McCourt, DePodesta became top baseball front-office assistants with San Diego Padres (2006-2010) and New York Mets (2010-2016) before making the jump to the NFL.
DePodestia’s role with Billy Beane’s Athletics was made famous in Michael Lewis’ book, which was turned into the Brad Pitt-starring feature film.
The book brought attention to the analytical concept of “sabermetrics,” which the A’s used to help build a roster that made the playoffs in 2002 and 2003, and win 20-straight games, one of the longest winning streaks in MLB history.
If all goes well with negotiations, the Rockies are expected to formally announce DePodesta’s hiring Friday and hold an introductory news conference next week.
DePodesta has some work to do. The Rockies are coming off three consecutive seasons of suffering at least 101 losses and flirted with becoming the worst team in modern baseball history this past season before finishing 43-119.
The Monforts and Schmidt mutually agreed to part ways the day after the season and the search for a new head of baseball operations was on.