This story has been updated with new information.
BEREA — Paul DePodesta is heading back to Major League Baseball.
DePodesta, who has been the Browns chief strategy officer since January 2016, is being hired as the Colorado Rockies head of baseball operations, the Browns officially announced Nov. 7.
The move was originally reported Nov. 6.
“We want to thank Paul for his contributions to the Cleveland Browns over the past nine and a half seasons,” owners Dee and Jimmy Haslam said in a statement. “Paul’s humble and egoless approach encouraged a culture of teamwork and collaboration. He helped modernize our research and analytics departments and his broad background in professional sports brought a different perspective to our organization. We appreciate the valued role he played in our organization as a member of our leadership team and wish him all the best in his return to Major League Baseball with the Colorado Rockies.”
The Rockies were 43-119 this past season, their seventh consecutive losing season. They turned to DePodesta, who made his name in baseball before the Browns made him a central figure in their organization’s decision-making process, which led to a 10-year period of both highs (two 11-win playoff seasons in 2020 and 2023) and lows (0-16 in 2017, the Deshaun Watson trade in 2022).
DePodesta played a key role in both the team’s free-agency and draft strategy. He also had a hand in the many of the central hirings made in that time, including general manager Andrew Berry and coach Kevin Stefanski.
The Browns have gone 56-99-1 in the regular season since DePodesta was hired on Jan. 5, 2016, including a 2-6 start to the 2025 season. His first two seasons with the team, they were a combined 1-31.
That time span also includes two of the Browns’ three playoff appearance since the 1999 expansion season, in 2020 and 2023. They won an AFC wild card game over the Pittsburgh Steelers before losing in the divisional round to the Kansas City Chiefs after the 2020 season, and they lost to the Houston Texans in the wild card round after the 2023 season.
The .362 regular-season winning percentage is fourth-worst in the league in that time. Only the Jacksonville Jaguars (.353), New York Giants (.341) and New York Jets (.301) have had worst winning percentages in the regular season in that span.
DePodesta was made famous in the 2003 Michael Lewis book “Moneyball” about the Billy Beane-run then-Oakland Athletics, where he worked from 1999-2004 after being hired away from Cleveland’s front office. He was one of the individuals who was used to create the composite character Peter Brand, portrayed by Jonah Hill, in the movie version of the book.
The Los Angeles Dodgers hired DePodesta to be their general manager in 2004, but he held the job for just 20 months before being fired. He worked as a special assistant for the San Diego Padres and vice president of player development and scouting for the New York Mets under former general manager Sandy Alderson.
Browns owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam hired DePodesta as part of a massive organizational restructuring on the heels of a 3-13 season in 2015. They fired both coach Mike Pettine and general manager Ray Farmer, and replaced them with Hue Jackson as coach and Sashi Brown as general manager.
DePodesta held a massive influence over the organization’s decision-making processes. That’s even if it was difficult to point exactly where he stood on the organizational flowchart between ownership and the general manager, whether it was Brown, John Dorsey or Berry.
Basically, DePodesta was seen by many outside of the organization much like the Wizard of Oz — he was the one behind the curtain directing the process.
DePodesta was part of the initial strategic plan when he was hired to tear things down and rebuild through multiple draft picks. The Browns collected 33 draft picks between 2016-18, including back-to-back No. 1 overall picks in 2017 (defensive end Myles Garrett) and 2018 (Baker Mayfield).
That run of new players served as the core to the Browns’ ascension into a playoff team in 2020, including cornerback Denzel Ward, tight end David Njoku and running back Nick Chubb. He was also seen as the catalyst behind hiring Berry in both 2016 as Vice President of Player Personnel and in 2020 as general manager.
DePodesta pushed hard in 2019 to hire Stefanski as the Browns’ full-time head coach after Jackson had been fired and replaced on an interim basis by defensive coordinator Gregg Williams. He was overruled by Dorsey, who instead hired offensive coordinator Freddie Kitchens.
Both Dorsey, who had replaced Brown in 2017, and Kitchens were fired after a 6-11 season in 2019. DePodesta got his wish with Stefanski being hired as head coach in 2020.
The Berry-Stefanski union produced a playoff season in its first year and a near-playoff season in 2021, albeit with an 8-9 finish. But that upward trajectory was derailed by the decision to go all-in to acquire Watson on March 18, 2022.
The Browns gave up three first-round picks and three fourth-round picks to land Watson in a trade with the Houston Texans. The most lasting impact was the fully guaranteed five-year, $230 million contract Jimmy Haslam acknowledged in March at the NFL Owners Meetings was a “big swing and a miss.”
Watson has played a total of 19 games over the first three years of the deal. He lost 11 games because of a 2022 league suspension relating to more than two dozen allegations by women in the Houston area of sexual assault and sexual misconduct during massage appointments, then 11 more games combined because of shoulder injuries, including one requiring season-ending surgery.
Watson remains on the physically unable to perform list because of two surgeries last season on his Achilles. He suffered the initial tear in Week 7 of the 2024 season.
The Browns went 7-10 in 2022 and 3-14 in 2024. They did go 11-6 and lose in the wild card round to the Texans in 2023.
Both Berry and Stefanski received long-term extensions after the 2023 season. The Haslams spoke of “patience” with regard to the organization’s current trajectory when he spoke during training camp in July.
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingA