New Rockies President of Baseball Operations Paul DePodesta discussed his return to baseball after a decade in the NFL, what excites him about the Rockies’ unique challenges and the freedom he will have to implement new ideas, according to a Q&A with Patrick Saunders of the DENVER POST. Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.
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. … 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.”
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: How much freedom will you get from owner Dick Monfort and EVP Walker Monfort to shape the team?
DePodesta: “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” (DENVER POST, 11/10).