Paul DePodesta, the Colorado Rockies’ president of baseball operations, sat down with The Denver Gazette for an exclusive interview to discuss staff hires, organizational philosophy and the path forward after a 119-loss season:
The Denver Gazette: The staff is coming together. Are there more staff hires, or are you comfortable with where it stands?
Paul DePodesta: Yeah, I think the major league coaching staff is getting really close. We have a couple more hires, but I think we’re feeling really good about how it’s come together. We’ve tried to do it very methodically because there are certain instances where one hire would then affect the next or even the next two, so we couldn’t really do it all at once. But I think we feel great about how it’s come together. And I think ‘Schaeff’ (manager Warren Schaeffer) is excited about it too.
Front office-wise, it was similar in that we couldn’t just do them all at once. I’m really excited about all those guys. I think we’re largely done. There still may be some things here and there, some growth areas for us potentially, but that wouldn’t be until into the new year.
Colorado Rockies’ new president of baseball operations, Paul DePodesta, center, looks on as Walker Monfort, executive vice president of the Colorado Rockies, speaks as Dick Monfort, chairman and chief executive officer of the Colorado Rockies, listens during a news conference Thursday, Nov. 13, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
The DG: Was there a first domino that set the stage for who would come after that?
DePodesta: I would say in the front office, Josh (Byrnes, general manager) being able to bring him in with his experience across all the different areas, it did change how the pieces might all fit together. And it actually opened up some opportunities to be able to get some other people. So I think he was a really important one. If he had decided not to come aboard, we probably would have gone a slightly different direction. We wouldn’t have hired the guys we did because there would have been probably a different configuration to some degree.
And then on the big league staff, I think the pitching is what we focused on initially. And then being able to hire Jeff Pickler as the bench coach and Brett Pill as the hitting coach — I think both of those now probably impact to some degree what we’re able to do in the other spots. ‘Pick,’ in particular, has so much experience in different areas that I think it allows us maybe a little bit more freedom with some of the other jobs that we still have to fill.
The DG: Each hire seems to have a unique strength. Was that the plan?
DePodesta: Yeah, I think what I’ve really tried to pursue is people that had a real breadth of experience across different areas and different functions, but with probably high-level expertise in at least one of those. As a result, you have a bunch of people who all have familiarity with a number of different areas. So there’s a lot of really beneficial crossover, and yet each one brings something a little special to the table where they can maybe focus a little bit more their attention on that area.
But because everyone has these sorts of shared experiences, there’s a common language, there’s a common understanding of how to do these jobs and also I think a high level of respect for all the other jobs and all the other responsibilities that people have. So we want to do that both on the coaching staff as well as the front office group. So I’m really happy with the way that’s come together.
The DG: We talked in Orlando during Winter Meetings about the balance. Do you feel like now the shift has gone more toward what’s going to happen with the roster and any changes that might be there?
DePodesta: Yes, absolutely. I think we’ve all been looking forward to that part of it. I would say it’s fun bringing the team off the field together too, and I do think foundationally it’ll be impactful for the organization. But at the end of the day, we all exist for the players and to have a team that goes out there and competes every night. So I think we’re excited about our focus starting to shift there.
Cleveland Browns chief strategy officer Paul DePodesta is shown before an NFL game between the Chicago Bears and the Cleveland Browns, Sunday, Sept. 26, 2021, in Cleveland. (AP Photo/David Dermer)
We’ve certainly been talking about players all along and we’ve made some moves — even going back a month now in terms of major league trades — and we’ve been signing some minor league free agents. But now we’re at a point where we’ve started to be able to make offers on major league free agents and putting together a real plan for how we can improve the roster for the 2026 season.
The DG: When it’s time to maybe move on from young talent versus giving them a chance to prove themselves under your watch, is there a way to determine when to give players more of a chance versus knowing they’re not part of the organization?
DePodesta: Probably not yet. We definitely want to get to know all of our own players a lot better. We all know them to some degree, but we know them all from the outside looking in. Members of our front office have scouted these players or our coaches have faced these players before. So we all have an idea of maybe what they are, but I think we’re all anxious to get to know them better from the inside and get to know their strengths, get to know them as people, and then really try to figure out how we can help them become the best player they can possibly be.
I don’t think we’re at a time at this point where we’re ready to make determinations about our own guys. That’ll be an ongoing process. That won’t even be done at the end of spring training. That’ll be something that I think we continue to focus on throughout the course of the entire 2026 season, not just at the big league level, but throughout the minor leagues too.
The DG: What is your pitch to free agents in terms of coming to Colorado, especially after last season?
DePodesta: Well, I do think we have some great opportunities here, and those players have recognized that. There are people who have proactively reached out to us saying, ‘We want to play there.’ They see certain opportunities, not just because of playing time, although that’s certainly part of it. But fortunately, just within the last couple of weeks with what we’ve been able to put together off the field, I think people are excited and there are some players who want to be a part of that.
There are some players who want to be tutored by some of our pitching guys. There are hitters who I think would be excited to come over and be part of what we’re going to try to build here. It’s been good and I think it’s been really positive so far.
Now, I’m not Pollyannaish. I understand that we still need to bid for players accordingly in the marketplace and we need to be competitive in that marketplace. But, so far, we’ve been encouraged by the interest people have in being a part of what we’re trying to build.