When the Colorado Rockies announced Paul DePodesta as their President of Baseball Operations, I was admittedly a little upset about the news. After all, he had been out of the sport for a decade and it is said that the Cleveland Browns are no better off now than they were when he joined them. Sure, the blame isn’t all his, but there are valid concerns about the decision to bring him in and try to fix the Rockies.
However, after thinking through my thoughts and hearing his first media interviews at the GM Meetings in Las Vegas, I’ve come away with some cautious optimism about his hiring.
DePodesta is certainly keeping most of his intentions and strategies close to the chest as he quickly tries to get up to speed with the existing front office staff. Hiring a general manager and a new manager are at the top of his to-do list, but there is one long-term goal that has piqued my interest and one that I consider important.
In interviews this week, DePodesta has mentioned several times his intention to develop and implement one vision for the Rockies as an organization. During an interview on MLB Network’s Hot Stove Tuesday, he expanded that to developing the team’s identity and culture.
“So often I think what we’re going to try to build right away is just culture, organizational culture,” DePodesta said. “What do we want our identity to be in Colorado?”
(Watch the full Hot Stove performance below)
Although DePodesta was asked about the qualities of a manager, those buzzwords of culture and identity resonated with me because it is something that applies to the team at large. One of the main criticisms of the Rockies has been a distinct lack of vision, direction and identity. Throughout their existence, the Rockies have tried several approaches, but none have yielded lasting success. There were moments of success with the Blake Street Bombers, Generation R and the start of the Bud Black ‘Pitch Whisperer’ era, but dysfunction was always lurking.
Matters finally came to a head during the Bill Schmidt era, when he regularly and proudly proclaimed that the Rockies were a “design and development organization.” That’s all well and good, but time and time again it was clear that the Rockies weren’t very good in that area, especially the essential second part of that philosophy.
Ultimately, the overall culture of the Rockies has been one of failure. It was about misplaced loyalty, complacency and downright stubbornness to veer off a course that was doomed to fall off a cliff. Whatever culture the Rockies thought they had clearly did not create a winning environment.
So that’s what DePodesta has to figure out for the team. If the end game is to be a winning team, what will he do to achieve that goal? If the desire is to be a model organization that other teams can follow as an example, what does that look like?
DePodesta mentioned his desire to hear the perspectives of all the people currently working at the organization. He was excited to hear the thoughts, experiences and ideas of long-time employees and get to the heart of what has and hasn’t worked for the team. A collective effort is something that was missing from the franchise.
“I shared this with them – I don’t have all the answers to the secret of our success going forward,” DePodesta told Rockies reporters on Monday. “But I’m pretty sure that with all the people participating in that conversation, there are some great ideas, a lot of great experiences and a lot of great observations that I want to tap into.”
“Ultimately, I want to create a shared vision for your organization and an identity for what we want our team to look like, both in terms of pitchers and hitters. But I’m not going to walk into a room and say, ‘I get it, here it is.'”
It always seemed like the Rockies did one thing in the minors and another in the majors. A player who does certain things in Double-A Hartford would no longer do those things with the Rockies. In the past, we’ve seen former Rockies pitchers like Noah Davis rely heavily on his slider in the minors for quality success, only to be lit in the majors for relying too heavily on his fastball. Pitchers and even hitters would find themselves in a cookie-cutter formula that simply didn’t work.
In this new era of Rockies baseball, DePodesta and the front office must find a way to get the wheels in motion to actually live up to the idea of ​​everyone pulling the rope in the same direction. From the Arizona Complex League to Coors Field, the process and culture must be unified in how players develop and in setting the expectation for success. Why are the Los Angeles Dodgers so scary? It’s not just because they can spend a lot of money, but also because, from top to bottom, they have a uniform process of how they go about things.
“I think it’s probably the most important thing for me to be a great relationship manager with the players,” DePodesta said. “We’re trying to build a culture in the clubhouse. Sure, there are game strategies and other things that are important, but that manager relationship and being a great teammate with the rest of the organization, those things are just as valuable.”
As great as it would be for DePodesta to establish a culture and identity right away, it will go hand-in-hand with the long-term goals of building a winning ball club. Through a process of trying to win, the Rockies will find their identity and create expectations. In the meantime, the Rockies can start experimenting with different ideas and figuring out the process to achieve those goals.
There’s still a lot of work to do before I fully dive into this hire, but for now, a collective team effort is a step in the right direction to figure out who they are as an organization, because one thing is clear: what they’ve done in the past hasn’t worked and there’s really no way to go but up.
Salt River Rafters 5, Surprise Saguaros 2
It was a solid afternoon for the Salt River Rafters as they scored five runs on nine hits and used only three pitchers. The Rockies weren’t as active in the game as Charlie Condon went 0-for-3 with a strikeout, but Jared Thomas did go 1-for-3 with a double and two RBI.
From NFL to MLB: Paul DePodesta’s Surprising Return to Baseball with the Rockies | AP News
Here are a few more thoughts from DePodesta on making the jump back to the MLB.
After a decade away from the MLB, Paul DePodesta enters “learning mode” to revive Colorado Rockies | The Athletic ($)
Another insightful look at what DePodesta wants to do in Colorado.
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