Punk Rockies

When Paul DePodesta was announced as the Rockies’ President of Baseball Operations, my initial reaction was along the lines of “what are we even doing?” In the subsequent weeks, DePodesta has said all the right things and my skepticism has turned to optimism. Today’s hire of Josh Byrnes as the Rockies’ new General Manager validates that optimism.

Josh Byrnes comes from the gold-standard MLB franchise Los Angeles Dodgers, as their senior vice president of baseball operations where he oversaw scouting and player development. This is a huge get for a team that has fumbled player development for at least a decade. He has also worked under Theo Epstein and Andrew Friedman, two of the most respected general managers of this era.

The new GM also brings some institutional knowledge of most of our NL West rivals, having served as executive vice president/general manager for the Diamondbacks and Padres before joining the Dodgers. He also served as the assistant general manager of both the Rockies and the Red Sox (where he won a title in 2004).

Combined with the recent hire of a new senior vice president & chief revenue and strategy officer, Nicky Schmidt (no relationship to Bill!) formerly of the impressive Cleveland Guardians (not Browns!), it looks like the Rockies are finally getting coordinated to use resources wisely. This new front office seems poised to direct spending where it needs to be in player development.

Reluctant kudos to the owners for finally getting it, and hiring people could bring a foundational shift for the Rockies. “We know we need to grow our non-payroll baseball spending,” Walker Monfort said to the Atlantic. “Naturally, we are going to have to incrementally hire in certain areas.”

Byrnes would have been an exciting hire for me even without DePodesta, but together I’m really excited to see what the new front office team does. DePodesta has said numerous times that the FO should be a team with complementary pieces and not one guys who’s kind of good at a lot of things. The proof will be in the pudding, but I’m looking forward to what the new guys and gals can do going into what is shaping up to be an exciting time at the Winter Meetings next week.