Punk Rockies

While it’s easy to be swept away in the winter months where there’s no painful losses or damning statistics, it’s hard to not think that December 2025 has been the best month for the Colorado Rockies since Rocktober 2007. Though the Rockies haven’t made any notable major league player moves this month, holy hell are they assembling an all-star front office and coaching staff!

Paul DePodesta has poached six of the some of the brightest minds in baseball from six different teams across the sport, seven if you include Walker Monfort’s hire of Nicky Schmidt from the Guardians as Chief Revenue & Strategy Officer. Counting up all the teams DePodesta and the new hires have worked for, the infamously insular Rockies have added institutional knowledge from 18 of the 30 MLB clubs (including all of the NL West!).

This coming from a Rockies franchise that previously had high-profile failures like front office staff doing laundry during the pandemic, players stealing passwords to get data analytics the team wouldn’t let them have, and hiring an outsider to revamp their analytics department (Scott Van Lenten) only to fire him just months later.

It’s like the Rockies are a million miles away from that now. Just this month, DePodesta has brought in the following (former team in parentheses):

Josh Byrnes, General Manager (Dodgers). The man behind the recent draft-and-develop for the back-to-back champion Dodgers. My take here.

Tommy Tanous, Asst. General Manager (Mets). Well regarded scouting director for the Mets under Sandy Alderson from 2012 to 2016, drafting guys like McNeil, Alonso, Nido, Conforto, Kirby, McClanahan, among others.

Matt Daniels, Director of Pitching (Twins). Not only the data-driven pitching development specialist for the Twins and Giants, but one of the original Driveline employees.

Alon Leichman, Pitching Coach (Marlins). As assistant piching coach for the Marlins, showed the kind of out-of-the-box thinking the Rockies need by calling games from the dugout.

Gabe Ribas, Asst Pitching Coach (Tigers). Actually worked as Director of Pitching for Tigers, will suit up for the Rockies in 2026. Bonus that he worked as an assistant for my alma mater, the University of Northern Colorado (go Bears!).

Matt Buschmann, Bullpen Coach (Cubs). Has worked in numerous roles in player development including for the Blue Jays, Cubs and Giants. Was also the Blue Jays bullpen coach for three seasons.

Sure, the Rockies have also added some interesting players this month, including a coveted bullpen arm in the mammoth RJ Petit from the Tigers in the Rule 5 draft, but the real and lasting upgrades have come behind the scenes. It’s enough to give a Rockies fan real hope about the future.

The team DePodesta has built in the front office and dugout makes me inclined to believe manager Warren Schaeffer when he says “You’re going to see winning baseball in Denver a lot sooner than you think.”