DePodesta to lead Rockies baseball operations, leaving Browns

Paul DePodesta, the Cleveland Browns chief strategy officer since 2016, is leaving the NFL team to become the Colorado Rockies head of baseball operations, multiple team and league sources said Thursday. The move returns DePodesta to Major League Baseball after nearly a decade away and follows the Rockies' decision to replace Bill Schmidt after a 43–119 season.

DePodesta has held a broad strategic role in Cleveland, working on roster construction and longterm planning, and was widely credited with helping shape the Browns' analytics-driven approach and key personnel decisions. He will now lead baseball operations for a Rockies organization that has posted three consecutive 100-loss seasons and finished 50 games behind the division-winning Dodgers last year. Team officials have said they sought an outside-the-box candidate to overhaul a franchise in need of deep change.

Before joining the Browns, DePodesta spent about 20 years in MLB front offices. He was an assistant general manager with the Oakland Athletics during the period that popularized analytics-based roster building and later served in senior roles with the Los Angeles Dodgers, San Diego Padres and New York Mets. He...