Paul DePodesta is headed back to Major League Baseball.
The Browns’ longtime Chief Strategy Officer is expected to join the Colorado Rockies as their next head of baseball operations, per Ken Rosenthal, Zac Jackson, and Brittany Ghiroli of The Athletic.
DePodesta, 52, was hired by the Browns in 2016. He spent the previous two decades in a variety of front office roles around the MLB, starting with the Cleveland Indians in 1996. DePodesta is perhaps best known for his stint as the assistant general manager of the Oakland Athletics from 1999 to 2004. During that time, he was a pioneer of sabermetrics and helped bring data analytics into the sports mainstream. He was one of the main individuals featured in Michael Lewis’ bestselling book, “Moneyball,” and Jonah Hill earned an Oscar nomination for playing DePodesta in the film adapatation. DePodesta was hired in 2004 to be the general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers, but was fired after just two seasons. He then spent five years each with the San Diego Padres and the New York Mets in top front office positions before making the leap to the NFL with the Browns.
More to come.