Paul DePodesta | |
|---|---|
 DePodesta in 2011 | |
| Born | (1972-12-16)December 16, 1972 (age 52) Alexandria, Virginia, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (1995) |
| Occupation(s) | American football executive and formerbaseball executive |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 4 |
Paul DePodesta (born December 16, 1972) is anAmerican football executive and formerbaseball executive who is the chief strategy officer of theCleveland Browns of theNational Football League (NFL). He previously served as a front office assistant for theCleveland Indians,Oakland Athletics, andNew York Mets ofMajor League Baseball (MLB). DePodesta was alsogeneral manager of MLB'sLos Angeles Dodgers. He is also known for his appearance in the book and movieMoneyball about his early career as an assistant with the Athletics.
DePodesta was born on December 16, 1972, inAlexandria, Virginia. He grew up withThad Levine.[1] He attendedEpiscopal High School ('91) and thenHarvard University, where he playedbaseball andfootball and graduated in 1995 with a degree in economics.[2] He began his career as a sports executive with an internship for theBaltimore Stallions of theCanadian Football League in 1995.[3]
In 1996, DePodesta got his first baseball job with theCleveland Indians, where he spent three seasons. He spent the 1996 season as a player development intern, and was promoted to advance scout for the 1997–1998 seasons. Later in the 1998 season, he was appointed special assistant to general managerJohn Hart.[3]
In 1999, he joined theOakland Athletics organization as the assistant general manager, serving as second-in-command to general managerBilly Beane.[3] DePodesta was a key figure inMichael Lewis's bookMoneyball. The book thrust the analytical principles ofsabermetrics into the mainstream.
At the age of 31, DePodesta was named general manager of theLos Angeles Dodgers on February 16, 2004, making him the fifth-youngest general manager in baseball history.
DePodesta's reliance on sabermetric principles has been somewhat controversial. He is often considered part of a new breed of front office executives whose personnel decisions depend heavily on analysis of performance data, often at the perceived expense of more traditional methods of scouting and observation.
One of DePodesta's most notable moves was made at the 2004 trading deadline. He traded catcherPaul Lo Duca, relief pitcherGuillermo Mota and outfielderJuan Encarnación to theFlorida Marlins in exchange for pitcherBrad Penny, first basemanHee Seop Choi and pitcherBill Murphy, in what was reportedly an attempt to pick up pieces to acquire pitcherRandy Johnson from theArizona Diamondbacks.[4] DePodesta was heavily criticized in the local and national baseball media for this trade, because Lo Duca was thought to be the "heart and soul" of the team. The Dodgers made the playoffs anyway, with Penny developing into one of the better pitchers in the National League during his stint with the Dodgers, which lasted until the end of the 2008 season. Choi, however, was a disappointment, batting just .161 in 2004 and .253 in 2005, and striking out 80 times in 320 at bats.Bill Murphy was traded that year to acquireSteve Finley, who hit 13 homers in 58 games, including a memorable grand slam that clinched the division title. Lo Duca played through 2005 with the Marlins and then went to theNew York Mets, theWashington Nationals and back to the Marlins, making his final Major League appearance in September 2008.
During the 2004 offseason,Adrián Beltré, who had hit 48 home runs in 2004, signed with Seattle as a free agent, spurning DePodesta's offer of 3 years for $30 million for Seattle's offer of 5 years for $64 million. DePodesta signedJ. D. Drew,Jeff Kent, andDerek Lowe. Drew enjoyed two productive seasons as a Dodger and then used an opt-out clause in his contract to sign a new 5-year deal with theBoston Red Sox. Both Kent and Lowe put in four productive seasons for the Dodgers and cut ties with the franchise at the end of the 2008 season with Kent retiring and Lowe signing a contract with theAtlanta Braves.
Coming off the successes of 2004, the 2005 season saw the Dodgers lose a number of players to significant stints on thedisabled list. Many of the players lost to injury were expected to produce heavily for the team, includingJ. D. Drew,Milton Bradley,Éric Gagné,Jayson Werth,César Izturis andOdalis Pérez. The 2005 season resulted in the team's worst record since 1992 and second worst since moving to Los Angeles in 1958.[5][6] On October 29, 2005, Dodgers ownerFrank McCourt fired DePodesta, citing his desire to see the club win and that DePodesta had not met those expectations. Reports surfaced that the real reason McCourt had fired DePodesta was his inability to find satisfactory managerial candidates to replaceJim Tracy. He was later replaced byNed Colletti, who hiredGrady Little as manager. Some have speculated that McCourt fired DePodesta in response to media criticism fromLos Angeles Times sports columnistsT. J. Simers andBill Plaschke, who were vehemently "anti-Moneyball" and referred to DePodesta pejoratively as "Google Boy."
On June 30, 2006, DePodesta was hired as the special assistant for baseball operations for theSan Diego Padres and was promoted to executive vice president on November 10, 2008.
On November 8, 2010, DePodesta was hired as the vice president of player development and scouting for theNew York Mets by general managerSandy Alderson, with whom DePodesta worked when Alderson was CEO of the Padres.[7]
On January 5, 2016, DePodesta was hired by theCleveland Browns of theNational Football League (NFL) as their chief strategy officer.[8][9]
On July 31, 2021, it was reported that the Browns and DePodesta had agreed to a 5-year contract extension.[10]
On March 18, 2022, DePodesta helped to facilitatea trade forDeshaun Watson.[11] Watson and the Texans' 2024 sixth-round draft pick were traded to theCleveland Browns in exchange for the Browns' first-round draft picks in 2022, 2023, and 2024, as well as the Browns' third-round pick in 2023 and fourth-round picks in 2022 and 2024. As part of the trade, Watson signed a new, fully guaranteed, five-year, $230 million deal with the Browns, making it the largest contract at the time and most guaranteed money in NFL history.
On December 13, 2012, DePodesta joined theSears Holdings Corporation board of directors. He has also served as a keynote speaker at numerous business conventions and been covered by publications such asBaseball Prospectus andFortune Magazine.[12]
DePodesta is married to artist and philanthropist Karen Deicas[13] and has three sons and a daughter. In 2016, Deicas launched the Sports Mind Institute, which seeks to connect lessons learned from figures in professional sports, athletes, team executives, and coaches, to help others apply them to life and the business sector.[14] The family resides in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California.[15]
In 2003, authorMichael Lewis was interested in howOakland Athleticsgeneral manager (GM)Billy Beane tried to find quality players to improve the team while struggling with one of the smallest payrolls inMajor League Baseball. He first wanted to write an article on the subject, but the idea eventually blossomed into a book[16] namedMoneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game. Lewis's interests included how Beane hired DePodesta as his assistant to incorporatesabermetrics, an approach that consists of more sophisticated analyses of baseball statistics, which is at least partially credited for their 2002 20-game winning streak which set anAmerican League record.[17]
Lewis's book examines the lives and careers of various baseball personalities and explains the art of sabermetrics.Bill James, who coined the termsabermetrics for theSociety for American Baseball Research (SABR), is also a major focus.[18] James publishedThe Bill James Baseball Abstract from 1977 to 1988 and wrote several sabermetrics books.[19] Beane and DePodesta had studied James's work and were inspired by his knowledge of baseball analysis.[20]
DePodesta did not feel comfortable in the spotlight after the book's release,[21] nor did he care for the secrets revealed about his scouting methods.[22] The book earned DePodesta a reputation as a cold calculator, choosing players based only on their numbers. In addition, he was thought of as a guy who knew nothing of "real baseball."
In reality, DePodesta played football in college and wanted to be a football coach,[21][23][24] seen in a photo wearing number 17.[25] After graduating from Harvard with a degree in economics, he became an intern for the Canadian Football League's Baltimore Stallions in 1995.[26] In early 1996, he got his first baseball job with the Cleveland Indians, where he worked as a scout. In October 1996, at age 24, he was promoted to the position of advance scout. In October 1998, he became assistant to the general manager for the team.[26] Those experiences led to him being hired by Beane as his assistant with the Oakland A's in November 1998.[24]
When the movieMoneyball was adapted from the book, DePodesta did not approve of the way his character was portrayed. "There were a handful of things. Some were factual, others were more ephemeral." He had no objection toJonah Hill's performance. "Jonah was awesome. He was so respectful of me and my time. It would have been flattering to be portrayed by someone of his expertise. It had nothing to do with the casting," DePodesta said in 2010.[27] "I just could never get comfortable with the idea of somebody else portraying me to the rest of the world. Like any movie, to make it interesting, there has to be some conflict there. In some respects, a lot of the conflict is going to revolve around my character, and that was never really the case in reality," he said in 2011.[28] He also talked about the focus that was brought on him, first in 2003 and again in 2011. "The other problem was I wasn't all that interested in the attention. It had already happened from the book. And I didn't necessarily need to relive it."[21]
The role was originally going to be given DePodesta's name and portrayed byDemetri Martin, but DePodesta did not want his name or likeness to be used in the movie, so the character was named Peter Brand. Brand is a composite of Beane's assistants[29] inOakland, not an accurate representation of any specific person,[27] butMoneyball's director,Bennett Miller, has credited DePodesta for being generous and helpful in the making of the film. Hill was nominated for anAcademy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
| Sporting positions | ||
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| Preceded by | Los Angeles Dodgers General Manager 2004–2005 | Succeeded by |
