Paul DePodesta (born December 16, 1972) is an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
executive and former
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
executive who is the chief strategy officer of the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL). He previously served as a front-office assistant for the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
,
Oakland Athletics, and
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
. DePodesta was also
general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
of the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
. He is also known for his appearance in the book and movie ''
Moneyball'' about his early career as an assistant with the Oakland Athletics.
Early life
DePodesta is a native of
Alexandria, Virginia
Alexandria is an independent city in the northern region of the Commonwealth of Virginia, United States. It lies on the western bank of the Potomac River approximately south of downtown Washington, D.C.
In 2020, the population was 159,467. ...
, where he grew up with
Thad Levine
Thad Levine (born November 12, 1971) is an American baseball executive. He is the senior VP and general manager for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball.
Early life and education
Levine was born in Alexandria, Virginia. He played youth ...
.
He attended
Episcopal High School ('91) and then
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...
, where he played
baseball
Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...
and
football and graduated in 1995 with a degree in economics.
He has worked for the
Baltimore Stallions
The Baltimore Stallions (known officially as the "Baltimore Football Club" and previously as the "Baltimore CFL Colts" in its inaugural season) were a Canadian Football League team based in Baltimore, Maryland, in the United States, which played ...
of the
Canadian Football League
The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...
and the
Baltimore Bandits
The Baltimore Bandits were an ice hockey team in the American Hockey League in the 1995–96 and 1996–97 seasons. They played in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Baltimore Arena. The Bandits were an affiliate of the National Hockey League's Might ...
of the
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 season, every team in the le ...
.
Career
Major League Baseball
Early career
In 1996, DePodesta got his first baseball job with the
Cleveland Indians
The Cleveland Guardians are an American professional baseball team based in Cleveland. The Guardians compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) Central division. Since , they have played at Progressive Fi ...
, where he spent three seasons. He served as an advance scout for two years and in his final month with the club was appointed special assistant to general manager
John Hart.
In 1999, he joined the
Oakland Athletics organization as an assistant to general manager
Billy Beane. DePodesta was a key figure in
Michael Lewis
Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...
's book ''Moneyball''. The book thrust the analytical principles of
sabermetrics
Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...
into the mainstream.
Los Angeles Dodgers
At the age of 31, DePodesta was named general manager of the
Los Angeles Dodgers
The Los Angeles Dodgers are an American professional baseball team based in Los Angeles. The Dodgers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Established in 1883 in the city of Brooklyn ...
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 catcher
Paul Lo Duca
Paul Anthony Lo Duca (born April 12, 1972) is an American retired professional baseball player and television personality. He played in Major League Baseball as a catcher for the Los Angeles Dodgers (–), Florida Marlins (2004–, ), New York ...
, relief pitcher
Guillermo Mota
Guillermo Reynoso Mota (born July 25, 1973) is a Dominican former professional baseball relief pitcher in Major League Baseball. In his career, he pitched for the Montreal Expos, Los Angeles Dodgers, Florida Marlins, Cleveland Indians, New Yor ...
and outfielder
Juan Encarnación
Juan De Dios Encarnación (born March 8, 1976) is a Dominican former professional baseball outfielder. He played 11 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1997 to 2007 for the Detroit Tigers, Cincinnati Reds, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dod ...
to the
Florida Marlins
The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park.
The fran ...
in exchange for pitcher
Brad Penny
Bradley Wayne Penny (born May 24, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. Penny played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Florida / Miami Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Boston Red Sox, San Francisco Giants, St. Louis Cardi ...
, first baseman
Hee Seop Choi
Hee-seop Choi (; Hangul: 최희섭; Hanja: 崔熙燮; ; born March 16, 1979) is a South Korean former professional baseball first baseman. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Chicago Cubs, Florida Marlins, and Los Angeles Dodgers ...
and pitcher
Bill Murphy, in what was reportedly an attempt to pick up pieces to acquire pitcher
Randy Johnson
Randall David Johnson (born September 10, 1963), nicknamed "The Big Unit", is an American photographer and former professional baseball pitcher who played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball (1988–2009) for six teams, primarily the Seattle M ...
from the
Arizona Diamondbacks
The Arizona Diamondbacks (colloquially known as the D-backs) are an American professional baseball team based in Phoenix. The Diamondbacks compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. The ...
. 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 acquire
Steve Finley
Steven Allen Finley (born March 12, 1965) is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball who played for eight teams between 1989 and 2007, most notably the Houston Astros, San Diego Padres and Arizona Diamondbacks; he is one of only two play ...
, 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 the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
, the
Washington Nationals
The Washington Nationals are an American professional baseball team based in Washington, D.C.. They compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. From 2005 to 2007, the team played in RFK Stadiu ...
and back to the Marlins, making his final Major League appearance in September 2008.
During the 2004 off-season,
Adrián Beltré
Adrián Beltré Pérez (born April 7, 1979) is a Dominican former professional baseball third baseman. During his career, Beltré played for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Boston Red Sox, and Texas Rangers in Major League Baseball. ...
, 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 signed
J. D. Drew
David Jonathan "J. D." Drew (born November 20, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. He began his major league career in with the St. Louis Cardinals, and also played for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Bo ...
,
Jeff Kent
Jeffrey Franklin Kent (born March 7, 1968) is an American former professional baseball second baseman. He played 17 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1992–2008 for the Toronto Blue Jays, New York Mets, Cleveland Indians, San Francis ...
, and
Derek 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 the
Boston Red Sox
The Boston Red Sox are an American professional baseball team based in Boston. The Red Sox compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Founded in as one of the American League's eigh ...
. 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 the
Atlanta Braves
The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The Braves were founded in Bos ...
.
Coming off the successes of 2004, the 2005 season saw the Dodgers lose a number of players to significant stints on the
disabled list. Many of the players lost to injury were expected to produce heavily for the team, including
J. D. Drew
David Jonathan "J. D." Drew (born November 20, 1975) is an American former Major League Baseball right fielder. He began his major league career in with the St. Louis Cardinals, and also played for the Atlanta Braves, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Bo ...
,
Milton Bradley
Milton Bradley (November 8, 1836 – May 30, 1911) was an American business magnate, game pioneer and publisher, credited by many with launching the board game industry, with his eponymous enterprise, which was purchased by Hasbro in 1984, and ...
,
Éric Gagné
Éric Serge Gagné (; born January 7, 1976) is a Canadian former professional baseball pitcher who played 10 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), most notably for the Los Angeles Dodgers. After signing with the Dodgers as a free agent in 1995 ...
,
Jayson Werth,
César Izturis
César David Izturis (; born February 10, 1980) is a Venezuelan former professional baseball shortstop. He is the half-brother of shortstop Maicer Izturis.
Career
Toronto Blue Jays
Signed by the Toronto Blue Jays as an amateur free agent in ...
and
Odalis Pérez
Odalis Amadol Pérez (June 11, 1977 – March 10, 2022) was a Dominican professional baseball starting pitcher. He played with the Atlanta Braves (–), the Los Angeles Dodgers (–), the Kansas City Royals (2006–), and the Washington Nationa ...
. The 2005 season resulted in the team's worst record since 1992 and second worst since moving to Los Angeles in 1958. On October 29, 2005, Dodgers owner
Frank McCourt
Francis McCourt (August 19, 1930July 19, 2009) was an Irish-American teacher and writer. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his book ''Angela's Ashes'', a tragicomic memoir of the misery and squalor of his childhood.
Early life and education
Frank Mc ...
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 replace
Jim Tracy. He was later replaced by
Ned Colletti, who hired
Grady Little
William Grady Little (born March 3, 1950) is a former manager in Major League Baseball, currently working in the front office of the Pittsburgh Pirates. He managed the Boston Red Sox from 2002 to 2003 and the Los Angeles Dodgers from 2006 to 2007 ...
as manager. Some have speculated that McCourt fired DePodesta in response to media criticism from ''Los Angeles Times'' sports columnists
T.J. Simers and
Bill Plaschke, who were vehemently "anti-Moneyball" and referred to DePodesta pejoratively as "
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
Boy."
San Diego Padres and New York Mets
![Paul DePodesta](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/93/Paul_DePodesta.jpg)
On June 30, 2006, DePodesta was hired as the Special Assistant for Baseball Operations for the
San Diego Padres
The San Diego Padres are an American professional baseball team based in San Diego. The Padres compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) West division. Founded in 1969, the club has won two NL penn ...
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 the
New York Mets
The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member of the National League (NL) East division. They are one of two major league ...
by general manager
Sandy Alderson
Richard Lynn "Sandy" Alderson (born November 22, 1947) is an American baseball executive. He is currently the president of the New York Mets. He previously served as the general manager of the New York Mets from 2011 to 2018, an executive in the O ...
, with whom DePodesta worked when Alderson was CEO of the Padres.
National Football League
Cleveland Browns
On January 5, 2016, DePodesta was hired by the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
of the
National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
(NFL) as their chief strategy officer.
On July 31, 2021, it was reported that the Browns and DePodesta had agreed to a 5-year contract extension.
On March 18, 2022, DePodesta helped to facilitate a controversial trade for
Deshaun Watson
Derrick Deshaun Watson (born September 14, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Clemson, where he led the team to a national championship in 2 ...
, who was accused by over 20 women for sexual misconduct. Watson and the Texans' 2024 sixth-round draft pick were traded to the
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...
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 and most guaranteed money in NFL history.
Other ventures
On December 13, 2012, DePodesta was elected to the Board of Directors of
Sears Holdings Corporation
Sears Holdings Corporation was an American holding company headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. It was the parent company of the chain stores Kmart and Sears and was founded after the former purchased the latter in 2005. It was the 20th- ...
. He has also served as a keynote speaker at numerous business conventions and been recognized by several publications, including ''
Baseball Prospectus'' and ''
Fortune Magazine'', which named him one of the Top 10 innovators under the age of 40.
Personal life
DePodesta is married to artist and philanthropist Karen Deicas 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. The family resides in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California.
''Moneyball''
In 2003, author
Michael Lewis
Michael Monroe Lewis (born October 15, 1960) Gale Biography In Context. is an American author and financial journalist. He has also been a contributing editor to ''Vanity Fair'' since 2009, writing mostly on business, finance, and economics. He ...
was interested in how
Oakland Athletics general manager
A general manager (GM) is an executive who has overall responsibility for managing both the revenue and cost elements of a company's income statement, known as profit & loss (P&L) responsibility. A general manager usually oversees most or all of ...
(GM)
Billy Beane tried to find quality players to improve the team while struggling with one of the smallest payrolls in
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
. He first wanted to write an article on the subject, but the idea eventually blossomed into a book named ''
Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game''. Lewis's interests included how Beane hired DePodesta as his assistant to incorporate
sabermetrics
Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...
, 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 an
American League
The American League of Professional Baseball Clubs, known simply as the American League (AL), is one of two leagues that make up Major League Baseball (MLB) in the United States and Canada. It developed from the Western League, a minor league ...
record.
Lewis's book examines the lives and careers of various baseball personalities and explains the art of sabermetrics.
Bill James, who coined the term
sabermetrics
Sabermetrics, or originally SABRmetrics, is the empirical analysis of baseball, especially baseball statistics that measure in-game activity. Sabermetricians collect and summarize the relevant data from this in-game activity to answer specific ques ...
for the
Society for American Baseball Research
The Society for American Baseball Research (SABR) is a membership organization dedicated to fostering the research and dissemination of the history and record of baseball primarily through the use of statistics. Established in Cooperstown, New ...
(SABR), is also a major focus. James published ''The Bill James Baseball Abstract'' from 1977 to 1988 and wrote several sabermetrics books. Beane and DePodesta had studied James's work and were inspired by his knowledge of baseball analysis.
DePodesta did not feel comfortable in the spotlight after the book's release,
nor did he care for the secrets revealed about his scouting methods. 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,
seen in a photo wearing number 17. After graduating from Harvard with a degree in economics, he became an intern for the Canadian Football League's Baltimore Stallions in 1995.
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.
Those experiences led to him being hired by Beane as his assistant with the Oakland A's in November 1998.
When the movie ''
Moneyball'' 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 to
Jonah Hill
Jonah Hill Feldstein (born December 20, 1983) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is known for his comedic roles in films including ''Superbad'' (2007), '' Knocked Up'' (2007), '' 21 Jump Street'' (2012), '' This Is the End'' (201 ...
'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.
"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. 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."
The role was originally going to be given DePodesta's name and portrayed by
Demetri Martin
Demetri Evan Martin ( el, Δημήτριος Ευάγγελος Μάρτιν, ''Dimitrios Evangelos Martin''; born May 25, 1973) is an American comedian, actor, writer, director, cartoonist and musician. He was a contributor on ''The Daily Show'' ...
, 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
in
Oakland, not an accurate representation of any specific person.
But ''Moneyball''s director,
Bennett Miller
Bennett Miller (born December 30, 1966) is an American film director, known for directing the acclaimed films '' Capote'' (2005), '' Moneyball'' (2011), and ''Foxcatcher'' (2014). He has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Direct ...
, has credited DePodesta for being generous and helpful in the making of the film. Hill was nominated for an
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance.
References
External links
Official Padres biographyThe Genesis, Implementation, and Management of New Systems
{{DEFAULTSORT:Depodesta, Paul
1972 births
Living people
American football wide receivers
Baltimore Bandits
Cleveland Browns executives
Episcopal High School (Alexandria, Virginia) alumni
Harvard College alumni
Harvard Crimson football players
Los Angeles Dodgers executives
Major League Baseball executives
Major League Baseball general managers
New York Mets executives
Oakland Athletics executives
San Diego Padres executives