Friday, February 20, 2004
Paul DePodesta, 31, New Dodger Exec VP & General Manager
The ANNOTICO Report

Podesta, is an Italian American, from South Philly, a Harvard economics graduate.

His career had humble origins. After an undistinguished athletic career at Harvard, where as a reserve infielder he "couldn't run, couldn't throw and had no power," and as a wide receiver he "learned early that the sideline was my friend," DePodesta took entry-level marketing jobs with the Baltimore Stallions of the Canadian Football League and the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League.

His primary responsibility with the Bandits, he said, was "hurling T-shirts into the crowd," and when he joined the Cleveland Indians in 1996, he said his first job was "driving the 15-passenger van, taking players to and from the airport."

But DePodesta quickly advanced in the Indian scouting department, eventually doing advance work and evaluating players for trades and free-agent signings, and he was hired as Oakland's assistant GM before the 1999 season, when he became a protege of Oakland's iconoclastic GM, Billy Beane.

Podesta, a computer whiz has used an unconventional approach of stressing statistics over scouting in evaluating professional and amateur players, allowed the A's to have some of the greatest success with one of the smaller payrolls.

A little more than two years ago, when DePodesta was 28, he turned down the Toronto GM job. At 31, he is the second-youngest GM in baseball, behind 30-year-old Boston GM Theo Epstein.

Podesta has learned under some of baseball's best minds.Working with John Hart, Dan O'Dowd, Mark Shapiro and Josh Byrnes in Cleveland, with Sandy Alderson, Billy Beane, J.P. Ricciardi and Grady Fuson in Oakland, was like a graduate school for baseball."

Hart, O'Dowd and Shapiro are the general managers at Texas, Colorado and Cleveland, respectively. Byrnes is Boston's assistant GM. Alderson, formerly Oakland's GM, is executive vice president of baseball operations for Major League Baseball. Beane, Oakland's current GM, is DePodesta's mentor. Ricciardi is Toronto's GM; Fuson is assistant GM to Hart in Texas.

Beane, DePodesta's most recent boss at Oakland, said he is confident the Dodgers have the right man.

"It's a great day for the Dodgers," said Beane, who was McCourt's first choice but was not granted permission by A's owner Steve Schott to interview for the Dodger job. "This is a home run for the McCourts. This guy is the real deal. He's the brightest young man or old man I've ever been around. This is one step in what will be a long and successful career."
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DODGERS HIRE GENERAL MANAGER
NOT JUST A BEANE COUNTER

DePodesta, 31, is chosen over more experienced candidates. He's a protege of Oakland's iconoclastic GM, but he insists he won't be a slave to statistics.

Los Angeles Times
By Mike DiGiovanna
Times Staff Writer
February 17, 2004

New Dodger owner Frank McCourt made what he believes to be a bold and innovative move Monday with the hiring of Paul DePodesta as his executive vice president and general manager.

The decision passed by the experience and successful track record of veteran executive Pat Gillick for the potential of a bright but unproven 31-year-old Oakland Athletic assistant GM.

Dan Evans, in limbo since McCourt announced Jan. 30 that he would begin a GM search, was fired with one year and $550,000 left on his contract, an amount the Dodgers must pay. McCourt gave DePodesta, a Harvard graduate, a guaranteed five-year contract, believed to be worth about $800,000 a year.

"I spoke with some very capable candidates, all of whom would have been valuable to the Dodger organization," McCourt said during a news conference in the Dodger Stadium Dugout Club. "But during the search, there was one person who stood out to me and my wife [Jamie], and that was Paul DePodesta….

"He loves the game, he's a student of the game, and he's a hard worker. He said he doesn't have all the answers, but he's willing to ask all the questions. He's a very bright man who has a strong desire to win…. In the end, I found this to be a clear choice, if not an easy one."

DePodesta, the Dodgers' ninth general manager since the team moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles in 1958, knows critics will point to his age and inexperience and question whether this was a good move for the Dodgers, especially when Gillick, 66, the former Seattle, Baltimore and Toronto GM who guided the Blue Jays to two World Series championships, interviewed for the position.

The other finalists interviewed by McCourt were Philadelphia assistant GM Ruben Amaro Jr., former agent Dennis Gilbert and former Dodger first baseman Steve Garvey, but DePodesta seemed to be the front-runner from the start.

"I had the great fortune to be with two organizations that have been incredibly successful," DePodesta said of his three-year tenure in Cleveland and five-year stint in Oakland. "Working with John Hart, Dan O'Dowd, Mark Shapiro and Josh Byrnes in Cleveland, with Sandy Alderson, Billy Beane, J.P. Ricciardi and Grady Fuson in Oakland, was like a graduate school for baseball."

"I've been able to learn from the best. I've gained an incredible amount of knowledge from those guys…. I'm aware of my limitations," DePodesta said. "I know I didn't play in the big leagues, and I haven't been in the game for 50 years. I know I have to rely on others for what I don't know."

With pitchers and catchers due to report to spring training in Vero Beach, Fla., Wednesday, DePodesta resolved at least one issue Monday. He said Jim Tracy, entering the last year of his contract, "is the manager of the Dodgers, and I fully expect him to lead our field staff in 2004." But neither DePodesta nor McCourt would make a commitment to Tracy beyond this year.

DePodesta said he would let Tracy hire a batting instructor, a position that has been vacant since the end of last season and is expected to go to former Montreal and Dodger third baseman Tim Wallach.

DePodesta also said McCourt had given him the resources "to be as aggressive as we can" in an effort to acquire an impact hitter to bolster an offense that was baseball's least productive last season, and that McCourt had not given him any mandate to trim payroll from the $100-million range, as has been widely speculated.

A number of scouts in and out of the Dodger organization also fear that DePodesta will slash the player-development budget because the new general manager is a disciple of Beane, who, in the book "Moneyball," outlines the A's unconventional approach of stressing statistics over scouting in evaluating professional and amateur players, and of favoring college players over high school players in the draft.

But DePodesta moved to put some distance between himself and "Moneyball" on Monday.

"I'm not looking to make changes in scouting, I'm looking to change the way we do business," DePodesta said. "I'm open to new ideas — that's how we became successful in Oakland…. What we'll try to do is take everything into account when we make a decision. We're not going to only rely on statistics or only rely on scouting reports. It's all going to play a part in the process….

"The games are not played by computers. It comes down to whether players can perform in critical situations. There's a human element to this that is not measurable. You have to mesh everything into the decision-making process."

Beane, DePodesta's most recent boss at Oakland, said he is confident the Dodgers have the right man.

That career had humble origins. After an undistinguished athletic career at Harvard, where as a reserve infielder he "couldn't run, couldn't throw and had no power," and as a wide receiver he "learned early that the sideline was my friend," DePodesta took entry-level marketing jobs with the Baltimore Stallions of the Canadian Football League and the Baltimore Bandits of the American Hockey League.

A little more than two years ago, when DePodesta was 28, he turned down the Toronto GM job. At 31, he is the second-youngest GM in baseball, behind 30-year-old Boston GM Theo Epstein.

"When I got that call [from the Dodgers], I knew that was the reason I turned down the Toronto job," DePodesta said. "I was so young at the time, and I was really happy in Oakland. I knew I could afford to wait for my dream job, and this is it. This is where I feel I belong."

Dodger GMs

In Los Angeles (*interim): General Manager, Years Win %
E.J. "Buzzie" Bavasi, 1958-68 .544
Fresco Thompson, 1968 .500
Al Campanis, 1968-1987 .551
Fred Claire, 1987-1998 .514
Tom Lasorda*, 1998 .534
Kevin Malone, 1998-2001 .503
Dave Wallace*, 2001 .537
Dan Evans, 2001-2004 .548
Paul DePodesta, 2004-

Not Just a Beane Counter
http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/
la-sp-dodgers17feb17,1,6279163.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports
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MORNING BRIEFING
DePodesta's Theories Aren't That Relative
By Larry Stewart
Times Staff Writer

February 18, 2004

Paul DePodesta is said to be a numbers guy. The Dodgers' new general manager has an economics degree from Harvard. But being good with numbers doesn't necessarily translate to baseball knowledge.

Legend has it that Albert Einstein once suggested to major league catcher Moe Berg that he teach Berg mathematics and Berg teach him baseball.

"But I'm sure you'll learn mathematics faster than I'll learn baseball," Einstein said..

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/
la-sp-briefing18feb18,1,7401338.story?coll=la-headlines-pe-sports
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