Paul DePodesta

From BR Bullpen

• School Harvard University

• Born December 16, 1972

Paul DePodesta was an assistant in baseball operations for the Cleveland Indians in 1997-1998. He was then the assistant GM to Billy Beane for the Oakland Athletics. He also appeared in the book Moneyball, and was widely known to prefer a statistical point of view when analyzing players.

DePodesta then served as general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers for the 2004 and 2005 seasons. In 2004, his team won the first division title since 1988 (although they did make the playoffs as a wild card in the mid-1990's). During this season he made a controversial trade sending popular players Paul Lo Duca, Guillermo Mota, and Juan Encarnacion to the Florida Marlins for Brad Penny and Hee Seop Choi.

DePodesta was never popular with the press and was routinely assailed in print by Bill Plaschke and T.J. Simers. The final nail in the coffin may have been when he interviewed Orel Hershiser by phone for the Dodger managerial opening. DePodesta was in Europe attending a sibling's wedding. DePodesta was never a favorite of former Dodger manager Tommy Lasorda who was known to have the ear of owner Frank McCourt.

Paul was hired by the San Diego Padres as a Special Assistant for Baseball Operations in June, 2006, working under CEO Sandy Alderson. In 2011 he is Vice President, Player Development & Amateur Scouting for the New York Mets.