The Colorado Rockies brought in Josh Byrnes from the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers to become their general manager and turn around a floundering franchise.
Byrnes will team again with Paul DePodesta, who was hired Nov. 7 as the Rockies' president of baseball operations. The two joined forces in Cleveland in the 1990s, before DePodesta went to the Oakland Athletics and Byrnes joined the Rockies to work with then-GM Dan O'Dowd.
"I’m incredibly excited to be able to bring Josh into our group,” DePodesta said in a statement Wednesday. “Few executives in baseball share his combination of intellectual curiosity, breadth of experience, and on-field successes. We are extremely fortunate to add him, as he immediately strengthens our entire baseball operation.”
Byrnes joins a team coming off a third straight 100-loss season. He's fresh off winning a World Series with the Dodgers for a second straight season. He also was with the Dodgers when they won in 2020.
The 55-year-old Byrnes takes over for Bill Schmidt, who stepped down after the season and following a long tenure with the team in a variety of roles.
“I’m thrilled to be returning to the Rockies organization, especially at such an exciting time for the future of the franchise,” Byrnes said. “Working alongside Paul again is an incredible opportunity and I’m eager to join him and the rest of the group as we work to bring championship caliber baseball to the Rockies.”
Byrnes knows the NL West well having also been in the front offices with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the San Diego Padres. He broke into the business as an advanced scout in Cleveland. Byrnes was with Boston as an assistant GM when the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004.
Colorado missed the playoffs for a seventh straight season. The Rockies finished 43-119 this year as they narrowly avoided becoming the team with the worst record since the 162-game schedule started in 1961.
Among the first moves by DePodesta was the promotion of Warren Schaeffer to full-time manager. Schaeffer assumed the role on an interim basis after the Rockies fired Bud Black — the winningest manager in franchise history — in May following a 7-33 start.
Colorado boasts a young nucleus that includes All-Star catcher Hunter Goodman and shortstop Ezequiel Tovar. The team also drafted Ethan Holliday with the No. 4 pick last summer. His father, Matt, is Rockies royalty after helping spark 2007's “Rocktober” run that led to the franchise’s only World Series appearance, in which they were swept by Boston.
A chunk of Colorado's payroll is tied up in the contract of often-injured slugger Kris Bryant, who’s played in only 170 big league games since signing a $182 million, seven-year deal before the 2022 season.
AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
Please purchase a Premium Subscription to continue reading.
To continue, please log in, or sign up for a new account.
We offer one free story view per month. If you register for an account, you will get two additional story views. After those three total views, we ask that you support us with a subscription.
A subscription to our digital content is so much more than just access to our valuable content. It means you’re helping to support a local community institution that has, from its very start, supported the betterment of our society. Thank you very much!
Only subscribers can view and post comments on articles.
Already a subscriber? Login Here
“A dazzling delight for all ages” Read moreRodger's & Hammerstein's Cinderella
Join us for Bay Area Youth Ballet's magical holiday tradition as The Nutcracker comes to lif… Read moreThe Nutcracker Presented By Bay Area Youth Ballet
Dirk van Ulden said:
Dirk van Ulden said:
Success! An email has been sent to with a link to confirm list signup.
Error! There was an error processing your request.
Sorry, an error occurred.
Already Subscribed!
Cancel anytime
Thank you .
Your account has been registered, and you are now logged in.
Check your email for details.
Submitting this form below will send a message to your email with a link to change your password.
An email message containing instructions on how to reset your password has been sent to the email address listed on your account.
No promotional rates found.
Secure & Encrypted
Thank you.
Your gift purchase was successful! Your purchase was successful, and you are now logged in.
| Rate: | |
| Begins: | |
| Transaction ID: |
A receipt was sent to your email.
(0) comments
Welcome to the discussion.
Log In
Keep the discussion civilized. Absolutely NO personal attacks or insults directed toward writers, nor others who make comments.
Keep it clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
Don't threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Anyone violating these rules will be issued a warning. After the warning, comment privileges can be revoked.