3:04pm: The Rockies have formally announced the hiring of Byrnes.
“I’m incredibly excited to be able to bring Josh into our group,” DePodesta said within today’s press release. “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.”
9:43am: The Rockies are set to hire Dodgers senior vice president of baseball operations Josh Byrnes away as their new general manager, per Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin of The Athletic. Though he’ll have the GM title, Byrnes will be second in command in the new-look Rox front office that’s headed up by recently hired president of baseball operations Paul DePodesta.
Byrnes, 55, is a seasoned front office veteran who has previously run baseball operations for both the Padres and D-backs, holding the title of general manager with each club. Byrnes is also a former assistant GM within the Rockies organization itself, having held that role in Denver from 1999 through 2002, so he’s something of a known commodity for owner Dick Monfort.
Byrnes was one of Andrew Friedman’s first hires after being named president of baseball operations in Los Angeles. He’s spent 11 years as one of Friedman’s top lieutenants, supervising both the scouting and player development departments for the Dodgers. Byrnes’ résumé is an impressive one. He’s spent more than a decade as a key figure in the front office for a Dodgers club that has won three World Series titles in that span. Prior to that, he headed up a pair of other front offices in the NL West and also served as an assistant GM with the 2003-04 Red Sox during their curse-breaking World Series victory.
That’s 26 straight seasons as either an assistant GM, a general manager or a senior vice president of baseball operations. Prior to that run, Byrnes cut his teeth as an advance scout and scouting director in Cleveland under legendary general manager John Hart. Byrnes also overlapped with another advance scout and rising star in player development during that time … his new boss, DePodesta.
All of those prominent roles give Byrnes ample insight into how to best reshape and build out a Rockies infrastructure that has lagged far behind the times. Colorado has the smallest analytics department and smallest front office, in general, of any team in baseball. Under the Monfort family’s ownership, they’ve been either loyal to a fault or downright insular, depending on how one prefers to frame it. Byrnes and DePodesta figure to make numerous hires to beef up the Rockies’ data practice, player development department and broader baseball operations setup.