Rockies' Paul DePodesta Explains Likely Path to Improving Team's Achilles Heel

It could be a busy winter in Denver when it comes to trades.

Jeff Lange / USA TODAY NETWORK

Coming off a disastrous 2025 season that saw the Colorado Rockies lose 119 games, the organization went outside the box in hiring Paul DePodesta as the next president of baseball operations. He comes over from the Cleveland Browns in the NFL, but he does have some experience in baseball with the Los Angeles Dodgers, as one organization he spent time with.

There are several areas that DePodesta needs to address with the Rockies, including hiring a manager, as Warren Schaeffer currently holds the position on an interim basis. As far as the roster goes, it won't be easy adding impactful players through free agency, and DePodesta knows that. If he is going to add, he's going to have to do it through trades, something he acknowledged at the General Managers' meetings in Las Vegas.

Paul DePodesta Expected to Add Pitchers Through Trades

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DePodesta discussed his first offseason in Colorado and what needs to be done to erase the memory of the 2025 season. He admitted to Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post (subscription required) that it will have to be through trades.

“I’ve certainly got some ideas on what to do,” DePodesta said. “I think it’s still early, but we also need to see what type of opportunities present themselves over the course of the winter.

“I think we have to. I think we have to be pretty opportunistic in acquisitions. On top of that, we also need to think about how we approach it, even with the players we currently have. I think we have to be open-minded about all the different ways that we can acquire players, and especially pitchers.”

Clearly, pitching is the top priority after a season that saw the staff finish the season with a 6.65 ERA, the worst in MLB history since it became a stat in 1913. Playing at Coors Field with a historically bad pitching staff doesn't help, but they were just as bad on the road as they were at home.

DePodesta has left-hander Kyle Freeland to build around as the is the veteran of the staff, which does boast some promising young arms, but they have yet to prove that they can make an impact in the majors consistently.

Colorado is unlikely to get into the mix for Framber Valdez of the Houston Astros or Dylan Cease of the San Diego Padres, and even the next tier of free agent pitchers is not likely to consider a move to Denver. DePodesta will have to target some pitchers who could be on the trade block, and it'll likely be some that are not Sandy Alcantara or Edward Cabrera of the Miami Marlins. There are other arms to add to improve a staff that has nowhere to go but up.

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