Rockies VP Walker Monfort introduces Paul DePodesta in ‘first day of our future’ after years of struggles

The Rockies formal introduction of Paul DePodesta the new president of baseball operations began with refreshing honesty about the club s failures and the need for change We all know that it s been a tough stretch here for the Rockies there are no excuses for that executive vice president Walker Monfort announced Thursday morning at Coors Field But currently marks something new This day is the first day of our future and we will not accept anything other than progress Monfort didn t spell out the tough stretch but then after three consecutive -loss seasons culminating with a - record in he didn t have to To our fans we know you re frustrated Monfort continued You have every right to be We are too I can t express how grateful we are for your continued passion and backing I know you are tired of hearing words you want to see action Bringing Paul on board is our first move and there will be a great number of more to come The Rockies rebuild has begun not only with the hiring of someone from outside the organization in DePodesta but also with the establishment of a new organizational infrastructure and hierarchy Owner and CEO Dick Monfort Walker s father will still have the final say on big decisions but he made it clear on Friday that things are changing at th and Blake and that he s scaling down his role in baseball operations He declared he will not be as involved on the baseball side in part because he serves on the labor board for Major League Baseball s owners The current collective bargaining agreement is set to expire after the season and speculation is already underway about likely labor strife with the owners led by Monfort contemplating implementing a salary cap for the sport The MLB Players Association is adamantly against a cap I have a lot more responsibility with the league over the next year so I have to allocate time there Dick declared Plus I m getting older Walker came to me and explained he was interested in taking on a bigger role He can handle it Dick disclosed that there were close to applicants for the president of baseball operations but revealed he s confident DePodesta is the right man at the right time Paul s a brilliant guy but he also relates to people Dick stated Walker spelled out the club s hierarchy this way Obviously everybody reports upward to our chairman and CEO my father Dick Basically from there I will still be in charge of oversight of the entire organization So Paul will account to me and those that he hires will review to him As I mentioned to Paul when we were going through this process I am very much behind him in terms of the sport My goal is to learn from Paul and others In other words the -year-old DePodesta who s back in baseball after spending the last years with the NFL s Cleveland Browns will be given substantial freedom to build his kind of staff and his kind of organization Let s be candid for them to connect with me this wasn t going to be the the greater part traditional hire DePodesta mentioned It revealed me right away that there was a real open-mindedness here and a willingness to do things differently and to try certain things From the beginning from our very first conversations I got that sense that they were ready for a change They were ready to bring in someone to effect that change I felt that right away and throughout the whole process Related Articles Rockies Paul DePodesta views trades as way to upgrade historically bad starting pitching Rockies Paul DePodesta on taking job with Colorado I m a sucker for a challenge Grading The Week Broncos passing woes wouldn t be saved by Jaylen Waddle at NFL arrangement deadline Rockies Journal Key questions for Paul DePodesta Colorado s new front-office boss Renck In hiring Paul DePodesta decades too late Rockies continue making wrong moves even with right intentions Now DePodesta must begin his part of the rebuild After evaluating the state of the organization he plans to bring in several outside personnel and possibly expand the staff I feel really good bringing in the people to build out the baseball operation he declared But the first thing I want to do is get to know everybody here and understand the capabilities that are already in place Then I will look at how we supplement that with additional people and additional skills I have been given assurances that there is not just an appetite but a thirst to build this out and make it a really strong part of the organization DePodesta s first major task will likely be to hire a manager someone who s able to relate to the players Then he ll hire a general manager to be his right-hand man though he s not going to rush that decision He set no timetable for either hire I m not sure exactly how that s going to evolve he revealed The reason I say that is because I m a huge believer in building teams as opposed to just picking individuals I want to find someone who can fill in specific of my gaps but also fill in specific of the gaps in the rest of the organization as well Colorado Rockies new President of Baseball Operations Paul DePodesta left and Rockies owner Dick Monfort during DePodesta's introductory press conference at Coors Field in Denver on Thursday Nov Photo by Andy Cross The Denver Post Want more Rockies news Sign up for the Rockies Insider to get all our MLB analysis