Paul DePodesta
Paul DePodesta
Paul DePodestais the chief strategy officer for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League. Formerly a front office assistant for the Cleveland Indians, Oakland Athletics and most recently the New York Mets, he was also general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers. The year after leading the Dodgers to their first playoff win in 16 years, he was fired after the 2005 club finished with its worst record in 11 years. He was the ninth general manager in the...
days few happened last
We feel comfortable we've addressed what's happened the last few days internally.
happy lined perfectly unless
Unless everything is lined up, we'd be perfectly happy not doing it.
certainly fun
We know it hasn't been fun for them. It certainly hasn't been fun for us.
although conflict consistent creative critical direction dynamic elements goal move spent time together vision
We've spent a lot of time together lately, ... The goal was to become very comfortable with the direction we are going. Although creative conflict is healthy, it is critical to our vision for the GM/manger dynamic to have enough consistent elements to move forward.
fact matter
The fact of the matter is, it was coming,
both deal dealt head jim wonder
Both of us wanted to deal with this quickly. Jim didn't want to wonder about his status. We both dealt with it head on.
achieve order risky step
Is this a risky move? ... It is. But in order to achieve something special, you have to step out and do something bold.
anyone environment high maintain players team
The one thing they've done better than anyone else is find a way to incorporate young players into their team and yet do it in an environment in which they maintain very high expectations,
bit confident count past prepared quite round talked
This was something that I don't think we could count on, but we were prepared for it. We talked quite a bit about it (Tuesday) as the first round was unfolding, and once it got past about the 20th pick, we were pretty confident that he was going to be there for us.
contract deal gave second
We gave him a two-year deal for a reason, ... At this point, he's still under contract to us for a second year.
felt strongly time
We felt strongly it was time for a change.
braves commit continue expect kids spots though
Even though they still expect to win, they will entrust spots in the lineup, or a spot in the rotation, to a young player. The Braves continue to commit to their young kids and commit to the right ones.
break despite exciting fact few great guys position starting success throughout time tremendous
We've had tremendous success throughout the organization from a player-development standpoint, ... One of the things that made this organization great was to have our own players. Despite the fact we're in the position we're in, this is an exciting time for us because right now we're just starting to see a few of those guys break through the surface.
change decided everybody jim move needed needs page
At the end of the day, I think everybody needs to be on the same page to move forward. We decided we needed to make a change and Jim decided to move on as well.