Paul DePodesta: NFL FAILURE

Paul DePodesta is famous for being one of the central figures behind the movie "Moneyball."

Editor's Note: In Moneyball, the insufferable Jonah Hill played a fictionalized version of DePodesta.

After being a doormat for most of the 1990's, MLB's Oakland A's hired Paul DePodesta in 1999 to be their Assistant General Manager. He, along with GM Billy Beane, used their heavy reliance on sabermetrics to guide the A's to an impressive 479-330 mark between 1999-2004, including a 4 year streak of making it to the ALDS.

At the end of 2004, DePodesta left Oakland to go to the Los Angeles Dodgers.

But what was DePodesta's Legacy exactly in Oakland? In the over 20 years since he left, the A's made it to exactly ONE ALCS and ZERO WORLD SERIES. They never made an ALCS while he was there. The A's still left Oakland and the East Bay will probably never have Major League Baseball again.

DePodesta's Legacy wasn't winning World Series or keeping the A's in Oakland, it was giving a team that wouldn't spend money a chance to compete. Hardly the description associated with the glory years of Reggie Jackson's A's in the 1970's. Again, a nice story, but the rest of the league swiftly integrated their own versions of sabermetrics and the gaps between the A's and the rest of the league closed quickly.

The strongest argument for DePodesta's successes in Oakland was that he postponed the inevitable move for a few years

Once in Los Angeles, General Manager DePodesta strung together a few nice seasons for the Dodgers under Frank McCourt before getting fired. McCourt is a terrible human being and nearly destroyed the Dodgers, so DePodesta gets a pass for any failures during that era.

From 2006 to 2016, DePodesta bounced from the Padres to Mets, working as both an executive and in the scouting departments. DePodesta's calling card was again a laptop and an intricate knowledge of analytics. But there was no "DePodesta Way" that led either team to sustained success. He wasn't a leader or a builder, he was derided in the Baseball Community as "Google Boy."

But of all the major sports in America, baseball is the easiest to predict. Whoever spends the most money, wins. From Baseball America:

• In the wild card era (1995-present), 26 of the 29 teams to win a World Series ranked in the top half of MLB in opening day payroll.

• In the same time frame, 20 of the 29 World Series champions ranked in the top 10 in opening day pay payroll.

• Only three World Series champions—the 2017 Astros, 2015 Royals and 2003 Marlins—ranked in the bottom half of MLB in opening day payroll. The 2017 Astros (Justin Verlander) and 2015 Royals (Johnny Cueto, Ben Zobrist) both made midseason trades that put them into the top half of payroll by the end of the season.

• Only one team, the 2003 Marlins, won a World Series after ranking in the bottom 10 in opening day payroll.

This year, the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Toronto Blue Jays in an epic World Series. Both teams are in the Top 5 in Baseball for Payroll. Critics howl that the Dodgers have over a BILLION DOLLARS in deferred contract money over the next 2 decades, giving them an unfair competitive advantage. No team in Major League Baseball forgoes the use of analytics in their front offices.

You don't have to have a degree in the computer sciences to understand this simple equation in baseball:

Spend More Money = Win More Games

So when Paul DePodesta came to the Browns in 2016, he brought his big brain and a brand new laptop to Cleveland to try his hand at football. But guess what? There's a salary cap in football. The league is designed for competitive balance. Everyone spends (more or less), the same in player salaries.

As the Cleveland Brown's Chief Strategy Officer, he led the organization.... from his home in San Diego. You never saw DePodesta at Press Conferences, around practice in Berea, or giving interviews with the local press.

With only Jimmy Haslam wielding more power in the organization, DePodesta was shockingly invisible. Each failure by the Browns was pinned on bad players, coaches, or other executives. When DePodesta announced this week that he was returning to baseball, he had accumulated a 55-96-1 record as the head of the Browns, and No Super Bowl appearances, for a decade's worth of work.

One of the Worst Teams in Football....AGAIN

If you used simple analytics, in theory, the Browns should go to the Super Bowl once every 16 years. (16 teams in AFC, salary cap for revenue.)

When DePodesta took the job, the Browns were one of the 4 worst teams in football.

Today, November 8, 2025, the Browns are one of the 4 worst teams in football.

In a league where revenue streams are almost the same, and everyone has a computer, Paul DePodesta was an unadulterated failure.

Team mouth piece Nathan Zagura complimented DePodesta this week on "streamlining processes."

Streamlining processes??? The only thing DePodesta has done in the last 20 years is to convince gullible owners how smart he is.

Dammit, give me something to break.

I'm not kidding.

End of Article.

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The 43-119 Colorado Rockies are the MLB team that hired DePodesta away from the Browns.

The Rockies were 21st in payroll and haven't had a winning season since 2018.

If DePodesta can simply make the Rockies competitive without spending a ton of money, his tenure in Colorado will be a success.

As long as success is defined as competitive without spending outside your budget.

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