Oakland Athletics executive Paul DePodesta was hired Monday as general manager of the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The hiring was the first move made by new owner Frank McCourt, who bought the team Friday from News Corp for US$430 million, and came just two days before pitchers and catchers are scheduled report to spring training in Vero Beach, Florida.
The 31-year-old DePodesta had been a top assistant to Oakland general manager Billy Beane since joining the A's in 1998.
Dan Evans was in the final season of a three-year contract as the Dodgers' general manager. McCourt said the day after the sale was approved that Evans would be merely a candidate for his own job. Promoted to GM on Oct. 3, 2001, Evans interviewed along with other candidates including Philadelphia Phillies assistant GM Ruben Amaro.
DePodesta is considered one of baseball's top young executives and had been expected to take over as GM of the A's in November 2002, when Beane agreed to become GM of the Boston Red Sox. But Beane changed his mind and stayed in Oakland.
DePodesta, who becomes the ninth GM in Dodgers history, has an economics degree from Harvard.
He becomes the second-youngest general manager in baseball, behind Red Sox GM Theo Epstein, who was 28 when he took the job in November 2002.
He takes over a team that had the best pitching staff and worst offense in baseball last season. The Dodgers went 85-77 and finished second in the NL West, 15 1/2 games behind the San Francisco Giants.
The Dodgers have not won a postseason game since beating Oakland in the 1988 World Series and haven't made the playoffs since 1996. The Dodgers made only few changes after McCourt announced Oct. 10 he had reached an agreement to buy the team.
Shohei Ohtani and Clayton Kershaw on Friday joined their Los Angeles Dodgers teammates in sticking their fists out to show off their glittering World Series rings at a ceremony. “There’s just a lot of excitement, probably more than I can ever recall with the Dodger fan base and our players,” manager Dave Roberts said before Los Angeles rallied to beat the Detroit Tigers 8-5 in 10 innings. “What a way to cap off the first two days of celebrations,” Roberts said afterward. “By far the best opening week I’ve ever experienced. I just couldn’t have scripted it any better.” A choir in the
After fleeing Sudan when civil war erupted, Al-Hilal captain Mohamed Abdelrahman and his teammates have defied the odds to reach the CAF Champions League quarter-finals. They are today to face title-holders Al-Ahly of Egypt in Cairo, with the return match in the Mauritanian capital, Nouakchott, on Tuesday next week. Al-Hilal and biggest domestic rivals Al-Merrikh relocated to Mauritania after a power struggle broke out in April 2023 between the Sudanese army and a paramilitary force. The civil war has claimed tens of thousands of lives and displaced more than 12 million people, according to the UN. The Democratic Republic of the Congo-born Al-Hilal
Shohei Ohtani, Teoscar Hernandez and Tommy Edman on Thursday smashed home runs to give the reigning World Series champions the Los Angeles Dodgers a 5-4 victory over Detroit on the MLB’s opening day in the US. The Dodgers, who won two season-opening games in Tokyo last week, raised their championship banner on a day when 28 clubs launched the season in the US. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts shuffled his batting lineup with all four leadoff hitters finally healthy as Ohtani was followed by Mookie Betts, then Hernandez and Freddie Freeman in the cleanup spot, switching places with Hernandez. “There’s a Teoscar tax to
Matvei Michkov did not score on Monday, but the Philadelphia rookie had a hand in both goals as hosts the Flyers earned a 2-1 victory over the Nashville Predators. Ryan Poehling and Jamie Drysdale got the goals for the Flyers (31-36-9, 71 points), who won their third straight. Michkov and Travis Konecny assisted on both. Ivan Fedotov stopped 28 shots to earn his first win since March 1, ending a personal six-game losing streak. Zachary L’Heureux got the lone goal for Nashville. Michael McCarron and Brady Skjei got the assists for the Predators (27-39-8, 62 points), who have just four goals in their
RSS