DENVER -- At the center of Thursday morning's press conference at Coors Field was Paul DePodesta, the Rockies' new president of baseball operations. To his right was Walker Monfort, the new executive vice president and the guy to whom DePodesta reports.
Dick Monfort, the team's owner, chairman and CEO, and Walker's dad, sat to DePodesta's left.
"I think they're sort of pushing me out -- doesn't it feel that way?" Dick Monfort asked jokingly, before smiling.
Quips aside, Thursday's dynamic made real the fact that the Rockies, after seven consecutive seasons of sub-.500 records and historic losing this year, and after years of being a franchise seemingly set in losing ways due in part to a lack of clear processes, change comes from new thinking at the top.
Dick Monfort, who is heading into his 29th season with the franchise after being brought in by his brother, Charlie (who also was part of Friday's introductory press conference) is not going away by any means. He is influential MLB-wide and plans to devote more time to his work among owners on the MLB labor committee.
But Thursday was an opportunity to show that he was serious about a new direction for the Rockies when he named Walker to his new post in late June.
Dick Monfort, 71, has been hands-on with the baseball side since rising to his current post in 2011. He oversaw the only consecutive postseason appearances in team history, 2017-18. But the team's ensuing decline -- culminating with this year's 43-119 record, third worst in MLB's Modern Era -- spoke volumes. And he listened.
"When you have a season like you had last year, you don't want to just act like nothing happened, like, 'I wipe my hands clean of this,'" Monfort said.
The messy year led Monfort to recall his own story, when he rose to leadership in the family's meat packing and distributing company, ConAgra (which had bought Monfort of Colorado, Inc.).
"In '89, ConAgra had bought the company that we were responsible for, and my dad [Kenneth Monfort] got sick. He said, 'I hate to turn this all over to you, but I just can't go forward,'" Dick Monfort said. "And I said, 'I can handle it.' I was like, 35 years old.
"And when Walker [38] came to me and said, 'I can handle it,' I thought that back then. It ended up OK. Plus, I have a lot more responsibility with the league than I've ever had."
DePodesta's experience of 20 years in baseball plus the last decade in the National Football League has given him ideas. But since taking the job late last week, he has repeatedly said he is learning the current Rockies personnel in all departments before making additions, new assignments or changes. Priorities are hiring a manager -- interim manager Warren Schaeffer is a candidate -- and a general manager, plus seeking players.
But the key is that DePodesta has freedom in those areas.
"Let's be candid: This wasn't going to be the most traditional hire," DePodesta said. "It showed me right away that there was a real open-mindedness to do things differently, try some things. From the beginning, I think in our very first conversation, I got that sense that, 'We know we've done things a certain way for a while and they haven't worked the way we wanted. We're ready for a change, and we're ready to bring someone in here to effect that change.'"
DePodesta is the first major baseball hire to fall under Walker Monfort's purview. While he entered the process with ideas -- and attacking the difficulty of fielding a pitching staff was one of the foremost subjects on his mind -- success will come not just from pet projects but from leaning on DePodesta to set a vision that works in all areas.
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"I'm incredibly interested in pitching, not only for the Rockies but throughout our organization," Walker Monfort said. "Now what role I have in that is probably very little. One of the things that's exciting about Paul is his problem-solving mentality -- his ability to look at things differently than maybe is standard.
"I don't have any direct involvement in how that comes to life, other than partnering with Paul on, 'Here's how we'd like to structure it. Here's what we need to look at.' I'll have a voice, but ultimately it's between him, our player development personnel, our scouts, everybody that's going to be involved."
The top of the process, however, will be Dick Monfort staying true to letting change happen.
Dick Monfort said he learned during the hiring process that over the last five years, MLB-wide, the non-player spending in baseball operations is up 30 percent, while the Rockies -- considered behind for so long -- have increased their spending by 50 percent in that area.
The tenor of Thursday's introduction suggests that Monfort will spend when appropriate, but push himself aside and let new leadership make the spending work.