The 100 Greatest Colorado Rockies: No. 40 Jerry Dipoto

We continue our look at the top 100 Colorado Rockies of all time in this article. Here, we look at No. 40 on our list, Jerry Dipoto.

Jerry Dipoto arguably has the most successful career post retirement than anybody who has ever suited up for the Colorado Rockies. It doesn’t hurt that he had a successful run in the majors. Especially in Denver.

Dipoto is now the General Manager of the Seattle Mariners. A role he has earned after starting in the front office of former Rockies general manager, Dan O’Dowd. Before we get there, we have to start in Cleveland.

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Dipoto was drafted in the third round of the 1989 draft by the Indians. He made his debut in 1993 and was traded to the Mets among others for Jeromy Burnitz. In his season with the Indians and Mets, the only standout season was his first when he pitched 56.1 innings with a 2.40 ERA.

He wasn’t bad in New York or Cleveland but he stood out when he came to Colorado. Dipoto came in a trade for Armando Reynoso in 1997. He pitched 95.2 innings that year which is an unfathomable number for Rockies relief pitching.

He pitched under a 4.00 ERA with a 1.8 WAR and in 1999 he pitched 86.2 innings with a 4.57 ERA with a 2.8 WAR.

He played his last season in 2000 after a neck injury derailed his career. After serving as an assistant to O’Dowd, he severed as a scout with the Boston Red Sox. After success with the Sox, he came back to Colorado to serve as the team’s pro scouting director.

That scouting experience led him to the Arizona Diamondbacks where he became vice president of scouting and eventually an interim general manager in the 2010 season. The next season he moved to Los Angeles and became the Angles GM. That led to clashes with manager Mike Scioscia about sabermetrics. Dipoto left the team in 2015.

He wasn’t without a job long as the Seattle Mariners hired him a month later in the 2015 offseason. He is the only general manager with major league experience in 2017.  Dipoto has became a general manager not afraid to make transactions making 37 trades since 2015. The moves are to take advantage of the Mariners incredible core of Robinson Cano, Felix Hernandez, Nelson Cruz and Kyle Seager and help them get to the playoffs.

The team hasn’t seen October baseball, in a league leading drought, since 2001. Helping him with this immense challenge is another former Rockie, Scott Servais who is the Mariners head coach a former assistant general manager to Dipoto for the Angeles. The duo led the Mariners to an 86-77 record in 2016 missing the playoffs by three games.

Next: 5 Things Colorado Rockies Fans Missed During Spring Training

Dipoto’s love of baseball and his experience in Colorado helped him become one of the most prominent former Rockies ever.