First the Draft, Then Names : Baseball: After 72 are selected by the expansion clubs, wheeling and dealing for better-known players begins.

For a laborious seven hours Tuesday, the National League’s designed-for-TV expansion draft dissipated into a virtual who’s who of double-A baseball.

Long and lacking in anticipated drama and electricity, it merely proved to be the stage-setter.

The Florida Marlins made four trades when it was over. The Colorado Rockies made two.

And two established teams--the Cincinnati Reds and Seattle Mariners--stole the show with a blockbuster trade that sent Kevin Mitchell to the Reds and Norm Charlton to the Mariners, where he will be reunited with former Cincinnati manager Lou Piniella.

Charlton was 4-2 with a 2.99 earned-run average and 26 saves for the Reds in 1992, but Jim Bowden, Cincinnati’s new general manager, said, “Charlton and (Rob) Dibble had gotten to a point where they couldn’t both coexist on the same team as relief pitchers.”

Bowden, 31, recently succeeded Bob Quinn in an often unenviable role under owner Marge Schott. He is baseball’s youngest general manager, but he has not been afraid to pull the trigger.

In an attempt to stay competitive with the Atlanta Braves in the NL West, he has already reshaped the Cincinnati offense, first trading Paul O’Neill to the New York Yankees for Roberto Kelly and now dealing Charlton for Mitchell.

The overweight and oft-injured Mitchell batted .286 with nine home runs and 67 runs batted in, a significant falloff from the the major league-leading 109 home runs he hit between 1989 and ’91.

Mitchell, who will bat cleanup and play left in an outfield that will have Kelly in center and Reggie Sanders in right, has been with five big league teams, but Bowden said:

“That doesn’t bother me. He’s a first-class individual. We did a lot of research into his makeup. We talked to his former coaches. We talked to guys who had played with him. We’re satisfied with what we heard.”

What the Reds heard was satisfactory enough for the cost-conscious Schott to take on a $7-million guarantee over the next two years, unburdening the new Seattle ownership of a major contract.

Said Mariner General Manager Woody Woodward: “We hated to give up a hitter of Kevin Mitchell’s stature, but we needed to start rebuilding our pitching staff, and Lou recommended the move. Now we have Charlton and (Mike) Schooler to finish out games.”

What do the Marlins and Rockies have besides the 36 players drafted by each team Tuesday?

One opinion came from Whitey Herzog, vice president of the Angels.

“For these teams to fill up their rosters next spring,” he said, “they’re going to have to sign some free agents, because most of these kids--and I saw a lot of them play this year--aren’t going to be ready for the big leagues next year. I’m not saying that’s bad. It’s just the way it is.”

The Marlins and Rockies knew how it would be. Intent on building with young players, they will fill the gaps with less-expensive, second-tier free agents who do not require compensatory draft choices.

In a series of prearranged trades announced after the draft, both began to move the pieces of their puzzles.

The Rockies traded outfielder Kevin Reimer, a first-round pick from the Texas Rangers, to the Milwaukee Brewers for outfielder Dante Bichette, a former Angel. Colorado also traded infielder Jody Reed, a first-round pick from the Boston Red Sox, to the Dodgers for pitcher Rudy Seanez.

The Marlins traded:

--Pitcher Greg Hibbard, a first-round pick from the Chicago White Sox, to the Chicago Cubs for shortstop Alex Arias and third baseman Gary Scott.

--Pitcher Danny Jackson, a third-round pick from the Pittsburgh Pirates, to the Philadelphia Phillies for pitchers Joel Adamson and Matt Whisenant.

--Catcher Eric Helfand, a first-round pick from the Oakland Athletics, back to the A’s for shortstop Walt Weiss.

--Pitcher Tom Edens, a second-round pick from the Minnesota Twins, to the Houston Astros for pitchers Hector Carrasco and Brian Griffiths.

At the end of a long day that began with the anticipated No. 1 selections of Atlanta Braves pitcher David Nied by the Rockies and Toronto Blue Jay outfielder Nigel Wilson by the Marlins, a day in which both clubs basically ignored an unprotected array of high-salaried, big-name players, except for Florida’s selection of Angel relief pitcher Bryan Harvey, the mood was one of pragmatism.

“I think we have about 20 players we expect to see on our opening day roster,” Dave Dombrowski, Marlin general manager, said. “I wouldn’t say we’re set, but I would say we did well.

“I feel we have a competitive club behind our young pitching, and that’s really as good as you can expect from something like this.

“We’re still an expansion team. You can’t get away from that.”

Colorado counterpart Bob Gebhard agreed, saying he was pleased to have come away with young pitching and power at the corners, power being a priority in Mile High Denver.

At this point, Gebhard said, his opening day lineup would have free agent Andres Galarraga at first base, former Dodger Eric Young at second, Freddie Benavides at shortstop, Charlie Hayes at third, Jerald Clark in left, Alex Cole in center, Bichette in right, Joe Girardi catching and Nied on the mound.

The Rockies drafted 20 pitchers, with a likely rotation at this point of Nied, Darren Holmes of Milwaukee, Scott Aldred of the Detroit Tigers, Butch Henry of Houston and Denis Boucher of the Cleveland Indians. Only Nied, at 3-0, has a winning record in the majors, and it is not clear who the Colorado closer would be.

The Marlins could start an opening day lineup of former Kansas City Royal Jeff Conine at first base, Bret Barbarie at second, Weiss at shortstop, Scott or Chris Donnels at third, Ranger Monty Fariss in left, Chuck Carr in center, former Angel Junior Felix in right and Steve Decker catching.

The Marlins selected 21 pitchers, but Dombrowski said he could not predict who his opening day starter would be--he tentatively tabbed former Met Jose Martinez, who has never pitched above double A--nor what his rotation would be.

Neither was he certain that Wilson, his No. 1 pick, would start the season with the Marlins, though club President Carl Barger said his potential is that of a superstar.

“He may not be a household name now, but he will be,” Barger said.

Household names? The biggest were supplied after Tuesday’s draft.