BASEBALL / DAILY REPORT : NL PLAYOFFS : Rockies Push the Envelope of Success

Remarkable and record attendance allowed the ownership of the Colorado Rockies to accelerate the team’s development by investing in free agents such as Larry Walker and Bill Swift and trading for Bret Saberhagen’s multiyear contract.

Now, after finishing only one game behind the Dodgers in the National League West and reaching the playoffs five years earlier than any expansion team, the third-year Rockies, according to owner Jerry McMorris, have also “accelerated the expectations of our fans, players and management, and we expect to keep getting better.”

McMorris said there are two priorities.

--Re-sign shortstop Walt Weiss and left fielder Dante Bichette, two of Colorado’s five potential free agents. The others: center fielder Mike Kingery and relief pitchers Bruce Ruffin and Darren Holmes.

--Sort out the pitching.

“In talking about our pitching you always come back to Saberhagen and Swift [who are both scheduled for shoulder surgery],” McMorris said. “We’re optimistic that both will be 100% next year, which potentially makes us significantly better.”

The Rockies had an $8-million payroll in 1993, their first year. It was $32 million this year. The club has already committed $24.4 million to seven players next year. Bichette, 32 in November, has already rejected a two-year, $8-million offer and wants three or four years.

The new buzz is that the Rockies will make a strong pursuit of Craig Biggio, providing he fails to re-sign with the Houston Astros.

“We’ll continue to be fiscally responsible, but we want to continue to improve,” McMorris said. “What we’ve accomplished has come through the expansion draft and free agency. We didn’t have a full fledged farm system until last year, but the developmental process is obviously an option we hope to start drawing on, and already have, in fact.”