Major Overhaul Continues for the Rockies

A four-team, nine-player trade at the winter baseball meetings in Anaheim on Monday had an impact on the National League West as the Colorado Rockies continued a major overhaul under new General Manager Dan O’Dowd, who refused to say he was the division’s new law man--as new Dodger General Manager Kevin Malone had a year ago.

“We’ve come a long way, but we’ve still got a long ways to go,” O’Dowd said. “That [Arizona] Diamondbacks team is a pretty good team. Just matching up on paper, we’ve still got a ways to go.

“There’s not a new sheriff in town. Not even a deputy. We’re just the little old Rockies, chugging up the hill.”

The Rockies will be chugging in a different fashion, having traded some of their high altitude power for a faster, more versatile and higher-batting average attack that O’Dowd hopes will be as productive on the road as at Coors Field.

In Monday’s complex transaction, the Rockies acquired third baseman Jeff Cirillo and pitcher Scott Karl from Milwaukee, and pitcher Rolando Arrojo and infielder Aaron Ledesma from Tampa Bay.

They traded third baseman Vinny Castilla to Tampa Bay, catcher Henry Blanco and pitcher Jamey Wright to Milwaukee, and pitcher Justin Miller to Oakland. The Athletics then sent pitcher Jimmy Haynes to Milwaukee to wrap up a trade believed to be the largest since a four-team, six-player swap in 1985.

This one also had a significant impact on the Devil Rays, who added Castilla to an attack that includes Jose Canseco and Fred McGriff, then later signed free agent outfielder Greg Vaughn to a four-year, $34-million contract.

The Devil Rays may have one of the weakest rotations east of Edison Field, but with Vaughn, Castilla, McGriff and Canseco, they may take a sledge hammer to the bizarre confines of Tropicana Field while setting an American League record for the most designated hitters in one lineup.

“We felt that we needed to get better offensively, and I would now compare our three-through-six hitters to any in baseball,” General Manager Chuck LaMar said.

The Rockies under O’Dowd, meanwhile, have added 15 new players to their 40-man winter roster--as well as a new manager in Buddy Bell--and dispatched 13--the most noteworthy, besides Castilla, Wright and Blanco, being Dante Bichette, Darryl Kile, Dave Veres and Curtis Leskanic.

They now have an outfield of Jeffrey Hammonds, Tom Goodwin and Larry Walker, an infield of Todd Helton, Mike Lansing, Neifi Perez and Cirillo, a rearmed rotation of Pedro Astacio, Arrojo, Brian Bohanon, Karl and Jose Jimenez--with Manny Aybar a potential sixth starter--and a new closer in Jerry DiPoto, who replaces Veras, traded with Kile to St. Louis in the Aybar-Jimenez acquisition.

Baseball Notes

Chad Curtis, who hit two home runs in Game 3 of the New York Yankees’ World Series sweep over the Atlanta Braves, was traded to the Texas Rangers for minor league pitchers Brandon Knight and Sam Marsonek. . . . The Pittsburgh Pirates traded outfielder Brant Brown to the Florida Marlins for outfielder Bruce Aven. . . . Sandy Alderson, baseball’s executive vice president of operations, reiterated that he has all the information pertaining to Adrian Beltre’s free-agency request and will announce a decision late this week..