Dealin’ Dan O’Dowd Transforms Rockies

When the Colorado Rockies assembled at spring training in their inaugural season in 1993, pitcher Bryn Smith playfully issued name tags to expedite the getting-to-know-you process.

Name tags might not be a bad idea again this spring.

No team in baseball has undergone such an off-season overhaul as the Rockies, who have added 16 players to their major league roster since Oct. 30.

On opening day, Colorado’s lineup will include no more than three of the nine players who started on opening day in 1999. Popular, original Rockies Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla have been traded away.

Even the front office is new, with Dan O’Dowd having replaced the Rockies original general manager, Bob Gebhard, and Buddy Bell having taken over as manager from the retired Jim Leyland.

O’Dowd had a vision that involved tearing down and rebuilding a once-promising franchise which reached the playoffs faster than any other expansion team--in its third season--but then sank into mediocrity.

But even Dealin’ Dan, who joined the club on Sept. 20, didn’t expect this many changes.

“No,” O’Dowd said. “I had a game plan for what I wanted this club to look like, of course. But any time you take a job, you begin to find out things that you just didn’t know. I didn’t anticipate so many changes. It’s just the way the cards have fallen.

“We’re a last-place ballclub. If opportunities presented themselves that could improve the team in the short term or long term, we made them. Only time will tell if they’re the right moves.”

The net effect, he hopes, has been to create a leaner, meaner team, one presumably lacking the “country club” atmosphere that Leyland decried halfway through last year’s 72-90 season. The Rockies are younger and more athletic, and they should have better defense and more speed to patrol the spacious outfield of Coors Field.

O’Dowd and Bell both know it probably will take time for all the new players to jell as a unit, for a team chemistry to form.

Some fans have questioned O’Dowd’s feverish pace of rebuilding. In response, he said, “I don’t know what the downside is. We lost 90 games last year.

“Any time you trade away marquee players for guys who may not be as well known, it’s tough for the fans to swallow. But we definitely have a plan here. I think it’s going to take time when you make this many changes. But maybe change can create a better environment. I trust that Buddy and his staff can create that.”

The moves, which included six trades, have been dizzying.

In early October, O’Dowd declined an option on veteran catcher Kirt Manwaring and released infielder Chris Sexton and reliever Dave Wainhouse. On Oct. 30, he traded Bichette to Cincinnati for outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds and reliever Stan Belinda.

On Nov. 16, he traded pitchers Darryl Kile, Dave Veres and Luther Hackman to St. Louis for pitchers Jose Jimenez, Manny Aybar and Rick Croushore and second baseman Brent Butler. The next day, he traded reliever Curtis Leskanic to Milwaukee for reliever Mike Myers.

Later, he signed reliever Julian Tavarez, then traded pitcher Scott Randall to Minnesota for outfielder Chris Latham. He agreed to terms with utility infielder Terry Shumpert and signed free agent outfielder Tom Goodwin, then signed free agent catcher Brent Mayne.

And he wasn’t done yet.

On Dec. 13, he sent Castilla--the last of the original Rockies--to Tampa Bay as part of baseball’s first four-team trade since 1985. He obtained starting pitcher Rolando Arrojo and infielder Aaron Ledesma from the Devil Rays, and shipped pitcher Jamey Wright and catcher Henry Blanco to Milwaukee for All-Star third baseman Jeff Cirillo and another starting pitcher, Scott Karl.

Then, on Jan. 14, he traded pitchers Bobby Jones and Lariel Gonzalez to the New York Mets for still another starter, Masato Yoshii.

Their new collection of pitchers--seven candidates for the five-man rotation--have a history of throwing strikes and the mental toughness that O’Dowd demands.

“We’ve never had this kind of depth in starting pitching before,” O’Dowd said. “We’re going to have competition.”

While most of the bashers are gone, the Rockies have more disciplined hitters and ought to be better suited to playing on the road.

The Rockies’ payroll should be about the same as last season ($60 million), but the deals have saved the club about $10 million in additional costs and should position the team in bidding for a rich crop of free agents after the 2000 season.

The projected starting lineup includes only a handful of holdovers--right fielder and defending NL batting champion Larry Walker, first baseman Todd Helton, shortstop Neifi Perez and second baseman Mike Lansing, assuming he is recovered from back surgery.

“I’m very excited, really happy about the players we’ve brought in,” O’Dowd said. “How this will all fit together, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Walker has one suggestion to speed the process.

“Everybody’s going to have to stick, ‘Hello, My Name Is . . . ‘ on their uniform this spring,” Walker said.