Champions Won’t Use Marlins’ Path

The World Series champion Arizona Diamondbacks were still spraying champagne in the clubhouse when Curt Schilling pronounced this team no one-year wonder.

“I believe this is not our last,” he said. “We have the makeup and the chemistry and the talent and personnel to do it again, and maybe it will go through New York again. Who knows?”

Diamondback owner Jerry Colangelo repeatedly has rejected the notion that these are the Florida Marlins West, a team put together with high-priced free agents that will be sold to the highest bidder now that a title has been won.

Colangelo said the team was in the third year of a four-year plan.

The contracts of free agents Matt Williams, Mark Grace and Jay Bell expire after next season. Randy Johnson is signed through 2003, Schilling through 2004.

Colangelo was on his way to the baseball meetings in Chicago on Monday, but General Manager Joe Garagiola Jr. repeated the promise: “I can’t be any more emphatic than Jerry has been. It’s not going to happen. This team is not going to be dismantled.”

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Police officers used tear gas to break up a crowd of about 500 people who vandalized street signs and set small fires in the streets after the World Series.

The disturbance Sunday night in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, several miles east of Bank One Ballpark, lasted about 90 minutes and was considered minor, Tempe police Sgt. Randy Fougner said, although two people were injured.

Pitcher Bob Wickman, who had 32 saves in 35 chances for the Cleveland Indians, signed a $15.9-million, three-year contract.

Wickman’s signing is expected to end left-handed reliever John Rocker’s stormy stay with the club.

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David Wells’ short and disappointing stint with the Chicago White Sox ended when the team declined to exercise a $10-million option for next season.... The Detroit Tigers hired Dave Dombrowski as president and chief executive officer.... The Houston Astros hired former major league manager Gene Lamont to be their third-base coach.