Colletti is more than satisfied

Ned Colletti’s eyes were bleary, yet his vision was clear.

It was 1 a.m. Thursday and the Dodgers general manager shuffled into the team’s winter meetings hotel suite, shirttail out, poured a celebratory light beer into a paper cup and plopped into a chair.

“We got what we wanted without giving up the kids,” he said.

Colletti had spent days warding off opposing teams bent on pillaging his coveted collection of top prospects and proven young players.

“We didn’t give up the kids,” he repeated, taking a short sip.

The Dodgers drank deeply from the free-agent pool before and during the winter meetings, locking up right-handed starting pitcher Jason Schmidt ($47 million, three years), left-hander Randy Wolf ($8 million, one), center fielder Juan Pierre ($44 million, five), left fielder Luis Gonzalez ($7.35 million, one) and backup catcher Mike Lieberthal ($1.25 million, one).

But standout young pitchers Chad Billingsley, Jonathan Broxton and Scott Elbert remain on the roster. So do young hitters Matt Kemp, James Loney, Andre Ethier and Andy LaRoche.

Second-year catcher Russell Martin? Teams have learned not to bother asking about him.

Payroll for 2007 would be about $111 million -- which includes $12 million to departed pitcher Odalis Perez and injured third baseman Bill Mueller -- if the season began today. The Dodgers are leaving open the possibility of signing another free agent -- perhaps a proven middle reliever -- but otherwise will spend the next two months exploring trades.

Colletti, impatient by nature, said he would force himself to slow the pace and allow one major deal to develop to bring a bona fide slugger to the Dodgers for one or more of his surplus starting pitchers and, yes, maybe even one of the “kids.”

“We’ll get [Schmidt and Gonzalez] finished, then we can let the dust settle and see where we are,” he said. “There are few components of a team more valuable than pitching and good young players. We didn’t sacrifice one for the other.”

Signing Gonzalez to play left field for one season while Kemp develops in triple-A does not lessen Colletti’s desire to trade for a proven power hitter. If anything, the addition of Gonzalez -- who took the one-year deal over the Dodgers’ two-year, $9-million offer -- gives Colletti leverage because trading partners no longer can assume that the Dodgers are desperate for an outfielder.

Colletti will explore Vernon Wells of Toronto and probably dangle pitcher Brad Penny and a prospect. He’ll revisit Manny Ramirez to see whether demands by Boston might become more realistic. He’ll inquire about Andruw Jones of Atlanta.

If a mega-deal doesn’t develop, the Dodgers will be content with their current roster, Manager Grady Little said, suggesting they can win with a deep pitching staff and a batting order that is solid from top to bottom and can generate runs with aggressive baserunning.

“There are more ways to score than with home runs,” Little said. “We proved that last year.”

Colletti and Little also will enjoy watching their young players continue to improve.

“A year ago, everybody thought they had potential,” Colletti said. “Now, most of them have been on the big stage in big games and performed well. It adds value and it’s rewarding for us to see.”

steve.henson@latimes.com