Colorado Rockies: Looking at some of the trades from the Dan O’Dowd era

Before Jeff Bridich became the general manager for the Colorado Rockies, their general manager from 1999 through 2014 was Dan O’Dowd.

The Colorado Rockies have been in existence for 26 seasons and, for parts of 16 of those seasons, Dan O’Dowd was the team’s general manager, as he was the team’s general manager from September 1999 through October 2014. During his tenure, the Rockies made some good (and bad) moves both in free agency and on the trade front. Today, we will look at some of the most significant trades that O’Dowd made.

10/30/99–Traded Dante Bichette and cash to the Cincinnati Reds. Received Stan Belinda and Jeffrey Hammonds.

Dante Bichette was one of the Blake Street Bombers but he was on the downturn of his career as he was going to turn 36 years old in less than 3 weeks. O’Dowd, himself, had only been the job for a little over a month so this trade was his first.

In 1999, Bichette hit 34 homers and 133 RBI with the Rockies. He only played 125 games with the Reds in 2000 before they traded him to the Red Sox. Bichette retired after the 2001 season.

The Rockies got reliever Stan Belinda and outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds in return. Belinda, who’s best known for giving up a walk-off single to Francisco Cabrera to score Sid Bream to win Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS and propel the Braves to the World Series, had a 7.07 ERA in 46 games with the Rockies before being released in July.

Hammonds only spent one year in a Rockies uniform but it was his best season in his 13 year career. In 122 games, he had 20 home runs, 106 RBI, a .335/.395/.529 slash line, and a 111 OPS+. He was also an All-Star, the only time he was nominated in his career. He left the Rockies after 2000 via free agency and signed with the Milwaukee Brewers.

11/16/99–Traded Luther Hackman, Darryl Kile and Dave Veres to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received Manny Aybar, Brent Butler, Rich Croushore and Jose Jimenez.

A little more than 2 weeks later, O’Dowd made the second trade of his tenure with this trade. The main two pieces in the trade were Darryl Kile and Jose Jimenez.

For Kile, he struggled in his two season with the Rockies as his primary pitch, his big curveball, did not have as much break as elsewhere. In 1998 and 1999, he went 21-30 with an ERA of 5.84. So, O’Dowd wanted to unload his contract. In his first season with the Cardinals, Kile went 20-9 with a 3.91 ERA, which was good enough to net him an All-Star appearance and he also came in 5th in the NL Cy Young Award voting and 18th in the NL MVP voting. He was pretty good in 2001 as well, but not as good.

In 2002, though, his life was cut short by a heart attack that he had in a Chicago hotel at the age of 33.

Jimenez became the Rockies closer after being a starter for the Cardinals. In four seasons with the Rockies, he had 102 saves and an ERA of 4.13 (126 ERA+). If you look at his first three seasons in a Rockies uniform, he had a 3.57 ERA (149 ERA+) and 82 saves, including 41 in 2002.

12/13/99–Traded Vinny Castilla to the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. Received Rolando Arrojo and Aaron Ledesma.

Less than a month after the Kile trade, O’Dowd wanted to unload another veteran Rockie with a big contract. Third baseman Vinny Castilla was traded for Rolando Arrojo and Aaron Ledesma.

Castilla was terrible in a Devil Rays uniform as he only played in parts of two seasons with them. In 109 games, he hit .219/.253/.316 and an OPS+ of 46.

Arrojo didn’t even finish the 2000 season with the Rockies as he was traded to Boston after 19 starts and an ERA of 6.09. Ledesma played 32 games with the Rockies in 2000 and never played in the majors again.

12/13/99–As part of a 3-team trade, traded Justin Miller to the Oakland Athletics and Henry Blanco and Jamey Wright to the Milwaukee Brewers. Received Jeff Cirillo and Scott Karl from the Milwaukee Brewers. In addition, the Oakland Athletics sent Jimmy Haynes to the Milwaukee Brewers; and the Milwaukee Brewers sent cash to the Oakland Athletics.

Miller didn’t make it to the majors with Oakland. He would make it to the majors after he was traded to Blue Jays. He pitched the most for the Florida Marlins from 2006-2008. He also had cups of coffee with the Giants and Dodgers through 2010. He passed away in his home in Florida at the age of 35 in Florida in 2013.

Blanco played 88 games with the Rockies as their backup catcher in 1999. He played in Milwaukee for two years before bouncing around to eight more teams through 2013.

Wright struggled in three years with the Brewers as a starter (92 ERA+) before bouncing around to eight more teams. He saw his best success as a reliever with the Mariners, Dodgers, and Rays from 2011 through 2013 (115 ERA+).

Cirillo was the player who was best from the deal. He only spent two seasons with the Rockies but he was an All Star in 2000, with 11 home runs and 115 runs batted in (not a typo with the differential of homers and RBI) with 53 doubles and a slashline of .326/.392/.477. In 2001, he had 17 home runs and 83 RBI and a slashline of .313/.364/.473.

After the 2001 season, he was part of a trade that we’ll discuss a little later.

He played with five more teams after he left the Rockies (including the Brewers in a second stint) but his power faded drastically and quickly and he primarily became a pinch hitter and designated hitter. He wrapped up his career after finishing the 2007 season with the Arizona Diamondbacks.

7/25/01–Traded Jermaine Dye to the Oakland Athletics. Received Todd Belitz, Mario Encarnacion and Jose Ortiz.

Jermaine Dye averaged 30 home runs and 118 RBI between 1999 and 2000. In 2001, he ended up hitting 26 HR and 106 RBI. He averaged 27 HR and 81 RBI for the rest of his career, that lasted through the 2009 season.

Have you heard of Todd Belitz? Have you heard of Mario Encarnacion? Have you heard of Jose Ortiz? That’s what I thought. They played a combined 146 games in a Rockies uniform and a combined 172 games in the majors.

Again, you can make a fair assessment on whether that trade was good.

12/16/01–Traded Jeff Cirillo to the Seattle Mariners. Received Brian Fuentes, Jose Paniagua and Denny Stark.

Back to Cirillo. Dan O’Dowd had a steal on this trade. Cirillo was traded to Seattle and was never the same. Paniagua and Stark were busts but the guy who did pan out was Brian Fuentes.

Fuentes was a key cog in the Rockies bullpen from 2002 through 2008. He was pivotal for the team in 2007, when they made their first trip to the Fall Classic. He was an All-Star from 2005 through 2007 for the Rockies (and another time for the Angels in 2009).

11/16/02–Traded Mike Hampton, Juan Pierre and cash to the Florida Marlins. Received Vic Darensbourg, Charles Johnson, Pablo Ozuna and Preston Wilson.

O’Dowd signed starter Mike Hampton to a long-term contract that ended up being a total disaster. So, after two seasons in Denver, O’Dowd traded Hampton to dump his contract. He was traded by the Marlins two days later to the Braves for two fringe prospects. Hampton would have been helpful for the Marlins in 2003 but they didn’t need him as they won the World Series against the New York Yankees in six games without him

Somebody that helped out that team a lot, though, was Juan Pierre. He was good in two full seasons with the Rockies so he was already proven when he was traded. He played in five straight seasons (810 games) before having a game off (Opening Day 2008) after leaving the Rockies. He had between 45 and 65 stolen bases in each of those five seasons, ranked in MVP voting twice, averaged a .299 batting average, and had 200 or more hits in three of the five seasons (he had 196 in 2007).

Darensbourg had a brief Rockies career as he pitched in three games with the team before being traded to Montreal.

Johnson was the Rockies starting catcher for the 2003 and 2004 seasons but he was on the back nine of his career. He won 4 Gold Glove Awards but none since 1998. He was an All-Star in 2001 but between 2002 and 2005 (the final year of his MLB career), he had an OPS+ of 86 compared to a 101 OPS+ from 1995 through 2001.

Ozuna only played 17 games with the Rockies in the majors before he was released after the 2003 season.

Wilson had a great 2003 season for the Rockies as he a .282/.343/.537 slash line with 36 home runs and a league-leading 141 RBI. He was an All-Star and came in 16th in MVP voting.

In 2004, though, he was injured and in the middle of the ’05 season, he was traded to Washington.

12/3/03–Traded Juan Uribe to the Chicago White Sox. Received Aaron Miles.

Juan Uribe was injured for parts of 2003 after playing 155 games for the team in 2002. However, his bat did not develop (71 OPS+) so he was traded for Aaron Miles. Uribe was one of rare breed that did better outside of Coors. In 2004, he had an OPS+ of 111 for the White Sox with 23 HR and 74 RBI. It dipped again until he joined the Giants in 2009. However, in 2005, he won the World Series with the White Sox. In the postseason in ’05, he went 12-for-42 (.286 BA) with one homer and six RBI.

His numbers improved again when he went to an even worse stadium to hit in AT&T Park in San Francisco as, in two years there, he had an OPS+ of 107. In 2010, he won the World Series for second time. In ’10, he had 24 HR and 85 RBI with 2 more homers and 9 more RBI in the postseason.

He played with four more teams through the 2016 season after leaving the Giants after the 2010 season.

Miles hit .288 in two seasons with the Rockies but his bat was worse than Uribe’s (69 OPS+ while with the Rockies). He was traded to St. Louis before the 2006 season and they also won the World Series. Miles hit .364 for the Cardinals that postseason.

8/6/04–Traded Larry Walker to the St. Louis Cardinals. Received players to be named later and Jason Burch (minors). The St. Louis Cardinals sent Luis Martinez (August 11, 2004) and Chris Narveson (August 11, 2004) to the Colorado Rockies to complete the trade.

With the exception of Todd Helton, Larry Walker is probably the most beloved Rockie in their franchise history. However, injuries started to hit him in 2004 as when he was traded in August to the eventual National League Champion Cardinals, he had only played in 38 games. He finished out the season in St. Louis and played there in 2005 and was still successful (134 OPS+ in the 144 games he played in St. Louis) but the injury bug bit him again and he never played after the 2005 season.

Chris Narveson was the only player who saw major league time after the deal. However, it was not in a Rockies uniform as before Opening Day in 2005, he was traded to Boston. He was claimed off waivers by the Cardinals by August of 2005. He had a cup of coffee with the Cardinals in 2006 but he mainly saw time with the Milwaukee Brewers as a starter as he made 56 starts for them between 2010 and 2011.

6/9/06–Traded Eli Marrero to the New York Mets. Received Kazuo Matsui and cash.

Eli Marrero signed to play with the Rockies on a deal for $350,000 (the MLB minimum at the time), which was a 89 percent pay cut for him. He played with the Rockies for 30 games in 2006 before being traded to the Mets for second baseman Kaz Matsui.

Matsui played well in the 32 games he played with the team in ’06 (120 OPS+) but in 2007, he wasn’t great offensively (87 OPS+) in 104 games but he was very good defensively (14 DRS) and a good WAR (3.4). He also did very well in the postseason (.304 BA, 1 HR, 8 RBI).

7/31/06–Traded Scott Dohmann and Ryan Shealy to the Kansas City Royals. Received Jeremy Affeldt and Denny Bautista.

Dohmann had a 5.22 ERA with the Rockies in parts of three seasons. Shealy played in 36 games and did well with the Rockies. However, neither one of them did well with the Royals as both were gone by the end of the ’08 season. Bautista was traded to Detroit after appearing in 13 games with the Rockies with an ERA north of 9.00.

Affeldt, however, was the biggest name in the deal and the most successful after the deal. He only pitched with the Rockies through the 2007 season but he helped the team get to the playoffs and the World Series (3.51 ERA in 75 games in 2007 and a 1.69 ERA in the postseason in 2007). He later won the World Series with the Giants in 2010, 2012, and 2014.

12/12/06–Traded Miguel Asencio and Jason Jennings to the Houston Astros. Received Taylor Buchholz, Jason Hirsh and Willy Taveras.

In 2006, the Rockies Opening Day starter was Jason Jennings. He had struggled heading into the 2007 season (career 5.02 ERA) but he was much better in 2006 (3.78 ERA in 212 innings). So, Dan O’Dowd capitalized on his 2006 success by trading him and Miguel Asencio to the Houston Astros for three prospects.

Jennings was never the same as he only spent one season in Houston and he went 2-9 with a 6.45 ERA. In the three years left of his career after he left the Rockies, he went 4-18 with a 6.01 ERA and Asencio never made it back to the big leagues after his three appearances in a Rockies uniform.

Buchholz pitched well (141 ERA+) for the Rockies in 104 games between 2007 and 2008, mainly in relief, but he was hit by the injury bug and after the ’08 season, he only made 32 more appearances (7 with the Rockies).

Hirsh was decent for the Rockies in 2007 (100 ERA+ in 19 starts) but he was bit the injury bug more than a few times as he made four appearances in 2008 for the Rockies to wrap up his career in the majors.

Taveras only spent the 2007 and 2008 seasons with the Rockies and he struggled a lot offensively (70 OPS+). However, in 2008, he led the NL in stolen bases with 68.

11/1/08–Traded Matt Holliday to the Oakland Athletics. Received Carlos Gonzalez, Greg Smith and Huston Street.

Now, this one is a doozy and a great trade for O’Dowd–perhaps the best in his tenure with the Rockies.

Obviously, Matt Holliday was one of, if not, the best Rockies players at the time. He averaged 32 home runs and 113 RBI between 2006 and 2008 and he was an All-Star in all three seasons as well as winning Silver Slugger Awards in all three seasons and getting MVP votes in all three seasons (including a second place finish to Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins by a point total of 353-336).

Holliday only spent half of a season with Oakland before being traded again, this time to St. Louis for Clayton Mortensen, Brett Wallace, and Shane Petersen (all three busts). The Rockies got a proven closer in Street and their franchise player to succeed Todd Helton in Carlos Gonzalez.

Street had 84 saves with the Rockies in three seasons and helped them reach the postseason again in 2009.

Gonzalez only played 89 games with the Rockies in 2009 but had a breakout year in 2010 when he had 34 HR, 117 RBI, a .336/.376/.598 slash line (the .336 average led the NL), and a league leading 197 hits. He came in third in the NL MVP voting, won a Gold Glove Award, and a Silver Slugger Award.

8/30/11–Traded Ubaldo Jimenez to the Cleveland Indians. Received a player to be named later, Joe Gardner (minors), Matt McBride and Alex White. The Cleveland Indians sent Drew Pomeranz (August 16, 2011) to the Colorado Rockies to complete the trade.

This is a trade that did not go well for either team. Jimenez was great for the Rockies (3.66 ERA, 128 ERA+, a no-hitter, etc.). The Indians were trying to secure some pitching for the future. And that did not happen with Jimenez. 5.10 ERA in 11 starts to finish the 2011 season, 9-17 record and a 5.40 ERA in 2012, and a good season in the final year of his contract (13-9, 3.30 ERA in 32 starts).

Gardner never made it to the majors. McBride played 72 games with the Rockies between three seasons before becoming a free agent. White went 4-13 in 30 games (27 starts) for the Rockies with an ERA of 6.30 and he has not seen the majors since.

Pomeranz struggled in parts of three seasons with the Rockies (5.20 ERA in 34 games, 30 starts, 89 ERA+). After the 2013 season, he was traded to Oakland, where he became a lot better. He has pitched for the Padres and, now, the Red Sox since then. Since leaving Denver, he has an ERA of 3.24, an ERA+ of 130, and even made the All-Star team in 2016.

O’Dowd used to work for the Indians (among many other connections with the Rockies and Indians that we discuss in this article from February) so it was not surprising to the see the teams come together on a deal but, as we mentioned, it really didn’t work out for either team.

11/30/11–Traded Chris Iannetta to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Received Tyler Chatwood.

Even though the Rockies and Angels were a part of this trade, the Indians come into the equation again. The Angels general manager at the time was Jerry Dipoto, who wrapped up his pitching career with the Rockies in 2000 (and O’Dowd was already the Rockies GM). Also, DiPoto pitched in the Indians system from 1989 through 1994, when O’Dowd was with the organization. Once DiPoto retired from pitching, he became a special assistant to O’Dowd in the Rockies front office and later, he returned to the Rockies as head of scouting in 2005. So, the two had known each other for a long time prior to the deal and knew each other well.

Iannetta had done fairly well behind the plate for the Rockies but DiPoto liked what he saw out of Iannetta. He traded Tyler Chatwood to the Rockies for Iannetta.

Iannetta did well with the Angels as he averaged a 105 OPS+ in his four seasons there.

Chatwood often struggled with injuries and control issues but, after a rocky 2012 season, he had an ERA of an even 4.00 (119 ERA+) so, overall, he was pretty good in a Rockies uniform before leaving for the Cubs this season.

Also, on a tangent, Jerry DiPoto loves himself some Chris Iannetta. He acquired him in this trade and one of his first moves as Mariners GM in late 2015 was to sign him as a free agent. Iannetta was in first full season in pro ball when DiPoto returned to Colorado as head of scouting.

12/7/11–Traded Huston Street and cash to the San Diego Padres. Received a player to be named later. The San Diego Padres sent Nick Schmidt (minors) (December 9, 2011) to the Colorado Rockies to complete the trade.

Huston Street was the Rockies closer. He became the Padres closer and in 2 1/2 seasons there, he had 80 saves, and ERA of 2.03, and an ERA+ of 172. The Rockies got Nick Schmidt for him. That seems a little low on the package and that’s because it was. Schmidt never made it to the majors as he left professional baseball after the 2014 season.

Not the best trade for O’Dowd, not to mention that they sent cash with Street…to a division rival.

12/8/11–Traded Casey Weathers (minors) and Ian Stewart to the Chicago Cubs. Received Tyler Colvin and DJ LeMahieu.

On the flip side, this is one of the better trades that O’Dowd. Weathers never made it to the majors. Stewart played 55 games with the Cubs and hit .201.

Colvin was always injured but DJ LeMahieu is one of the best players currently on the Rockies. Two nominations to the All-Star game, two-time Gold Glove winner, and batting title in 2016 so it’s easy to see who won this trade.

More from Colorado Rockies History

• Colorado Rockies: What if Todd Helton had played football instead?
• The plane crash that changed this Colorado Rockies broadcaster’s life
• The Colorado Rockies have their own “Bobby Bonilla Day” deferred salaries
• Colorado Rockies: Is Ezequiel Tovar on a Troy Tulowitzki-like path to the majors?
• Colorado Rockies: Is the 2022 NL West the best division ever?

12/3/13–Traded Dexter Fowler and player to be named to the Houston Astros. Received Brandon Barnes and Jordan Lyles.

This was one that wasn’t great for the Rockies. Barnes played in 286 games with the Rockies between 2014 and 2016 and struggled offensively (72 OPS+) but did well defensively (6 DRS combined between the three seasons).

I’m pretty sure you know how Lyles did in Colorado so I won’t bring his career in Denver but if you want to look at it, his Baseball Reference page is above.

Fowler only played one season in Houston but he did well there as he had an OPS+ of 120 but struggled defensively (-20 DRS). They traded him to the Cubs after the 2014 season.

Final Thoughts

Especially with a career as long as O’Dowd’s was in Denver, he definitely won some and definitely lost some. These are just some of the trades that were bigger ones. There are a lot more as well as a lot of signings, waiver claims, etc.

Next: How Kyle Freeland has changed on the mound

In fact, the final move that O’Dowd made as Rockies GM was a waiver claim for a little known pitcher that had struggled (79 ERA+) in parts of three seasons as a starter just 11 days before he resigned from his post…and that pitcher happened to be Chris Rusin.

[All stats are from Baseball Reference]