Rockies Hire New GM

Vowing to put a championship team on the field every season, Dan O'Dowd was introduced as general manager of the Colorado Rockies on Monday, concluding a month-long search.

The 41-year-old O'Dowd is considered one of the brightest young executives in the game.

He was assistant general manager of the Cleveland Indians from 1993-98 but was out of baseball this season as he pursued a goal of becoming a major league general manager.

Previously, O'Dowd was the Indians' director of player development from 1988-92, overseeing a farm system that included the Colorado Springs Sky Sox, now the Rockies' Triple-A affiliate.

"Dan had a big role in building a consistent winner in Cleveland," Rockies chairman Jerry McMorris said. "Now, we want to bring that winning attitude to Colorado. We feel Dan was clearly the best candidate to move this organization to the levels we want to achieve."

O'Dowd, who signed a five-year contract, replaces Bob Gebhard, the Rockies' original general manager who resigned under pressure on Aug. 20.

"This is a very exciting situation to come into," O'Dowd said at a news conference. "The stability of this organization is a plus in my mind. The tremendous fan support, this facility (Coors Field) and a solid foundation have already been laid here."

"Our goal, very simply, is to put a championship-contending club on the field each and every year. I come from a winning background, and I think I know what it takes to win. We will raise the level of expectations internally in this organization. We will be hard-working, we will be smart and we will be creative."

"I was in Colorado Springs for five years, and so I kind of got a feel for what altitude ball is all about. I feel pretty good about my background coming in here."

During O'Dowd's tenure in Cleveland, the Indians won four straight AL Central titles (1995-98) and advanced to the World Series in 1995 and 1997.

As the Indians' director of player development, he cultivated such future All-Stars as Charles Nagy, Manny Ramirez, Jeff Shaw and Jim Thome. During that period, the Sky Sox advanced to the Pacific Coast League playoffs four straight seasons (1989-92) and won the league championship in 1992.

Before joining the Indians, O'Dowd worked five years for the Baltimore Orioles.

The underachieving Rockies stood at 67-83 and in last place in the NL West. With just two weeks left in the season and with manager Jim Leyland having announced his intention to resign after te season, O'Dowd faces some immediate challenges.

He denied that Leyland's resignation signals a red flag, saying, "It really was not a concern of mine. I think Jim made a decision based on his own set of parameters, whatever they were. I think this (manager) is a jewel of a job, and I think this is a jewel of a ballclub."

O'Dowd planned to report for work in Denver early next week.

"In the next few days I'll make decisions about staff," he said. "I think there are good people here. Some of them may need to be shifted to other areas to maximize their skills. I also have people I've worked with in the past that I may look to bring in here."

The only other candidates to interview for the job were Gary Hughes, the Rockies' vice president of player personnel, and Omar Minaya, assistant general manager of the New York Mets.

©1999 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed