ANAHEIM, Calif. -- When the Colorado Rockies and Milwaukee Brewers began talking about a trade a month ago, it looked pretty easy to pull off.
That was before the Tampa Bay Devil Rays got involved. And the Oakland Athletics. And a few other clubs, too.On Monday, the whole thing turned into what baseball believed was the first four-team trade since 1985. Third baseman Jeff Cirillo and pitchers Rolando Arrojo and Scott Karl went to Colorado and third baseman Vinny Castilla moved to Tampa Bay.
A total of nine players changed places by the time the Rockies, Brewers, Devil Rays and Athletics were finished.
"There almost was another team involved, if I could have gotten another type of player," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said.
The Detroit Tigers were asked Sunday night to take part in the deal, but it became too difficult to put the whole thing together. Earlier, Montreal and San Diego participated in the discussion.
Infielder Aaron Ledesma also ended up in Colorado. Milwaukee got pitchers Jamey Wright and Jimmy Haynes and catcher Henry Blanco, while Oakland got young pitcher Justin Miller.
"It started out being a relatively simple process involving the Rockies and the Brewers," Milwaukee general manager Dean Taylor said. "But it became complicated because the Brewers were looking for two pitchers. We felt strongly about that."
"The complication was Dan had to go out and acquire a second pitcher for us. We gave him five names and he went to work on that."
On Jan. 18, 1985, there was a four-player trade between the New York Mets, Texas, Milwaukee and Kansas City. Jim Sundberg and Danny Darwin were the featured players.
This trade marked the second nine-player deal in two months. Texas sent slugger Juan Gonzalez to Detroit in a big swap earlier in the offseason.
Castilla, 32, has been one of baseball's most consistent home run hitters in the last five years, averaging 38 a season. He hit 33 this year with 102 RBIs while batting .275.
Later, free agent Greg Vaughn signed with Tampa Bay.
Arrojo, meanwhile, will have to adjust to a new league and, more important, the high altitude of Denver. Pitchers have not fared well at Coors, and the 31-year-old Arrojo will be tested.
Arrojo was 7-12 with a 5.18 ERA in 24 starts in his second major league season. Before this deal, the Devil Rays talked about sending the Cuban defector to Anaheim.
"I thought the second half he adjusted a little better," Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild said. "Right now, he's just starting to get adjusted to the lifestyle."
The Rockies also got Cirillo and Karl from Milwaukee and Ledesma from Tampa Bay.
Cirillo hit .326 with 15 home runs and 88 RBIs, while Karl was 11-11 with a 4.78 ERA for the Brewers. Ledesma hit .265 with 30 RBIs in 93 games.
The Brewers acquired Wright and Blanco from Colorado and got Haynes from Oakland.
Wright was 4-3 with a 4.87 ERA in 16 starts and Blanco batted .232 with six homers and 28 RBIs in a part-time role. Haynes was 7-12 with a 6.34 ERA for Oakland.
The Athletics wound up with Miller, who was 1-2 with a 4.14 ERA in Class A for Colorado.