Diamondbacks vow not to disassemble

PHOENIX -- 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?"

Diamondbacks 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," Garagiola said. "It's not going to happen. This team is not going to be dismantled. Is that saying there will be no changes? No. We have made changes every year if it's something we thought would make the club better. But those will be baseball-driven decisions."

While many of the players are in their mid- to upper-30s, they showed this season that they have some baseball left in them. Johnson is 38 and had arguably his best season, culminating it with five postseason victories, three in the World Series.

Schilling turns 35 this month. Grace is 37.

The bigger questions will be how Arizona handles its talented reserves.

Erubiel Durazo wants to start at first base, but he would have to wait another season of playing behind Grace. Jay Bell, with a year left on his contract, has made it clear that he wants to end his career as a starter.

Trades are possible for the likes of Durazo or David Dellucci, but the Diamondbacks want to hold on to their younger players for when the old guys finally call it quits.

Miguel Batista will be back, and so will embattled 22-year-old Byung-Hyun Kim, who could become a setup man if closer Matt Mantei successfully comes back from "Tommy John" elbow surgery.

Todd Stottlemyre is trying to make a comeback, and young reliever Bret Prinz will bring some much needed power to the bullpen.

Bouncing back

Brenly believes Kim will recover from the psychological beating he took by giving up the two game-tying ninth-inning home runs in Yankee Stadium.

In the postgame bedlam Sunday night, Kim was shown on the giant screen at Bank One Ballpark wandering in the outfield with a big smile. The crowd gave him a huge cheer.

"It was like 49,000 people giving him a hug," Garagiola said. "It was just a wonderful moment."

The Diamondbacks probably couldn't hold a clearance sale anyway. Most of the highly paid players are nearing the end of their careers, and teams would be reluctant to pick up those contracts.

A World Series that went seven games undoubtedly will bring some much needed money to a franchise that lost at least $48 million over its first three seasons.

Ten of the top players agreed before the season began to defer large chunks of their salary to help the financially strapped franchise through the next two years.

An estimated $16 million in World Series revenue will certainly provide a boost, and season ticket sales that have declined each year since the 1998 expansion season probably will go up.

The team also did a huge business in merchandise sales over the past few weeks.

Arizona has just five free agents. The most prominent are starting right fielder Reggie Sanders and one of the World Series heroes, Danny Bautista. The others are pitchers Albie Lopez, Mike Morgan and Bobby Witt.

Sanders could be headed elsewhere after resurrecting his career with 33 homers and 88 RBI this season. He had signed a one-year, $1 million contract and will get far more than that now.

The Diamondbacks retain the rights to second baseman Craig Counsell, but probably will have to give him a big raise because he is eligible for arbitration.

The team was basking in its glory on Monday. Brenly and Garagiola made the rounds on radio talk shows. Johnson left for Los Angeles to appear on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." A parade was planned for downtown on Wednesday culminating with a rally at the ballpark.

Brenly, who shrugged off the criticism he got for his strategy moves throughout the Series, said he slept as soundly as he has in months.

"I really don't think it has completely sunk in yet," he said. "It was overwhelming. We talk all of the time in baseball and other sports about playing for the feeling instead of the money. That feeling last night, there is no way you can reproduce that chemically or any other way. That is the most unbelievable feeling you can ever experience. That's priceless."