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The first major trade of the offseason appears to have made everyone happy.

Needing someone to bat cleanup now that Vaughn is a free agent, the Reds obtained Bichette on Saturday for outfielder Jeffrey Hammonds, right-handed reliever Stan Belinda and $1.9 million to make up the salary difference.

"This was a very early deal in the offseason," Rockies general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "It's just that this turned out to be the best deal at this point in time for Dante and for the Rockies."

Bichette, who turns 36 on Nov. 18, was one of the original Rockies and a fan favorite in Colorado. As friends left the team in recent years and the Rockies lost games, Bichette found himself having less fun.

He also found that he missed being with his wife and two children during spring training and the part of the season when his 7-year-old son was in school. The Bichettes live in Orlando, Fla.

Early in the season, Bichette told the Rockies that if another team closer to home expressed an interest, he'd be willing to approve a trade.

"Check out my numbers," Bichette said. "I was hitting .259 the day my little boys and wife showed up during the season. When they left to go back home for him to go to school, I was hitting .304. I ended up hitting .298.

"I read into those numbers that I'm not quite the player I am with my family a thousand miles away. It plays on me. It was probably the deciding factor."

Cincinnati is only a two-hour flight from Orlando and the Reds hold spring training in Sarasota, Fla. They also satisfied Bichette's desire to play on a winner -- they barely missed out on the playoffs last season.

Knowing they probably wouldn't be able to afford to keep Vaughn, the Reds began talking to the Rockies about Bichette during the season. Vaughn led the club with 45 homers and 118 RBI, but filed for free agency last Thursday.

Vaughn and his agent told the Reds they wanted at least a four-year deal for $10 million to $12 million a year, way out of Cincinnati's price range, general manager Jim Bowden said.

When the Rockies finally agreed to include $1.9 million in the trade to make up for the difference in the salaries involved, the Reds figured they had gotten someone who could replace Vaughn.

Bichette hit 34 homers and drove in 133 runs last season, when he barely missed hitting .300 for the seventh consecutive season. He makes $6.5 million each of the next two years.

"This guy's a hitting machine," Bowden said. "He's a very special man with the bat. Whether at Coors Field or away, this man can produce."

Bichette is a career .345 hitter in Cincinnati with nine homers and 32 RBI. He'll get to find out just how much playing at Coors Field inflated his numbers.

"It might knock down some of the numbers," he said of leaving Denver. "I'm not really a home run guy. Twenty-five to 30 is my kind of year. Run production is where I think I can really help."

In the past three months, the Rockies have had general manager Bob Gebhard resign and manager Jim Leyland retire on their way to a 72-90 mark that was the second-worst in franchise history.

The trade starts a remake of the team.

"Our vision for this team is a more athletic, more versatile group of contributors," O'Dowd said. "This is our first step in that direction. It also gives us important payroll flexibility."

Hammonds, 28, hit .279 with 17 homers and 41 RBI in 123 games last season as a backup outfielder. He'll make $3.1 million next year, the last on his contract.

His best game came at Coors Field on May 19, when he hit three homers in the Reds' 24-12 win.

"I'm looking at it as another chance to help get a team going," Hammonds said. "It's a chance to do may part to get this team jump-started again."

Belinda, 33, was a setup man in 1998 before he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Biceps tendinitis set him back this season, when he went 3-1 with a 5.27 ERA. He'll make $1.5 million next year, also his last year under contract.