The two trades were just 11months apart, a dizzying sequence that left itinerant outfield prospect Carlos Gonzalez hopeful the moving has ceased and he has found a home with the Rockies.

They acquired him in November from Oakland with pitchers Huston Street and Greg Smith in the deal that sent outfielder Matt Holliday to the Athletics. In his lone season in the Oakland organization, Gonzalez, 23, reached the big leagues last year for the first time and found the going rough.

The Rockies are eager to see Gonzalez in spring training. He's a right fielder by trade but is comfortable in center field after playing that position — and playing it well — the past two years.

He'll play all three outfield positions in spring training, which begins Feb. 15 in Tucson with the first workout for pitchers and catchers.

Brian McArn, Gonzalez's hitting coach at Triple-A Sacramento (Calif.) last year, said, "He's got a nice fluid swing."

It will have to produce steady contact — something that eluded Gonzalez with Oakland but improved in winter ball — for him to have any chance to open the regular season with the Rockies.

"From a talent standpoint, he's got a lot of ability," general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "We've only downplayed it in the sense that we just don't know what we have because we know that talent is one thing but the ability to apply that talent is totally something different."

Gonzalez was 17 when he began his career in the Arizona organization, where he spent his first five professional seasons. He rose steadily, reaching Triple-A for the final week of the 2007 season. In December 2007, the Diamondbacks traded Gonzalez, Smith and four other players to Oakland for pitcher Dan Haren and a minor leaguer.

"When you get traded for Matt Holliday and Dan Haren — they're All-Stars," Gonzalez said. "And when you get traded for those guys, that motivates me because that means people believe in myself, people believe in my tools and people have a lot of expectations.

"I have expectations, too. I want to be like those guys. I want to be involved in All-Star Games. I want to be a great player. I want to do something great for this game. This is the game I love, and, of course, I want to be like those guys."

Considering Gonzalez has nearly as many strikeouts (81) as games played (85) in the majors, this might sound like a bold statement, a reach by a young player with his head in the clouds.

Gonzalez, a native and resident of Maracaibo, Venezuela, spent a portion of last season at Sacramento, where he worked with McArn. On first impression, McArn said, Gonzalez can come across as cocky without being offensive.

"He wants to be the best player he can be," McArn said. "He wants to be one of the All-Stars, and he'll tell you that, but it doesn't come off in a way that, 'I'm better than anybody else.' Arrogance is a word you're used to using in a negative way, but his is not. It's a quiet confidence that he has in himself, and he doesn't show any disrespect toward other people and the game."

After the 2007 season, which Gonzalez spent mostly at Double-A Mobile (Ala.) before a late-season promotion to Triple-A Tucson, Baseball America ranked Gonzalez the top prospect in the Diamondbacks organization.

In the Baseball America 2008 Prospect Handbook, praise for Gonzalez's tools was tempered with the following critique: "Scouts and managers often have been turned off by Gonzalez's approach to the game, accusing him of giving away at-bats or not hustling at times. The Diamondbacks have addressed this concern in the past and say it's a case of immaturity and lack of focus and not bad makeup. To the contrary, they say he's a bright, outgoing person who wants to be a star."

McArn, aware of this knock on Gonzalez, said he never saw a lack of hustle or other negatives that would raise character issues.

"He was always willing to work and help others," McArn said. "He doesn't belittle other players or coaches or other teams or the game. He plays it the right way. He runs out balls. As far as his makeup, he was a pleasure to coach and a great young man."

Gonzalez, who bats and throws left-handed, began last season with Sacramento and made his major league debut with the Athletics on May 30. His first stay in the big leagues lasted until Aug. 27, the end of a horrendous month in which Gonzalez went 16-for-91 (.194) with 32 strikeouts and his average, which was .271 entering August, plummeted 31 points.

Gonzalez went back to Sacramento, helped the River Cats win the Pacific Coast League championship and returned to the Athletics for eight more games starting Sept. 18. His final totals with the Athletics included a .242 average, four homers and 26 RBI in 302 at-bats, along with those 81 strikeouts.

When Gonzalez was demoted to Sacramento in late August, McArn said he watched video of Gonzalez's swings with Oakland and with Sacramento at the start of the season and spotted a difference.

"He always has a little upper- half rotation, but he was just doing it too much," McArn said. "It was causing him to be late, which caused him to pull off the ball. For whatever reason, when you struggle, your effort level goes up. You try a little bit harder."

After the season, Gonzalez returned to Venezuela for winter ball, batting third for Zulia in his home city of Maracaibo. Gonzalez hit .292, with two homers and 14 RBI in 25 regular-season games and recorded 11 walks and 21 strikeouts in 89 at-bats.

In 14 playoff games, Gonzalez hit .289, with two homers and six RBI and a comparable number of walks (11) and strikeouts (13) in 45at-bats. Gonzalez said he made a conscious attempt to cut his strikeouts in winter ball.

"I'm an aggressive hitter," he said. "I'm always trying to hit the ball hard. Now, when I get to two strikes, I try to be like a leadoff hitter, try to put the ball in play and concentrate more on my strike zone."

After the Rockies acquired Gonzalez, O'Dowd said, "With his type of swing, he shouldn't be striking out as much."

Indeed, McArn said Gonzalez has "a very level swing, and his bat stays in that hitting zone a long time," but he was being exploited by curveballs off the outer part of the plate.

"He can hit to all parts of the field," McArn said. "They try and pitch him away and he slaps one into the left-center gap, and then (the pitcher) comes in and he turns on it. But you've got to get good pitches to do that. And once he starts laying off that breaking stuff that's out of the zone, he'll get those pitches to hit. It's a learning process that, with his swing, there's no doubt he'll figure out in the big leagues."

For his part, Gonzalez hopes that turns out to be with the Rockies. Having been traded twice in less than a year, Gonzalez quickly has learned about the business side of the game. He would like the frequent shuffling to end.

"I always stay positive," he said. "I think, when something happens, it's because God wants you to be in that place. Maybe Arizona was not my place and Oakland the same thing. Now I'm here. I'm concentrating on this team.

"I think I would love to stay here and make my career in Colorado. ... I was playing with Oakland, and that's a really difficult place to hit, and now I'm here in one of the best stadiums to hit. This is a hitter's park, so I would like to play here."

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