Hazen has unfinished business in Arizona
Mike Hazen has been general manager of the Diamondbacks for seven years. Only nine other heads of baseball operations have been with their teams longer.
It’s a testament to the patience of owner Ken Kendrick and CEO Derrick Hall, who could have changed direction after a 110-loss season in 2021. But they trusted that the organization’s talent base would produce better results.
Arizona made a 22-game improvement in 2022 and jumped 10 more games this season. Then came a twogame sweep of their Wild Card Series against the Brewers followed by a threegame sweep of the Dodgers in the Division Series.
The Diamondbacks are in the NLCS for the first time since 2007. Along the way, Hazen agreed to a contract extension through 2028.
“When we first hired Mike in ’17, one of the top priorities then was let’s fix the farm system,” Hall said. “We went from a bottom five to a top five in quick fashion. And, at the same time, he was also building what we were hoping would be a very sustainable model . . . for us [the extension] was a nobrainer.”
Hazen seemingly had some leverage with the Red Sox having fired Chaim Bloom.
Hazen worked for the Red Sox from 2006-16, helping build what proved to be three championship teams. He grew up in Abington, so it could have been a return home, too. But, from the start, Hazen made it clear he wanted to stay with the Diamondbacks.
“The first conversation was very casual; didn’t talk about anything specific. [Hall] knew I wasn’t going anywhere,” Hazen said. “I get what was swirling around publicly. But I think what we’re trying to create here is going to take a little bit longer than where we’re standing this season.”
With the Red Sox, Hazen rose to GM under Dave Dombrowski in 2015, then a year later moved his family 2,700 miles away to build his own team. That Hazen had the passion to strike out on his own was no surprise to any of the people who worked with him in the cramped offices at Fenway Park.
“I felt that from the day I’ve gotten one of these jobs, and I wake up every day trying to prove that I deserve to keep that job,” he said. “Yes, I have a lot of family back in Boston. I have a lot of my best friends that I worked with back there.
“We committed when we came out here to building something that involved winning, not just doing this job to do this job or some perception of what could be deemed doing this job well — building a farm system or finishing .500, I don’t know — going deep into the playoffs and winning a World Series. That’s not done. We’re not even close to that yet.
“And so I felt like that part was very much left undone. And when I started this process with the guys — men and women that I’ve brought into the organization, some from other organizations, some that we’ve hired — there’s a responsibility to kind of still be here and not be the first one to leave before they get opportunities to go do those things, too. And that weighed a lot on me.”
Hazen put it to a vote with his four sons: Charlie (17), John (16), Teddy (15), and Sam (13). It wasn’t unanimous but close enough.
“They all love Arizona. We love the community we have here, the family we have here,” he said. “I want to be here. We need to get something done. We want to get something done.”
The four boys threw out first pitches before Game 3 of the Division Series on Wednesday in honor of their mother Nicole, who died last year from brain cancer.
Next on the agenda for Arizona will be an extension for manager Torey Lovullo. Those talks will take place after the season.
“It feels like we have a family here,” Lovullo said.