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 two-game sweep of their Wild Card Series against the Brewers followed by a three-game 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 no-brainer.”
Hazen seemingly had some leverage with the Red Sox having fired Chaim Bloom.
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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.
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“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.
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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.
TIME TO STRIKE?
Ohtani a big opportunity for Sox
As a baseball writer in Boston the last 14 seasons, I’ve noticed one insurmountable fact of life has been that the Patriots are a bigger deal than the Red Sox. The Patriots have rightfully dominated fan attention and media coverage going back to the ascent of Tom Brady.
But how much longer will that last? The Patriots are 26-29 the last four seasons and haven’t won a playoff game since Super Bowl LIII. This season has been a disaster, and the future does not appear bright given the lack of playmakers on offense and series of poor drafts.
The Red Sox should view this as an opportunity to claw back some lost ground by taking big steps to improve the roster and return to contention. We hear all the time that baseball is a business. They have been handed an opportunity to grow the business.
First step? Make a concerted effort to sign Shohei Ohtani, not a token one.
It seems obvious the Sox will take steps to improve their roster after consecutive last-place finishes. But with the Patriots in a fallow period, it makes even more sense to go big and pursue Ohtani. He would be a game-changer for the franchise on and off the field.
Ohtani would become the most notable athlete in the city and end the increasingly legitimate questions about how committed ownership is about winning another World Series.
In the last 10 months, Sox officials were booed at Winter Weekend, the team finished 23 games out of first place, and Fenway Park had plenty of available seats for out-of-town fans.
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It’s going to take more to fix that than adding two starters and hoping Trevor Story remembers how to hit.
Other than to say several times that he likes playing at Fenway Park, Ohtani hasn’t indicated any particular love of Boston. But there are whispers among in-the-know members of the Japanese media that Ohtani is open to the idea.
If he’s willing to listen, the Sox have to leap at the chance.
Ohtani signed a multiyear endorsement deal with Brighton-based New Balance this year and chairman Jim Davis could lobby on behalf of the Sox. New Balance wins no matter where Ohtani plays, so that may not necessarily be a factor. But it’s an avenue to further gain his attention.
Ohtani will not pitch in 2024 while recovering from elbow surgery, so he’s not a perfect fit in the short term. But he can DH for a year then return to playing both ways in 2025 when he’s 30.
There is risk, sure. But the Sox spent the last four years playing it safe and where did that get them?
It will come down to whether the Sox still have the willingness they once did to compete for the best players. If they do, signing Ohtani changes everything. Including which team in Boston commands the most attention.
A few other observations on the Red Sox:
▪ It was a treat to spend a few minutes chatting with Jose Santiago at The Sports Museum event to honor the 1967 Red Sox this past week.
Santiago was 12-4 with a 3.59 ERA that season. He started 11 times and relieved 39 times, mixing in two complete games and five saves along the way. He took two losses in the World Series but also homered off Bob Gibson in Game 1, a 2-1 loss.
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Now 83, Santiago remains involved in baseball. He calls winter league games on the radio in Puerto Rico and is closely following the career of his grandson Willie, a promising 16-year-old high school catcher in Florida.
He also keeps an eye on the Sox.
“It was tough. They need more pitching,” Santiago said. “[Alex] Cora is an outstanding manager. He knows how to handle ballplayers. But I didn’t like the pitching. I told Cora they needed to make changes.
“They have to spend the money and get at least two starters and some arms in the bullpen, at least one lefthander. Give Cora the right team and he’ll be all right.”
Santiago has a son who lives in Salem and he loves visiting Boston. He has bad knees and uses a wheelchair to get around, but made his way to town this past week.
“I don’t want my friends to forget about me,” Santiago said. “I love the fans here.”
▪ Losing 168 games over two seasons inevitably leads to changes and the Red Sox fired pitching coach Dave Bush and third base/infield coach Carlos Febles, along with Triple A pitching coach Paul Abbott and assistant hitting coach Mike Montville.
Abbott was the biggest surprise. He had been with the Sox since 2011 and earned a steady stream of praise from pitchers he worked with, including major leaguers on rehab assignments.
But with the Sox refining their approach to development, Abbott was swept up in the changes.
▪ Masataka Yoshida visited the Baseball Hall of Fame last weekend. His tour included a visit to the basement archives, where he saw the game-used bat he donated from the World Baseball Classic last March.
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Yoshida also was interested in seeing how bats had changed over time, taking a look at different models throughout history.
Meanwhile the Sox are working to hire a new translator for Yoshida. The feeling was that his communication with the coaching staff could have been better.
ETC.
Long road to the ALCS
Texas finished the regular season with a seven-game trip to Anaheim and Seattle, going 3-4 and squeezing into the postseason. The Rangers then flew across the country to play Tampa Bay and won two games at Tropicana Field before going on to Baltimore and winning twice at Camden Yards. They clinched the Division Series on Tuesday in their first home game since Sept. 24. In all it was a 11-game, four-city trip over 14 days that covered roughly 7,600 miles.
“It’s a tough group,” Rangers manager Bruce Bochy said. “The road trip brought them together even more.”
The game Tuesday was the first playoff game the Rangers played at Globe Life Field, but it was the 17th postseason game at the ballpark, which hosted neutral-site games during the 2020 pandemic.
Extra bases
The Orioles entered the postseason having not been swept in a series since May 13-15, 2022, when they lost three games at Detroit. Then they lost three in a row against the Rangers and were knocked out of the playoffs after winning 101 games in the regular season. “These guys played their butts off for six months. We just didn’t play well the last three [games],” manager Brandon Hyde said … Signing Nate Eovaldi means accepting he will end up on the injured list at some point during the season. He’s made 30 or more starts once over the last nine years. The upside is you get Postseason Nate, who has a 2.70 ERA in 13 career playoff appearances, with his team winning 10 of those games. “Maniacal focus,” Bochy said. “He’s been here and he’s done it. I think he thrives on it. He wants to be the guy out there and just has a tremendous focus.” Eovaldi allowed one run over seven innings at Baltimore to clinch the Division Series. “To me, pitching wins championships. You’ve seen it across the league,” Eovaldi said. “Good pitching is able to neutralize a good lineup. I feel like that’s what we’ve been able to do here lately.”… Christian Vázquez was on the roster but did not appear in any of Minnesota’s six playoff games. The Twins used Ryan Jeffers as their catcher. Vázquez had a .598 OPS this season … Mookie Betts is a career .251 hitter with a .710 OPS in 58 playoff games. The last three seasons — 17 of 72 (.236) with nine runs and six RBIs over 19 games — are particularly ugly. “I can’t speak for all of us, but I did absolutely nothing to help us win,” Betts said after the Dodgers were eliminated Wednesday. “There’s no real words for it.” … Adam Wainwright was excellent in the Fox booth for the Twins-Astros series, showing the ability to explain the modern concepts of pitching in a way that wasn’t too technical for the average viewer to appreciate … The Nationals fired four coaches, among them bench coach Tim Bogar and third base coach Gary DiSarcina. Bogar was a Red Sox coach from 2009-12. DiSarcina, who’s from Billerica, had three stints with the Sox. He was in player development from 2006-10, managed Pawtucket in 2013, and then returned as bench coach in 2017 … Baseball and softball, which were dropped from the 2024 Olympics in Paris, are likely to return for 2028 in Los Angeles. The organizing committee chose baseball and softball as “provisional sports” for the Games along with flag football, cricket, lacrosse, and squash. The International Olympic Committee will vote on the proposal Monday … The playoffs are a crapshoot, as Billy Beane famously said. Even for legendary pitchers, it seems. Clayton Kershaw is 5-6 with a 6.13 ERA in 12 Game 1 starts and has only four quality starts. Among pitchers with at least five Game 1 starts, only Chris Sale (6.43) has a higher ERA. John Smoltz (1.58 over six starts), Madison Bumgarner (1.73 over five starts), and John Lackey (2.18 in five starts) are on the other end of the spectrum. Lackey made the All-Star team once and received only one Hall of Fame vote in his only year on the ballot. But he was one of the all-time playoff horses, going 8-6 with a 3.44 ERA over 29 games and winning championships with three teams … Arizona did not expect to host a playoff game Wednesday and had Guns N’ Roses booked at Chase Field. Axl Rose and Co. moved the show to nearby Talking Stick Resort Amphitheatre. There was no cold October rain, fortunately … The Yankees gave Carlos Rodón the same deal (six years, $162 million) the Dodgers gave Freddie Freeman. Rodón was 3-8 with a 6.85 ERA, made only 14 starts, and in his final start turned his back when pitching coach Matt Blake came to the mound, which angered the coaching staff. Freeman has played all but four games the last two seasons, with 160 extra-base hits and a .948 OPS … Danny Haas, a former amateur scout with the Red Sox, is the new scouting director of the Nationals. Haas was with the Sox from 2002-11 before having roles with the Orioles and Diamondbacks … Happy birthday to Tim Young, who is 50. The lefthanded reliever from Mississippi appeared in eight games for the 2000 Red Sox. He threw 5⅓ shutout innings in the first five games, allowing only three hits. Young then gave up five runs on four hits — three of them home runs — over 1⅔ innings in his next three games. From there, Young joined Team USA for the Olympics and helped win a gold medal in Sydney playing with, among others, Doug Mientkiewicz. The Sox sold Young to the Hiroshima Toyo Carp after the Games, then re-signed him as a free agent 11 months later. He made 57 appearances for Triple A Pawtucket in 2002 before being traded to Cleveland, but never appeared in another major league game.
Peter Abraham can be reached at peter.abraham@globe.com. Follow him @PeteAbe.