GM Mike Hazen evaluated moves the Arizona Diamondbacks made at trade deadline

GM Mike Hazen evaluated moves the Arizona Diamondbacks made at trade deadline

All right, we are through the trade deadline. Baseball starts back up for the Diamondbacks tonight against the A’s. We are pleased to be joined by their general manager on the Arizona Sports Line, Mike Hazen is joining us. Mike, thank you for the time. I guess just off the top, does it feel good to just finally be through the trade deadline? Uh uh good to good to talk to you guys, I suppose. um not not not with the results of the trade deadline on what we you know what we did uh from a from a from a you know a conceptual standpoint but yes it’s it’s good to get through I think um you know to whatever whatever degree the trade deadline was creating a drag on what we were seeing day after day um we can at least put that to bed and start dealing with you know us turning around and playing better baseball because over the last you know over the last seven days I I don’t feel like regardless of the trades and guys that moved out and all that um I don’t feel like we’ve been playing our best baseball and that and that that’s going to be the area of focus starting today and moving forward. You know, of all the moves, Mike, uh that you made and didn’t make for the most part, you know, for me, why do you think you didn’t get the offer that you wanted on Zack Allen? That’s the one that gets me. Yeah, I I I I can’t answer that for you. Um I I mean you know the answer in some ways and form. I mean he’s you know he’s struggled a little bit this year. That that’s that’s you know he’s he’s not he’s not pitching the way he has over the last few years and and and that’s that’s on us to help him get that straightened out. He is very capable of being every bit the guy that we’ve had here at the top of our rotation and I believe is going to happen for us in the second half. Um I I it’s it’s you know honestly Wolf to be to get into the weeds of this a little bit. Yeah. I think some of the teams I think some of the teams that were selling that sold off controllable players um at the deadline that jumped in late and you know I I I think created a supply issue in terms of what is available. Typically you saw a number of controllable starting pitchers get traded yesterday. that doesn’t happen a lot and because the prices are so prohibitive and I think when that is out there in the marketplace the guys that are expiring the rentals always come when you talk to other teams with caveat like hey we’re not going to give you X for a guy who’s expiring at the end of the year regardless even even Merrill who is the best one of the best starters in the entire market we still heard that same stuff when when we were trying to make trades for particular players on teams it Yeah, well, we want him. We want him bad, but we’re not going to give you any of that. Um, and and that’s normal. And so, I think when that happens and you’re not sort of at the top of your game, then it just becomes this sliding cascade effect of what’s available for you. And I I had a line that I wasn’t going to really cross. Like, trading Zack Allen to say that I traded Zack Allen and moved him out of here. That wasn’t I’m not I don’t feel good about that. this next two months for this baseball team given what the fans have done for us in the last four months is extremely important to me that we play good baseball and having Zack Allen on in our rotation versus just trading him for because I could say that I traded him for somebody an Aball somewhere. I I just didn’t I didn’t feel like that was the right decision to make. Talking to Mike Hayes and and Mike I know you got to weigh a bunch of different things too. I mean, you weigh the value of maybe getting a pick back for him if he leaves at the end of the year, but also in that equation, is there a possibility he’s just back next year? Yeah, I think all of anything’s on the table. I But but I don’t I don’t I’m not worried about what’s going to happen from October and beyond. I am very concerned and worried and focused and fixated on where this baseball team at is at today and what we’re going to do tonight going out there playing good baseball. and for him in the handful 10 whatever how many starts he may have left between now and the end of the season I think it’s our responsibility to get him pitching at a level that he has been accustomed to for a long time in this league and elite level and that we bear some of the respons he bears some of the responsibility for that but so do we and that’s going to be what I’m focused on here over the next two months I think if we get to that spot where he’s performing like that everything’s going to take care of itself. So, Mike, it always fascinates me the human element of all of this. Here you are as a general manager. It’s your job to go out the trade deadline. You got to make these business decisions. Um, yet you got a guy like Zack Allen. Was there a conversation with Zack about his desire to stay here with the Diamondbacks in the future going forward? Uh, no. I I we we haven’t really crossed into any of that territory. I I I try I called Zach yesterday. I talked through it with him obviously out of the respect I have for him and just let him know kind of where everything shook out. I I try not to engage the guys on these types of decisions. I think it’s unfair to put the players in a situation of like, okay, you know, hey, here’s here’s what could happen, right? Here here are all the scenarios. What do you want to have happen? And then at the same time, me telling them, hey, I expect you guys to go out there and give your 1,00% focus and energy Arizona Diamondbacks when after I’m finished telling him, hey, I might, you know, seven days ago, hey, I might trade you. I I don’t I don’t think that’s putting elite athletes, you talked about the human element, I don’t think that’s putting an elite athlete in the right spot to go out there and compete at the major league level. And so I try to stay away from that. Obviously, it’s very painful to have these conversations with guys that have given so much to this organization. Merryill Gino in the short two years he’s been here um among others and and you know that part is terrible like it’s not it’s not what we intended to do and more so I think I apologize to them for not supporting this team we tried doing what we could do obviously we had put a lot of resources into it but not being able to support that second line of defense when we took on some injuries and things started happening and then certainly not just pushing all in to buy. I think they understand why I didn’t do that. Um, they may not agree with it. I think they understand it at least the position we were in as a team and what the competitive landscape looked like in the National League. But none of these conversations are easy and it makes it worse because it wasn’t what we intended uh when we started this journey in April. Talking to Mike Hayes, yeah, what you just said right there, this is obviously not the position you wanted to be in, but at the same time, how important is it to be able to adjust on the fly at the deadline? And you were able to bring in nine prospects. I mean, again, not where you wanted to be, but is it possible now you’re set up better for the future than you might have been under normal circumstances? I mean, look, that was the intent, right? I think throwing bad money after bad or bad resources after bad players, trades, etc. Um, would have put us, these guys all walking at the end of the year would have put us in uh in a really, really, really tough situation. Um, not afraid of that. We started this team knowing that these guys were going to all, you know, these guys were all becoming free agents at the end of the year. Was very willing to push into that as you saw with the moves that we made this off seasonason. The amount of money Ken gave, Ken and Dererick gave us to spend. Um, all offseason long, the most we’ve ever done. Um, and I am disappointed that we didn’t cash on that and have a team that was buying at the deadline and going for it. um I have to step back from the personal what my personal intention was starting in April to okay there’s times you have to make a decision for the team and there’s times you have to make a decision for the organization and you know I I think if there was a glimmer of us I I don’t think us the way we’ve played over the last seven days has helped I don’t think it helped our mindset in terms of what we were buying going in um and unfortunately we had to make a decision that was more geared towards the organization for the first time in a while and I don’t like doing that. But I also know what our responsibilities are and sometimes we have to deal with those responsibilities. Mike, you went out and you got a bunch of arms, brought in a bunch of arms right now and that’s super cool and it kind of fits your mo. But Tyler Lleer, tell me a little bit about this position guy. Yeah, we we we sort of skewed pretty heavy on one side of the on one side of the aisle, didn’t we? uh wasn’t it was a little bit of a it was a little bit of a a a plan to go out and get arms. It wasn’t the entirety of the plan. It just seemed like that’s what was available to us to the most value we could get. But yeah, Lier was a position player that was and I I he’s dominated through the minor league system like a lot of good baseball players that come up here do. Uh he hasn’t quite gotten the opportunity. He hasn’t gotten the opportunity. He has a handful of bats up here um like most guys get and then get sent back down. So, he’s been in that little bit of a cycle. We feel like he made some significant adjustments fundamentally with his hands, with his setup and his swing in the middle part of the year and he was the best hitter in TripleA from June on. Um, just dominating and destroying the baseball and getting on base. And we’re going to work to continue to push the defensive um improvements at first base. He’s a great worker. We’ve heard nothing but good things makeup wise. I think that’s always everyone always goes back to Walk and I get it and it is true like Christian Walker made himself into the elite defender that he is. I do think that’s possible. Maybe not to the level that Walk got to, but I do think with work ethic and and makeup, um you at that position more than any can improve significantly just by being dedicated to being the best first baseman you can be. So, we’re going to pour ourselves into that as well. But, we’re excited to go watch him play tonight. Well, Mike, we appreciate your time as always. Thank you so much. All right, guys. Thank you. That’s Mike Hayesen, Tbeck’s general manager, joining us right there on the Arizona Sports Line. That was uh there’s a lot there obviously that we’re going to react to, especially the gown stuff, but the Lleier stuff at the end. I mean, I know again everything has the disclaimer of this is not what we were all looking forward to this season. But if they got a first baseman like that that sets them up beyond this season, you do have to be able to pivot and adjust if things aren’t going right. like he said to uh to make sure it doesn’t linger for more than just one season. Thanks for watching Wolf and Luke. Tap to see more and click the button in the middle to subscribe to Arizona Sports.

Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen joined Wolf & Luke to talk about why Zac Gallen wasn’t moved ahead of the trade deadline Thursday and what he hopes to see from newly acquired Tyler Locklear.

Who is going to play the corners for Diamondbacks to replace Eugenio Suarez, Josh Naylor?: https://arizonasports.com/mlb/arizona-diamondbacks/corner-infield/3591722/

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