What is Mike Hazen's Offseason Pattern?

How much typically gets done before, during and after the winter meetings?

As we continue to digest our Thanksgiving Day feasts I thought it might be interesting to get a sense of Mike Hazen's track record before, during and after the winter meetings. There has been speculation swirling about whether the Diamondbacks will trade an outfielder or not. Is there a pattern to help us understand what he is likely to do this week leading up the winter meetings to take place between December 4th and December 7th? 

For the purpose of this exercise I'm only listing moves that were considered significant at the time. Waiver wire pickups or minor league free agent signings that later worked out are not included.  These are just trades and Major League signings that were deemed as important at the time or were impactful. 

2016/17:

• November 23rd, Traded Jean Segura and Mitch Haniger for Ketel Marte and Taijuan Walker

• Winter Meetings December 4-8

• December 7th Signed Fernando Rodney (agreed to December 7th pending physical, offical December 9th )

• January 13th Signed Chris Iannetta

• February 7th Signed Daniel Descalso

Hazen made a significant splash in the trade market prior to the winter meetings starting in his inaugural seasons as GM. He also came to agreement with his closer during the winter meetings, although the deal was not official until afterwards.

2017/18 

• November 30th Traded for Brad Boxberger

• Winter Meetings December 10-14

• December 22nd Signed Yoshihisa Hirano

• January 31st Signed Alex Avila

• February 19th Signed Jarrod Dyson

• February 20th Traded for Stephen Souza Jr.

This year most of the action happened after the winter meetings. Other than trading for Boxberger there were no other significant early moves that year, but three signings and a major trade took place later

2018/19

• December 4th: Signed Merrill Kelly
• December 5th Traded Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals for Luke Weaver, Cardon Kelly and Andrew Young

• Winter Meetings December 9-13

• January 21st Signed Wilmer Flores

• January 31st Signed Greg Holland

• March 11th Signed Adam Jones

This year another big trade happened before the start of the winter meetings, that of course being the Goldschmidt trade. Nothing much happened after that until late January. 

2019/20

• November 26th  Signed Stephen Vogt

• Winter Meetings December 8-12

• December 15th signed Madison Bumgarner (official on December 17th)

• December 30th signed Kole Calhoun

• January 27th traded for Starling Marte

This off season was a very quiet one for the Diamondbacks until after the winter meetings. Immediately following they signed Bumgarner however. 

2020/21

• Virtual winter meetings December 7-10

• February 6th Signed Joakim Soria

• February 11th Signed Chris Devenski

• February 22nd Signed Asdrubal Cabrera

• February 26th Signed Tyler Clippard

In person winter meetings were canceled in 2020 due to he Pandemic. Despite there being virtual meetings, with all the uncertainty and the Diamondbacks in financial flux they were not able to make any moves until they had clarity around the season and the schedule

2021/22

• November 26th Traded Ronny Simon for Jordan Luplow

• December 1st Signed Mark Melancon

• Winter Meetings CANCELED DUE TO LOCKOUT. (Originally scheduled for December 6-9)

• March 16th: Signed Ian Kennedy

• March 23rd Signed Zach Davies

For the second straight year the in person winter meetings were canceled, this time due to the lockout. The D-backs struck early picking up an outfielder and a closer just prior to the lockout and made a couple of key signings as soon as the new CBA was agreed to in March. 

2022/23

• November 15th Traded Ross Carver for Carlos Vargas

• November 17th Traded Cooper Hummel for Kyle Lewis

SUMMARY:

There are 27 "major" moves listed from 2016/17 through through 2021/22. Of those only eight, or 30%  occurred before the winter meetings. There has only been one deal that occurred during the meetings, the Rodney signing. One could assume most of the legwork on the Bumgarner signing happened before or during those meetings. 

Whether or not we see a trade over the next week before they leave for San Diego next weekend remains to be seen. The Diamondbacks have never made a trade during the winter meetings however. Mike Hazen has often said that groundwork is laid during the meetings but that we should not expect trades to occur at that time, and so far that's exactly how it's played out.