D-backs GM Mike Hazen Still Looking to Buy at Trade Deadline
General Manager Mike Hazen addressed the media today to discuss the Diamondbacks overall direction as we head towards the home stretch of the MLB August 1st trade deadline season. In addition to the summary below you can also listen to the full interview at the SoundCloud link at the bottom of this article.
Recent team slump impact on trade deadline thinking
The overall approach to the trade deadline has not changed in the "Macro sense" despite not playing very well the last few weeks. He still believes they have a good team that plays hard, and getting Merrill Kelly back provides a big boost.
While lamenting to some degree how the team has played over the last few weeks, he has made a conscious effort not to overreact. He highlighted some areas the team has not played typical Diamondbacks baseball, such as baserunning mistakes.
"I've said this a lot, people fixate on the bullpen but you don't fixate on the eight innings of opportunities that put your bullpen sometimes in situations that cost you...We're death by a thousand cuts in a alot of ways"
The state of the market
He still feels they are two or three days out from fully understanding the market as things have changed so frequently with the tightly bunched wild card standings.
They are still buyers
The team is still looking to add. Hazen does not want to waste the opportunity that is in front of them to play in a pennant chase. The last two weeks have not impacted the areas they are looking to improve but he could not answer just how aggressive he will be.
When we are forced to make decisions, when we are told we need to make decisions on certain players...that's probably more of an after the facts conversation when we can assess how aggressive I was willing to be. Right now, like I said, we want to add, but we can't"
Priorities
The priorities have not changed. Pitching is still the priority, both relief pitching and starting pitching. Relief pitching may be easier to trade for as there are simply more relievers are available.
Improving the bottom part of the lineup and finding another right hand bat to give manager Torey Lovullo more platoon opportunities is still something they are looking to do. This area is harder to find ways to improve.
Rentals vs controllable players
The preference is always to try to obtain players that have more than just the last two months of control, but they will also be involved in the rental market.
"We're certainly not afraid to make trades with some of our better prospects for young players [with multiple years of control], we'll do that all the time. We've done it multiple times already, we'll do it again. That's a good way for us as an organization to add long term talent.......I think the rental market is usually what you have more available to you, so we'll get to that too"
Hazen did not rule out the possibility of trading off the major league roster as they have young players in the minors they could plug in. But the calculus surrounding that would be complicated, as it's the players on the roster that have gotten them to where they are.
Bullpen
Hazen was a little defensive at the assertion he has not had a door slamming closer, citing Fernando Rodney in 2017, and Archie Bradley in 2018. At the same time he said if he has the chance to upgrade the back end of the bullpen he'll do it.
"I try not to operate in my job in a short sighted manner, but there's times when we're going to need to go for it. We'll see what's available to us. If the right moves come along to improve this team we're going to do it"
TV contract
He has not been told by ownership one way or the other if the T.V. contract situation would impact his budget to absorb salary at the deadline.
Untouchables?
There are players in the minor league system they are protecting and not considering trading, although if the right offer came along nobody is untouchable.
Batting slump
Hazen is trying not to overreact to the offensive slump of the last 4 weeks. Finding an everyday player that would be a clear upgrade to what they already have is less obvious to him based on the discussions he's been having.
Hazen said team's internal metrics for "expected statistics" do not vary much from the publicly available information available at Baseball Savant / Statcast. When asked why the D-backs may have over-performed those metrics for all of this season, he said part of the reason was team speed, and the ability to take extra bases. He also mentioned the minor league depth, and being able to plug in players such as Dominic Fletcher at certain points has helped. He emphasized that the players at the top of the lineup that have over performed those metrics, such as Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte, are "real", despite what any "xstats" might indicate
