Overview
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Rating: 5.45
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Date of Birth: January 7, 1976
2025 Review
Mike Hazen had what can only be described as an “adventurous” 2025. Mike Hazen had moments of shock and awe. Hazen had moments of brilliance. But then, he also had his fair share (and then some) of head-scratching moments. While this could be a description of more than 20 of the GMs in today’s game, it seems quite apt for Hazen in 2025.
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Last winter, Mike Hazen shocked many when he inked Corbin Burnes to the largest contract in team history. Seemingly out of nowhere, Hazen landed one of the biggest arms on the free agent market, a true top of the rotation pitcher. This generated no small amount of excitement for the upcoming season. This is by no means the first time that Hazen went big on signing pitching. Unfortunately for Hazen, the past arms have included the likes of Madison Bumgarner, Jordan Montgomery, Mark Melancon, and Eduardo Rodriguez. Of those big name pitchers, only Rodriguez has managed to perform in anything even approaching serviceable. And even in his case, one has to stretch the definition a bit. Every last one of those arms experienced injury woes after signing with the Snakes. Again, only Rodriguez managed to return from injury and provide any value whatsoever. With a substantial track record of health and not being advanced along the aging curve, the Corbin Burnes signing looked like the sort of move Mike Hazen would be able to hang his hat on.
Yeah, about that.
Corbin Burnes wasted no time in stirring the pot. First off, he needed extra time to get ready because he was apparently not signed early enough to get into game shape. (That Burnes should have been training all along is another matter.) In Hazen’s defense, when Burnes finally took the mound on 1 April, he posted the sort of numbers everyone was hoping for. At age 31, Burnes posted a 163 ERA+ and provided 2.0 bWAR. Unfortunately for Haze, the Diamondbacks, and the long-suffering Arizona fans, Burnes’ season only lasted 11 starts. And even then, the starts were not entirely consecutive, ads Burnes missed a start to undergo the first shoulder injections of his career. Burnes’s last outing came on 1 June, and was only good for 4.2 innings. Burnes then landed on the IL. From there, he underwent Tommy John surgery and missed the rest of the season. Between the lateness into the calendar of the surgery and the hurler’s finicky pre-season preparation, Mike Hazen and the Diamondbacks will be fortunate if he returns to the rotation by mid-July or early-August of 2026.
Mike Hazen just cannot catch a break when it comes to signing pitchers.
Hazen watched the likes of A.J. Puk, Justin Martinez, Gabriel Moreno, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., and others head to the IL for significant injury stints. Additionally, he looked on as Merrill Kelly, Zac Gallen, and Eduardo Rodriguez all missed time thanks to lesser injuries. By the time the trade deadline rolled around, the Diamondbacks were sitting so far back in the NL West that they needed to hope for a shot at a Wild Card berth. But, the team simply could not weather the injury and schedule issues of June, resulting in the team entering deadline day with a 51-58 record.
As a result, the Diamondbacks were aggressive sellers at the deadline. During the winter, Mike Hazen traded away Slade Cecconi for a single season of control of Josh Naylor. With as far out of contention as the Diamondbacks were, Hazen ended up flipping Naylor to the Seattle Mariners, in exchange for Ashton Izzi and Brandyn Garcia. While Naylor was serviceable but not spectacular for Arizona, Cecconi was a solid, reliable, league average pitcher playing for league minimum for the Guardians. Hazen managed to recoup some value by flipping Naylor, but it is hard to see how Hazen did not come out behind, as Cecconi is likely to be far more productive than either of Izzi and/or Garcia over the next three season.
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Mike Hazen also moved surprise relief stalwart, Shelby Miller, slugging third baseman Eugenio Suarez, rotation mainstay Merrill Kelly, and outfielder and designated hitter Randal Grichuk. The overall return for all those key players remains to be seen, though Tyler Locklear (the big part of the return in the Suarez trade) had a very rough go of things before joining Burnes and company on the season-ending IL.
Kohl Drake is likely to be one of the most impactful players Mike Haze acquired at the deadline. Drake was acquired in the deal that sent Merrill Kelly to the Texas Rangers. He currently projects as a mid-to-backend of the rotation starter. Again, like so many other Diamondbacks in 2025, Arizona fans were forced to wait on saeeing what Drake had to offer because he too was on the IL.
An odd thing happened after Arizona sold off so many key players. They started winning. Suddenly, with only five games left in the season, Arizona was playing for a playoff berth. This has led many to question if Mike Hazen screwed up by not having faith in his team. Frankly, given the way Suarez and Kelly performed after they were traded, there is an argument to be made that Hazen pulled the trigger at just the right time. Regardless of where one comes down on that argument, it is near-universally accepted that, injuries or no, the Diamondbacks underperformed in 2025. Now, the combined loss of Burnes, Martinez, and Puk is a steeper loss than would usually be expected, so there is that. But then, part of team-building is to develop and acquire sufficient depth. Arizona was decidedly without such depth for the majority of 2025. That falls squarely on Mike Hazen’s shoulders.
Overall, the 2025 Diamondbacks simply underperformed expectations. However, despite the heartbreaks, the team finished closer to expectations than the end result actually felt. Furthermore, for any team not based out of Los Angeles or New York, losing the team’s ace, primary lefty and set-up man, and closer, along with losing pitchers number 2 and 3 for stretches of the season, losing an all-star caliber backstop, and also a starting caliber left fielder is a recipe for disaster for any team. To his credit, Hazen gave the team every opportunity to make him a buyer at the deadline and the team let him down. So, He went all-in on moving everyone not nailed down. Heck, he even found a team to take Jordan Montgomery off his hands (though by them that was a purely technical move that had no real impact on the club). Some will still blame him for not finding enough talent to get them over the hump in the last week of the season. That’s fair. Others will be impressed he managed to weather the storm and have the team in contention in late-September, despite all the issues. Both sides have a great poitn. There is a good chance that the upcoming winter will speak to which has a stronger argument, as Mike Hazen is entering the most challenging offseason of his career.
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2026 and Beyond
Unlike the players being reviewed, Mike Hazen has already had a significant impact on the 2026 season. The most notable move that Mike Hazen has made since the close of the 2025 season was the re-signing of Merrill Kelly to a two-year pact. He also parted ways with Zac Gallen, hanging the former Arizona ace with a qualifying offer. As of this writing, Gallen has not signed with a new club yet. However, there have been multiple reports of him being close to signing. All of those reports suggest a contract well in excess of $50 million. As such, the Diamondbacks will receive an extra pick and extra bonus money in next year’s draft. Those are some of the “positives”. On the more questionable side, Hazen has turned to signing oft-injured Mike Soroka to fill out the 2026 rotation.
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Another pitcher recovering from significant injury, Jose Urquidy, has also been signed, but to a minor league deal. Urquidy is a high-upside play with essentially zero risk. For a team looking to cut payroll, it is not at all surprising that Hazen elected to make at least one of these sorts of signings.
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The jury is still very much out on Mike Hazen beyond what has been covered here. Most notably, there are still reports swirling that he might trade Ketel Marte. Both Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas remain on the roster, despite most experts pegging at least one of them to be moved. Bryce Jarvis was designated to make room for Soroka. Oh, and apparently the Diamondbacks have at least kicked the tires on Alex Bregman. Strap in folks, there is a wild offseason still to go.
