This story was excerpted from Steve Gilbert¡¯s D-backs Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

I'm thankful that Arizona GM Mike Hazen didn't make any moves so I could enjoy the break, but I know a lot of you are waiting for the Hot Stove to start heating up, and with the Winter Meetings coming up next week, there's a good chance of that happening. Let's get to it ¡­

Here are some of the things to know and/or be thinking about as we get closer to baseball's annual Winter Meetings, which open on Dec. 9 in Dallas:

Keep an eye on the D-backs this week
Hazen has not waited until the Winter Meetings to get started on his offseason work before, the most notable, of course, being the 2018 trade of Paul Goldschmidt to the Cardinals the week before the meetings kicked off in Las Vegas.

I checked in with Hazen over the weekend to get a feel for where things were at right now.

"Not a lot has happened on the trade market, but there¡¯s enough out there that I think something could happen around the Winter Meetings or leading up to them."

Are there deals he could do right now?

"There are things we could do, but there's nothing out there that we would do right now," Hazen said.

All it takes is one phone call or text and deals can come together, so we'll watch closely.

Coaching searches wrapping up
The Diamondbacks already named Brian Kaplan to replace pitching coach Brent Strom, but they have yet to officially announce his assistants or a replacement third-base coach for Tony Perezchica, who left to join the Astros.

The Arizona Republic's Nick Piecoro reported a week and a half ago that farm director Shaun Larkin would be moving to the field to take Perezchica's spot, and a source confirmed that for me. It's likely the hires will be announced at some point in the coming week so that's something else to keep an eye on.

Center fielders and starters
The two areas that Hazen continues to get asked about by fellow GMs when it comes to trades are Arizona's surplus of outfielders and starting pitchers.

In the outfield, with Corbin Carroll, Lourdes Gurriel Jr., Jake McCarthy and Alek Thomas, the D-backs could deal either McCarthy or Thomas, as both can play center, and according to Hazen, center field is an area of need for a number of teams.

The Diamondbacks don't have to deal either of them, but if they want to strengthen another area of the team then they certainly could move one of them.

With Zac Gallen, Merrill Kelly, Eduardo Rodriguez, Jordan Montgomery, Brandon Pfaadt and Ryne Nelson, the Diamondbacks have six starting pitchers in a projected Opening Day rotation.

That doesn't include other young pitching options like Tommy Henry, Blake Walston, Slade Cecconi, Yilber Diaz and Cristian Mena.

As we've seen time and again, every time a team thinks it has too many starting pitchers, it winds up not having enough. Arizona¡¯s rotation was decimated by injuries last year, with all six of the projected starters mentioned above (except for Pfaadt) spending time on the injured list.

The Diamondbacks wouldn't hesitate to hang onto all six of those pitchers, but it would not be a surprise if they were trying to move Montgomery, who exercised his $22.5 million contract option to return in 2025 after struggling through 2024. It seems likely they would have to pick up a bunch of that money depending on what kind of return they got.

One name I left out of the list of potential young starters is right-hander Drey Jameson. One of the team's top prospects, Jameson underwent Tommy John surgery in September of 2023 and is expected to be ready to go for Spring Training.

However, after throwing just 68 2/3 innings between Triple-A Reno and the Majors in 2023 and no innings last year, Jameson will likely be looked at as a reliever in his first season back.

Hazen said nothing had been fully mapped out in that regard, but it would seem to be a sensible way to get him back up to speed. He could be an extremely valuable piece in the bullpen if that's the direction they go.

A role for Blaze Alexander
I haven't bounced this off anyone in the organization yet, but I wonder if the Diamondbacks would consider turning shortstop Blaze Alexander into a Chris Taylor-type of multi-positional player.

While Alexander has played second, short and third in the big leagues, he has not played the outfield professionally. As a good athlete who can run and possesses a strong arm, it would seem like Alexander wouldn't have any trouble learning to play the outfield.

If he was someone, like Taylor is for the Dodgers, that the Diamondbacks could plug and play anywhere, he would be a very valuable piece and give manager Torey Lovullo a lot of options during a game.