SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- As the D-backs were charting the course for their offseason plans, it would have been easy for general manager Mike Hazen to feel good about the state of his club.
Arizona¡¯s unexpected run to the World Series brought plenty of excitement to the region, and with players such as Corbin Carroll, Ketel Marte and Gabriel Moreno anchoring the lineup and Zac Gallen returning to lead the rotation, the D-backs had their core in place to take that momentum into 2024.
Yet as Hazen plotted his offseason strategy, it wasn¡¯t the memorable October that stuck in his mind. It was the 162 games that preceded that run that shaped his thinking.
¡°The thing we walked into the offseason with even before the run happened -- and even during the run -- was when you boil it down to the 162, we were an 84-win team,¡± Hazen said. ¡°If we had gotten bounced by Milwaukee in the first round, I would have evaluated it the exact same way. I look at it as two separate seasons; the first 162, then we obviously got on a great run and played our butts off in the playoffs. That¡¯s awesome, but the 162 is what's in front of us, not what can happen if we do a good job in that 162.¡±
Not only did the 84-78 D-backs become only the sixth team in the Wild Card era to reach the postseason with no more than 84 wins, but Arizona was outscored by 15 runs during the course of the season, becoming only the fifth such team in the Wild Card era to make the playoffs (not counting the pandemic-shortened 2020 campaign, which included a 60-game season and 16 playoff teams).
Hazen was encouraged by his team¡¯s magical October, but the bright lights didn¡¯t blind him to the harsh reality that 84 wins and a negative run differential weren¡¯t going to be an annual formula for success.
¡°I've always tried to be as honest and objective as possible,¡± Hazen said. ¡°I very much appreciate what the guys did in October; it was special. We played our butts off and played really well; nobody can take that away. But we had a negative run differential; that's not good over 162 games, I don't really care how you slice it. If the goal here is to get to the playoffs, we're not going to accomplish that if we do that again.¡±
Third base and the starting rotation were identified as the primary needs, and while much of the free-agent market dragged through the winter, Hazen and his front office took an aggressive approach.
¡°It gives you a little anxiety when you have a lot of holes to fill,¡± Hazen said. ¡°I don't think our roster is ever going to be in the spot where we don't have that, so we kind of have to warm up to it.¡±
The first order of business was locking up manager Torey Lovullo with a contract extension through 2026.
¡°The good, young players that comprise the core of our team deserve to know who their manager is going to be,¡± Hazen said. ¡°I think that stability is important for them.¡±
As Hazen met with agents, he noticed a change in many conversations that hadn¡¯t been there in recent years.
¡°One of the things we heard this year was that players -- especially veterans moving towards the middle part of their career and beyond -- only want to play for a winner,¡± Hazen said. ¡°Well, 365 days ago, we weren't as attractive there; 720 days ago, we definitely weren¡¯t attractive. That changed in this cycle. We could at least stand there with a straight face and say, ¡®Not only do we have good players, but they also are capable of winning.¡¯¡±
A Nov. 22 trade with the Mariners to acquire Eugenio Suárez addressed third base, while Eduardo Rodriguez signed a four-year, $80 million deal on Dec. 8, filling the hole behind Gallen and Merrill Kelly in the rotation.
Lourdes Gurriel Jr. was re-signed to a new three-year, $42 million deal two weeks later, wrapping up the big-ticket items before the holidays. Joc Pederson and Randal Grichuk rounded out the free-agent acquisitions as the spring approached.
¡°We¡¯ve added some veteran players that should add to the mix of where we were,¡± Hazen said. ¡°I think on paper this year versus last year, we're in a better spot.¡±
A better spot, perhaps. But the Dodgers, who figure to be the D-backs¡¯ biggest obstacle in the NL West, got significantly better, adding Shohei Ohtani, Yoshinobu Yamamoto, Tyler Glasnow and Teoscar Hern¨¢ndez to an already loaded roster.
¡°It's happened every year; it¡¯s just what they do,¡± Hazen said. ¡°Until I get the call that we're getting realigned or they're getting realigned, this is our reality. Ultimately, for us to be able to go through a playoff run, you have to be battle-tested for 162 games. We wouldn't be prepared to play in the playoffs if we don't go into Dodger Stadium and have to play our best baseball in front of 50,000 people. Some nights we've gotten bludgeoned, but you have to go back the next day.¡±
Arizona¡¯s success last October might not have altered Hazen¡¯s offseason approach, but after five straight years without a postseason berth, the run to the World Series made the dream of winning it all feel within reach.
¡°Watching the young kids perform in October is not something that you take for granted, because you never really know what it¡¯s going to be like,¡± Hazen said. ¡°We've spent the last seven years talking about what we could do if we ever got to that situation, so getting into that situation, now it's facts and not hypotheticals.
¡°We have the capability of doing that if we get in, which I think should drive the urgency even more during the regular season to, ¡®We have to get in.¡¯ If you get in, something like that can happen. If you don't, then you're back in the hypothetical again, you're back into what could have happened if we got in -- and I don't want to be in that situation.¡±