Bullpen, right-handed bat, rotation help all high on Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen’s to-do list

The Diamondbacks won 22 more games this year than the previous year, but it was clear from General Manager Mike Hazen’s end-of-year session with reporters that fact did not mean much to him.

“I don’t look at it, like, ‘Congratulations, we stunk less than we did last year,’” Hazen said. “I don’t have that mind-set. I’m never going to have that mind-set.”

Speaking to reporters the day after the season ended, Hazen was locked in on his team’s inability to execute late in games. Some of that, he acknowledged, was related to his bullpen, an area he said needed to improve next year.

But Hazen also pointed to an inconsistent defense and an offense that too often failed to execute late in games.

Here are some takeaways from Hazen’s half-hour session on Thursday afternoon.

Bullpen help will be priority this winter

For anyone who followed the Diamondbacks this season, that probably won’t come as a surprise.

The Diamondbacks lost 42 games this year in which they were either tied or ahead at the start of the sixth inning. Much of that, of course, can be traced to the struggles of a number of relievers, starting with Mark Melancon and Ian Kennedy, veterans who were brought in last winter in hopes of shoring things up.

Hazen wants to “increase the power in the pen” — that is, to add more velocity — and “increase some of our strikeout rate in the pen.”

He said he expects he will have to turn to the trade market to do some of those things, but he also said he will need to be more aggressive on waiver claims, smaller trades, nontenders, etc., in order to find the arms they need.

He thinks that now that the club has begun to graduate prospects onto the major league roster, he might now be able to start dealing from some of his prospect depth to address the bullpen, something he was uncomfortable doing in years past.

Madison Bumgarner might have short leash next season

Despite having two years and $37 million remaining on his contract, veteran left-hander Madison Bumgarner probably won’t last long in the Diamondbacks’ rotation if he continues to pitch the way he did over his final 10 starts of this year.

“I do think incumbency probably matters when you’re going into spring training, for sure, especially with the younger guys that we have,” Hazen said, seemingly giving Bumgarner a leg up for a rotation spot coming out of camp. “But if the expectation next year is going to be moving the ball forward from where we are right now, we are going to be making decisions that we need to make as we need to make them.”

More needs: right-handed bat, rotation help

With the Diamondbacks’ heavily left-handed lineup and the club’s struggles against left-handed pitching, it makes sense that Hazen would want to have a right-handed bat on his off-season wish list.

He noted the impending return of shortstop Nick Ahmed from shoulder surgery as one thing that could help; not only did the Diamondbacks receive the second-worst production out of shortstop in the National League, but Ahmed also has a track record of hitting lefties well.

But Hazen hoped to add beyond that.

“I still think having some experience in and around some of the days, some of the games that we've had, where the tide could have been changed with a play being made or an at-bat being had, I do think some level of experience could have helped in some of those areas, too,” Hazen said.

He later added, “Adding something into the middle of the lineup could definitely be beneficial for us to just lengthen out our lineup. I don’t know how that’s going to happen, but that's something that we’re going to be focused on, too.”

Though rotation help might sound surprising given the performances of young starters Ryne Nelson, Drey Jameson and Tommy Henry and the imminent arrival of Brandon Pfaadt, it could be another indication that the club is not willing to count on Bumgarner.

Plus, right-hander Zach Davies could become a free agent. And Hazen mentioned the injuries that piled up in the rotation in 2021 and could be looking to insulate the club from that happening again.

He did add a caveat to his pursuit for rotation help, saying, “I'm not sure that will be an area that we would go out and aggressively chase.”

Other possible upgrades: DH, catcher

Hazen was asked about finding more offensive production at both designated hitter and catcher and seemed open to looking for outside help at both positions.

Regarding the DH, he noted that it could be a way to find at-bats for his apparent surplus of outfielders, but at one point he would ideally choose to “(shoot) for offensive upside to maximize what that role could bring your team.”

He was equally openminded to different ways of addressing the catching position. He noted that it has been a defensive-minded position in the years when the Diamondbacks have had their best results in recent seasons. He said he was “pretty happy” with how catcher Carson Kelly played defensively this year, but said Kelly had “kind of a tale two seasons” as a hitter and that the club would benefit from more consistency there.

“I do think chasing a little more offense at that position, given what the rest of the roster could look like, is something that we might take a look at,” Hazen said.

Outfield depth could serve as trade chips

Hazen went out of his way to say his outfield surplus is not necessarily a problem he needed to solve. He noted that the DH spot could provide ways to get everyone at-bats, and he said that taking certain players off the roster would mean losing attributes — such as speed, defensive or athleticism — that he wants his team to possess.

“(But) you take a left-handed hitting outfielder and turn him into a right-handed hitting slugger, yeah, I can see that puzzle coming together,” Hazen said. “… It’s not going to be taking one of those guys and trading them for prospects in that type of way.”

Among the young outfielders the club has are Daulton Varsho, Jake McCarthy, Corbin Carroll, Alek Thomas and Pavin Smith. All are left-handed hitters, and the Diamondbacks also have Dominic Fletcher and Dominic Canzone, among others, who performed well in Triple-A this season. They, too, are left-handed.

Expectations will be higher in future

Hazen said as much at various points, but probably never more directly than when he was answering a question about the possibly of giving out contract extensions to some of his younger players who are beginning to inch closer to free agency. Someone like, say, right-hander Zac Gallen, who has three years of club control remaining.

Hazen did not shoot down the idea, and he turned his answer into a bigger-picture outlook on what he wants to see going forward.

“I’m tired of being the young team,” he said. “I want to be the winning team.”

Part of that, he said, is in creating a culture in which veterans can show younger players the way.

“We're looking for those guys to build even more going into the future, to help take this young group of players and grow them into a winning team,” Hazen said. “And that’s the next step that needs to happen. Having those guys around is critically important for us, that they keep modeling what it’s going to take to be winning players in this league.”

Short hops

—Manager Torey Lovullo said that as of now everyone on his coaching staff is expected to return. That would be the first time that has happened in Lovullo’s six-year tenure.

—Right-hander Merrill Kelly will pitch for Team USA in the World Baseball Classic, USA Baseball announced on Thursday afternoon. Lovullo said he, Kelly and Hazen had conversations about the challenges that might present from a workload standpoint but the club ultimately gave Kelly the green light. “He wants to represent his country,” Lovullo said, “and we did not want to get in the way of that.”

Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen lists plenty of upgrade targets for offseason