Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen takes leave of absence as wife battles brain cancer
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Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen is taking some time away from the team as his wife, Nicole, battles brain cancer, according to the Associated Press.
Hazen will reportedly in contact to consult regularly with the team, but assistant general manager Amiel Sawdaye will take over day-to-day operations for the club.
Nicole, with whom Hazen has four sons, has been dealing with a brain tumor for over a year.
From the AP:
“First off, what I want to say, is that Nicole is doing OK,” Hazen said. “She’s grinding along. But being realistic about the journey we’re on right now, knowing what my job demands, and knowing the most important thing to me, this is demanding a percentage of my time that’s starting to creep into the ability for me to do (my job) here physically.”
Later he added: “I had to be honest about where I needed to be physically more often than not.”
Hazen has been the top decision-maker in Arizona since 2016, when he left the Boston Red Sox to become the Diamondbacks' executive vice president and general manager. In that time, he's overseen the team's rebuild, assembling a farm system ranked No. 9 in baseball by MLB Pipeline entering the 2021 season.
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