Arizona Diamondbacks GM Mike Hazen has high hopes for staff
In his first week on the job, Diamondbacks General Manager Mike Hazen seems to be feeling out his new front office more than restructuring it. But he does have some ideas of what he’d like his baseball operations department to eventually become.
“Hopefully, it’s going to be a strong team environment where we have dynamic, forward-thinkers mixed with guys who know the game and bring different skill sets,” Hazen said. “Hopefully, it will be collaborative -- an open environment where people in scouting and player development and others in baseball operations can challenge each other on assumptions and come to some good decisions.”
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Hazen, officially introduced on Monday, mentioned how impressed he was by Dave Dombrowski’s arrival in Boston last year, when he was able to mostly keep intact the Red Sox front office. Hazen said he’d like to follow that lead by trying to “figure out a way to embrace the things that are done well” and “make your assessments and your tweaks over time.”
Hazen had nice things to say about the staff he inherited, noting that a lot of the qualities he wants out of a front office already exist here.
“I’m very grateful to what (former General Manager Dave Stewart) and De Jon (Watson) and Tony (La Russa) put together before,” Hazen said. “There are some impressive people here.”
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Hazen said it’s too early to say which members of the front office are likely to remain. He also said it's too soon to comment on whom he might try to bring with him to Arizona. Multiple reports have linked the club to Amiel Sawdaye, the vice president of amateur and international scouting for the Red Sox.
ESPN’s Buster Olney wrote that the “expectation within the industry” is that Sawdaye might join Hazen if he doesn’t replace him as Red Sox GM.
Still narrowing
Hazen said the team’s search for a new manager hasn’t progressed to the point of asking other clubs for permission to speak with potential candidates.
“As much as we want to move through the process as quick as possible, we don’t have an exact list yet for candidates,” Hazen said. “But hopefully in the next week or so we’ll be able to do that.”
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Hazen said he anticipates interviewing somewhere between five to 10 candidates. He did not want to speculate on any potential candidates. The widespread industry assumption is that Red Sox bench coach Torey Lovullo is the leading candidate for the position.
Scouting departures
The Diamondbacks’ uncertainty in baseball operations earlier this month likely contributed to the loss of three well-regarded members of the scouting staff, including one who had been with the organization since the beginning.
Scout Howard McCullough left for a position with the Seattle Mariners, for whom he’ll have a mix of pro and amateur coverage. McCullough was one of the few remaining “Original Diamondbacks,” having joined the organization in October 1995, about 2 1/2 years before the expansion club played its first game.
“You spend that much of your professional career with one team, it’s never easy to leave,” McCullough said. “It was extremely difficult for me. Sometimes, we all need a little transfusion, a new opportunity and what not, and I felt good about it.
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“When I was calling some people there in Arizona, I said, ‘This is the hardest phone call I’ve ever had to make,’ and it was. I had nothing but good memories. People treated me outstanding, no bad feelings. Just maybe an opportunity for me here at this stage of my career, I think I’m going to try to take advantage of that.”
The only other scouts who have been with the Diamondbacks since the early days of the franchise are national scouting supervisor Greg Lonigro; special assistant to the GM/major league scout Mike Piatnik; and Junior Noboa, the club’s vice president of Latin operations. Bench coach Glenn Sherlock also has been with the team since the beginning.
Assistant director of scouting Brendan Domaracki also departed for the Mariners, for whom he’ll serve as a player personnel coordinator. Domaracki had been with the Diamondbacks since 2009.
Frankie Thon Jr., who had been on the Diamondbacks’ amateur side as a southeast supervisor, took a position with the Los Angeles Angels. His title will be international crosschecker/assistant director of international scouting. Thon had also been with the club since 2009.
All three accepted their positions during the time the club was without a general manager.
Reach Piecoro at (602) 444-8680 or nick.piecoro@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on Twitter @nickpiecoro.