Arizona Diamondbacks Extend GM Mike Hazen Through 2028 Season

The Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday extended the contract of general manager Mike Hazen, a day after the Diamondbacks beat Milwaukee in the NL wild card round in their first postseason appearance since 2017.

Hazen remade the D-Backs into a playoff team this season through a series of successful drafts, offseason free agent signings and trades following a period of on-field struggles and a devastating personal tragedy.

Hazen’s wife Nicole died at age 45 of complications from glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, in August, 2022, a year after the D-Backs lost 110 games and during their third straight losing season. Hazen took a physical leave of absence in June 2021 to be with Nicole and their four sons.

“I am very happy to stay here,” Hazen told Arizona Sports’ Wolf and Luke, adding that he did not want to get into specifics.

“My family loves it here. This is kind of our team and the team we are trying to build. When we came here from Boston a few years ago, we are committed to bringing a World Series championship back here and that is not done yet.

“We’re not close to that yet. Hopefully this October we get it, but that’s our goal. Our goal is to try to finish this thing off and develop a consistent winning team and have a consistent winning franchise. That’s what we are motivated to to. I am very happy to have this job. I wake up every day knowing that I am very lucky to have one of these jobs, and it is on me to try to earn it every day to deserve it.”

Hazen’s new five-year contract runs through the 2028 season and includes a team option for 2029, according to published reports. Assistant general managers Amiel Sawdaye and Mike Fitzgerald also were extended.

Hazen was not in a walk year. He had been under contract through 2024 with a team option for 2025. But team president/CEO Derrick Hall said two weeks ago that he was open to entertaining an extension for Hazen, seemingly presaging the move. Salary figures for general managers are closely guarded; for reference, New York Yankees’ GM Brian Cashman completed a five-year, $25 million contract after the 2022 season before re-signing for four years at an undisclosed amount.

Arizona may have been motivated so as to pre-empt a potential inquiry by the Boston Red Sox, who fired general manager Chaim Bloom on Sept. 14. Hazen is from Weymouth, Mass., and worked in the Red Sox organization from 2006-16. Before joining the Diamondbacks, Hazen worked for 11 seasons in the Boston Red Sox’s front office before Arizona hired him on Oct. 17, 2016 to replace Dave Stewart. Hazen became the Red Sox’s senior VP/assistant general manager in 2015.

Hazen’s first hire was manager Torey Lovullo, also a product of the Red Sox system, and the pair have been together for seven seasons.

The Diamondbacks became the third team in major league history to make the playoffs two years after losing at least 110 games, joining Houston (111 losses in 2013) and Baltimore (110 losses in 2021).

Hazen rebuilt around high draft choices Corbin Carroll and Alex Thomas, two-thirds of the starting outfield, and signed free agent Evan Longoria as a stabilizing factor at third base and in the clubhouse. The Diamondbacks acquired catcher Gabriel Moreno and outfielder Lourdes Gurriel Jr. from Toronto in the offseason and added complimentary pieces Tommy Pham, Paul Sewald and Jace Peterson at the August trade deadline.

Carroll and Moreno homered in Arizona’s 6-3 victory over Milwaukee at Miller Park on Tuesday and Sewald pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save. Carroll’s 444-foot homer, a two-run shot into the second deck in right-center field, came off Milwaukee ace Corbin Burnes with the Brewers holding a 3-0 lead in the third inning.

“We haven’t played like that in a bit, outside of a game here or there,” Hazen said on his radio show. “We turned around a really good pitcher with a lot of live contact. Our bullpen was incredible.

“Seeing the offense and the at-bats we have last night is a harbinger hopefully of things to come, of what we are capable of in the playoffs. And I think it we can stay with that approach, we have a chance to make some noise in the playoffs.”