Recap: How the front office rating works
This is one in a series of assessments of the performances of front offices for the 2024 season. Each front office is given a score based on the total Wins Above Average of the players they either traded for, signed via free agency or extension, or promoted from their farm system, since the conclusion of the 2023 postseason.
A front office’s score also includes the total Wins Above Average of players traded away or lost to free agency since the end of the 2023 postseason. The front offices are being presented in order of their total value from No. 30 (worst) all the way to No. 1 (best).
These ratings do not necessarily reflect the final standings. Front offices are measured based only on the talent they acquired or lost during the past 12 months. Players on multi-year contracts, or already under team control, don’t count toward this rating.
No. 15: Arizona Diamondbacks, Mike Hazen, executive vice president and general manager, +1.9
Mike Hazen took a lot of heat last summer for his dogged and ultimately ill-fated pursuit of Jordan Montgomery. A stalwart in the Rangers’ 2023 World Series rotation, Montgomery held out for top dollar that winter, missing all of spring training and not signing until the regular season was in progress.
When Montgomery sat out the season’s first three weeks and then produced a 6.23 ERA — a career-worst figure — and the Diamondbacks missed a return postseason bid by the margin of a tie-breaker, Hazen caught a lot of flack for letting the whole issue drag into the regular season.
There’s no question that, on a short-term basis at least, the two-year, $47.5 million contract Montgomery eventually got was a loser. Montgomery produced -2.5 Wins Above Average, making his signing Hazen’s single worst move of the offseason.
It also put a hit on Hazen’s reputation for judging veterans that was, otherwise, unmerited. Overall, the D-Backs GM actually did pretty well in signing veteran talent, signing Randal Grichuk, Kevin Newman and Joc Pederson.
The net impact of those guns-for-hire amounted to +5.2 WAA. Montgomery, in other words, was the exception; a painful and costly one, but still an exception.
Five most impactful Hazen moves
Transaction | Net Impact (Wins Above Average) |
|---|---|
Signed free agent Jordan Montgomery | -2.5 |
Promoted pitcher Slade Cecconi | -1.8 |
Released Tommy Pham to free agency | +1.7 |
Signed free agent Joc Pederson | +1.4 |
Sold Emanuel Rivera to Miami | +1.4 |
Starting with the conclusion of the 2023 postseason, Hazen’s front office made moves impacting 47 major leaguers, and when I tell you that only 18 of those 47 worked out positively for Arizona, that figure sounds indictable.
But this is another case where, with the exception of the Montgomery signing, the errors turned out to be minor while the successes were genuinely impactful. Ten players whose careers were touched by Hazen over that time period produced values exceeding +1.0 or -1.0 WAA for his front office’s score, and eight of those 10 values were positive.
Aside from Montgomery, the only other exception was Slade Cecconi, a rookie call-up.
What Hazen’s front office did not do was add any pieces likely to produce lasting impact. Even granting that Grichuck, Pederson and Newman were solid contributors, none are on the 2025 roster currently, and the latter two have already signed with new squads.
If the D-Backs want to close their 10-game gap on the Dodgers from 2024, that probably leaves them reliant on a diminishing core of returnees led by Corbin Carroll and Ketel Marte. However, signing Corbin Burnes could prove fortuitous for Hazen and company if the right-hander dominates atop the team's rotation.
Previous Rankings
17. Tampa Bay Rays, Eric Neander, president of baseball operations, +0.1
16. New York Mets, David Stearns, president of baseball operations, +1.2
15. Arizona Diamondbacks, Mike Hazen, executive vice president and general manager, +1.9
Next: 14. San Diego Padres, A.J. Preller, president of baseball operations and general manager, +2.0