Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen tells Jody Oehler on The Drive that trading Paul Goldschmidt to the St. Louis Cardinals has been in the works since the end of the 2018 MLB season. Goldy was dealt for right handed pitcher Luke Weaver, catcher Carson Kelly and infielder Andrew Young and 2019 Competitive Balance Round B draft pick.
"We’ve been spending the last two months pretty much straight on this (Paul Goldschmidt trade)."
Hazen tells Jody he had convince D-Backs owner Ken Kendrick and team president Derrick Hall that it was the right move.
"I wouldn’t say it was received eagerly - we knew that conversation, even broaching the subject going to be difficult given what he means (to the franchise). Ultimately, both of them gave us their blessing to move forward with it, but in conversations there was always the acknowledgement of what we were proposing to do."
The GM has never felt handcuffed by ownership as he enters his third offseason with the ball club.
"I’ll felt the latitude to do just about anything since we’ve been here. We certainly appreciate how Ken and Derrick have approached our doing our jobs. It’s led to, from a baseball operations perspective, for us to be creative."
Hazen believes the Snakes are still in good position after trading Goldy and competing the last two seasons.
"We still feel pretty good about the team that we have. I think we are moving in a direction where we had to start making some more difficult type decisions."
The general manager says there are more moves to be made due to a roster filled with players moving towards free agency.
"It’s becoming more challenging given that our roster not aging from an age standpoint but from a control standpoint. We have a number of players that contracts are coming up in the next couple of years and you can never bank on doing an extension.
This is a tough division. In order to compete year-in and year-out you need talent and a lot of it. Unfortunately at the upper levels of our system we haven’t had as much as we needed to and we felt like we needed to make this deal to build upon that for awhile now."
Hazen tells Oehler he hopes to get the D-Backs back to contention sooner rather than later.
"We’re hoping to bridge that gap as quickly as possible. Maybe even creatively though some other trades, free agent signings, be able to reimagine this team in 2019 a little differently."
Jody lobbied for the Snakes to keep and potentially extend Goldy but Hazen says at the end of the day that wasn't an option.
"There wasn’t a deal had is the way I’ll put it. The nuances around that are somewhat irrelevant at this point. There’s always that chance that a deal can be done in the future but you can’t bank on that."
Hazen notes that along with the three players coming over a 2019 Competitive Balance Round B draft pick.
"We will have seven picks in the top 80 for so a very, very important draft for us going into next year."
Jody point blank asked Hazen if he felt the pressure of potentially being known as the guy who traded Paul Goldschmidt.
"That’s a complicated question. Do you have regrets about trading Paul Goldschmidt? Yes, you do. Did I go home last night and remind myself 100 times that I traded Paul Goldschmidt? Yes, I did do that. It comes with a pretty heavy weight given who we’re talking about."
Apparently Mike Hazen is facing some critics at home as well for the blockbuster deal.
Jody: What did your kids think about it (trading Paul Goldschmidt)?
Mike Hazen: They weren't happy. Jody: Because sometimes you get the most truth from the kids.
Hazen: Oh yeah, they reminded me of what I just did and I don't think they were particularly happy.
LISTEN to the entire Mike Hazen interview with Jody Oehler on The Drive.