D-backs' GM Gave Blunt Speech to Team after Deadline

The Arizona Diamondbacks had an opportunity to prevent GM Mike Hazen from selling key members of their clubhouse at the deadline, but the team's play did not meet that requirement.

After sweeping the first series out of the break, Arizona lost eight of their next nine games. That sealed their fate as sellers, as Hazen went on to trade players like Eugenio Suárez, Josh Naylor, Randal Grichuk and Merrill Kelly.

As much as Hazen would have likely preferred not to do that, he felt as if that was the necessary path forward after seeing the way the D-backs played out of the All-Star Break.

In a recent article by AZCentral's Nick Piecoro, it was revealed that Hazen gave a blunt message to the team the day after the Deadline, addressing the moves he made, and urging them to raise their level of play.

Arizona Diamondbacks' Mike Hazen Gives Blunt Message to Team

According to Piecoro, Hazen apologized for selling off beloved teammates, but emphasized that the overall performance needed to change moving forward.

“It’s frustrating for all of us, but I just said the next two months really matter for a lot of people in this room, for the team, to play good baseball,” Hazen told Piecoro. “Even if you may feel a certain way about where you are, this stuff matters to your teammates.

"There’s a teammate of yours that this matters a lot to. I said, ‘The standard of baseball that we expect from being a Diamondback player is not going to change. I’m not letting it change for the manager, the coaches, and it’s not going to change for the players.’”

“I just said, ‘I don’t think any us can look at what’s happened over the last 10 days and feel like that’s been the quality of baseball we should expect to play.’”

Evidently, Hazen's message made it through, at least to some. After the D-backs lost game one against the Athletics in their first series post-Deadline, they followed it up with two excellent performances.

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Arizona won back-to-back games and the series in Sacramento. They scored seven and six runs respectively, pitched well, and played much better defense, while beginning to see flashes of regaining their former chaotic nature.

Outfielder Alek Thomas spoke to D-backs.TV's Todd Walsh after Saturday's win, citing Hazen's speech as a motivating factor to his three multi-hit games in the series.

"I don't know if it spoke to anybody else, but I feel like it spoke to me a little bit and I appreciate him coming in and talking to us about that," Thomas said.

"I think it definitely motivated me to do whatever I can to help this team win. It was pretty cool and I'm glad we're back to what we're supposed to do. That's one game, but, hopefully we can just keep on stacking wins and get things back on track."

Infielder Blaze Alexander told Walsh on Sunday that Hazen's message "motivated the hell out of [the team]."

"[It] definitely motivated me. This is my opportunity, and I'm running at it full steam ahead. I'm going to take advantage of every day I'm out there with these guys."

"It just felt different in the clubhouse [Sunday morning]," Alexander said. "We were playing some music, vibes were good, good breakfast, just really good vibes. We got that losing streak off our back and now it's time for a win streak."

Manager Torey Lovullo said he appreciated Hazen's message. Speaking to Walsh, the manager continued to express unwavering confidence in his club.

"Mike [Hazen]'s a great leader," Lovullo said. "He took accountability for what's going on here. He talked to the group from his heart."

"And that's how this group is. They accept that. They understand that. It doesn't throw them off when they hear something that's passionate and emotional and honest, and they know how to process that

"That tells me that this group is very capable. They're aware, they're smart, and they know what's at stake. And they go out there and play their their finest game every single time they can," Lovullo said.

At 53-59, there's a long way to go for the D-backs to claw their way back to contention. With a decimated offense and pitching staff, contending may end up being off the table in the end, though not impossible statistically.

But one thing is fairly obvious. The team took that messaging to heart, and they're more competent than they've shown in recent stretches.

If they want to remain relevant, that will have to continue.

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