GM Mike Hazen Had Blunt Statement on D-backs Bullpen

The Arizona Diamondbacks' bullpen has long been a source of stress, frustration and heartbreak. 2025 was shaping up to rewrite that narrative — until the injuries hit.

The D-backs lost both of their closer options and two of their setup men to lengthy injuries.

Closers A.J. Puk and Justin Martinez both underwent Tommy John Surgery. Shelby Miller was traded and injured. Kevin Ginkel and Ryan Thompson both underperformed to start the year and later spent significant time on the IL.

That all added up to the fourth-worst total relief ERA in baseball (4.82).

In his end-of-season press conference, GM Mike Hazen was blunt about the bullpen's construction, and what needs to happen for Arizona to be competitive in the future.

Arizona Diamondbacks' GM Mike Hazen Blunt on Bullpen

"We need to do a better job of putting together a bullpen," Hazen said. "I think Torey [Lovullo] and I have talked about this. How we're using some of the bullpen, we need to do a better job at.

"Injury as it happens in the bullpen, nobody in baseball has figured out how to put their finger on it necessarily. But it's not luck. We can be doing a better job. We are going to spend some time this offseason really diving into those types of things."

Hazen did not get into specifics as to how Arizona plans to address the bullpen this offseason, but he did point to the 2026 Trade Deadline as a potential opportunity to land relief arms.

"I think the group underneath the pitchers that have gone out there, it hasn't been a strong enough group to come in and fill the holes as needed. Clearly, we'll go out there, and we'll make changes to it at the Trade Deadline when we're afforded those opportunities.

"That is available to us, to be able to go out there and make adjustments as we go through the season. I think it's on us. The group of kids that are in Reno to start the season have to be in a better spot to come up and plug holes in the back end of the bullpen when you take on injuries," he said.

For the most part, the D-backs have performed better as a whole bullpen group when there is a defined closer — Paul Sewald's 2023 arrival is a prime example.

Hazen was noncommittal about the possibility of going out to acquire a true closer, but did acknowledge the effect of having a strict ninth-inning arm.

"I think having a closer has definitely set up some of our better bullpens. We had three of them this year. They all got hurt," he said.

"What you would perceive as me going out and getting a closer is probably a little more gray to that. I think setting up the bullpen from the ninth inning moving forward makes a lot of sense. I think it's been where we've had success.

"We'll see where that takes us. I think we have more to do than just the closer in the bullpen," Hazen said.

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