After leading the Arizona Diamondbacks to the World Series, Mike Hazen laid out his goals for the offseason.
“The goalposts have been moved,” Hazen acknowledged during his season-ending press conference at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona on Wednesday, acknowledging that expectations have been raised for the 2024 season.
Arizona finished the regular season with 84 wins, narrowly edging out the Chicago Cubs in the wild-card race to reach the postseason, where they swept the Milwaukee Brewers, Los Angeles Dodgers, and Philadelphia Phillies to reach the World Series.
They won the fewest games since the 2006 St. Louis Cardinals (83), but had to settle for the National League pennant after losing to the Texas Rangers.
“It’s my responsibility to set realistic expectations, but I don’t see any reason why our realistic expectations shouldn’t be higher than they were,” he said, vowing to enter next season with higher expectations.
Arizona has only one player making more than $10 million this season, infielder Ketel Marte. It’s a team without a lot of stars.
But they’ve gotten to this point thanks to their young players. Corbin Carroll (22), Alec Thomas (23), Gabriel Moreno (23), and Heraldo Perdomo (23) have been the stars of the show. Top prospect Jordan Lawler (21) also got a taste of the big leagues.
Their biggest disappointment was their starting pitching. Madison Bumgarner was released early in the season, and Zach Davies struggled with a 7.00 ERA in 18 games. Zach Galen and Meryl Kelly led the team with a one-two punch, but there was no one to back them up. In the postseason, Brandon Part stood out, but it wasn’t enough. 보스토토 주소
In both the Championship Series and World Series, the team went with a three-man rotation with Game 4 being a bullpen game. It worked in the Championship Series, but it was a disastrous failure in the World Series.
“I take full responsibility for what happened in Game 4 of the World Series,” Hazen said, adding that he regretted not having more starting depth.