The Diamondbacks’ end-of-year press conferences on Thursday, Oct. 1, largely were dominated by talk of manager Torey Lovullo’s return for another year. Coming off another playoff miss, it seemed possible Lovullo might be out. Instead, he received a two-year deal.
But there were a few more nuggets that came from general manager Mike Hazen’s portion of the afternoon. Here is a look at a few other topics that were explored during his 20-plus minute session with reporters.
Will Ketel Marte be back for another season?
Hazen sidestepped any questions about Marte’s future, saying he had yet to take a look at roster construction for next season. But he did seem to acknowledge the argument for moving on from him after another season in which Marte created drama for an unexcused absence.
“I think you
win with star players in this game,” Hazen said. “But I am also — I've said this — I'm not blind to what the clubhouse dynamic is and what the interaction between all the players and the coaches and how that comes into winning and losing games.”
Moreover, in the days surrounding Marte’s return from the restricted and injured lists in late August/early September, players seemed to intimate that they expected Marte to be moved over the winter. Multiple players made comments about getting through the year and “dealing with the situation” after the season.
Where does the blame fall for 2026?
As is often the case, Hazen largely took responsibility for the team falling two games short of a playoff appearance with an 86-76 record. He made multiple references to not doing enough in the offseason to add to the first base and designated hitter positions and to the moves he was unable to make at the trade deadline, including upgrading those positions and adding a starting pitcher.
“Clearly didn't do enough,” he said. “Left the team naked in places that it didn't need to be left naked, and we fell short by a game or two. I could go back and look at a million different ways where one or two things lead to one or two more wins, but that's one of them, too.”
He also noted the fact that his team has had some tough luck in recent playoff misses. In 2024, they won 89 games but missed out via tiebreakers against the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves. And then this year they won more than three of the six teams that reached the postseason in the American League.
“It’s hard for me to criticize 89 wins as, like, a failed season, even though you don't make the playoffs,” he said. “It's hard for me to have more wins than half the American League playoff teams and just say that we were a failure when we all play the same schedule. But there's no excuse. We didn't make it.”
What roster moves will they look to make this offseason?
The first area Hazen noted was a fairly obvious one: the need to improve against right-handed pitching, namely in the aforementioned first base/DH roles. Both were obvious areas of weakness this season.
Against right-handed pitching, the Diamondbacks hit .235/.309/.388 for a .697 OPS that ranked 26th in the majors. They had the lowest OPS at first base (.636) and the third-lowest at DH (.630) in the majors.
“The offseason priorities, from an add standpoint, are certainly going to be somewhere being a little more left-handed,” Hazen said. “We struggled versus right-handed pitching this year. So that's a clear and obvious one.”
Hazen also made a reference to wanting to “continue to improve our defense,” though he acknowledged that might be a more “subtle” upgrade, perhaps suggesting he wants stronger bench/depth options than what the Diamondbacks had this year.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Diamondbacks takeaways. What to do with Ketel Marte, offseason upgrades
