Red Sox Reportedly Interested In Reunion With Ex-GM To Replace Chaim Bloom
The Boston Red Sox will need to pick former chief baseball officer Chaim Bloom's successor in the near future and reportedly are contemplating bringing back a former front-office member to run the new regime.
"Mike Hazen is one of the names discussed within the Boston organization as (a) possible head of baseball operations," ESPN's Buster Olney reported Sunday. "He's under contract with the D-Backs through next season, with a club option for '25. The Red Sox would need permission to talk to him. Might be an opportunity for him to get an extension from Arizona."
Hazen currently is the Diamondbacks executive vice president and general manager, which is the top baseball operations member of their front office. He's been there since 2016 and has had middling success.
Prior to his run with Arizona, Hazen spent a decade in the Red Sox organization, starting as a director of player development and working his way up to general manager, serving under Dave Dombrowski.
Hazen is from Abington Mass., and could be motivated to return to the organization under the right circumstances.
It's unclear where Hazen ranks among Boston's candidates for the position. On one hand, he traded for Cy-Young candidate Zac Gallen, traded for and extended versatile star Ketel Marte twice, traded for J.D. Martinez to set off one of the greatest post-trade deadline runs of all time before the slugger went to Boston and extended budding superstar Corbin Carroll for pennies on the dollar.
That said, he also whiffed hard in the acquisition of left-hander Madison Bumgarner and has yet to spend much of anything in free agency -- though the Diamondbacks' constraints will be much tighter than Boston's. He also, like Bloom, was forced to trade the face of the franchise and got absolutely nothing in return. His trade of first baseman Paul Goldschmidt was far worse than Bloom's trade of Mookie Betts. His record of 489-531 does not do any favors as well.
As a fellow Abington native it would be cool to see him join the Red Sox's front office yet again. However, there likely are more intriguing options available, such as Los Angeles Dodgers exec Brandon Gomes.
More MLB: Red Sox's Alex Cora Takes Hard Stance On Whether He Wants To Replace Chaim Bloom
