Sunday Notes: Mike Hazen on AZ’s Middle Infield, and More From the GM Meetings

The Arizona Diamondbacks might have the best middle-infield duo in MLB, which is something most people outside of their fanbase probably aren’t aware of. Mike Hazen didn’t disagree when I suggested as much to him in Las Vegas.

“We’ve always dealt with that,” the D-Backs general manager replied. “We play on the West Coast — we play late for the East Coast — and we’re not on national TV a lot, so it comes with the territory. But yeah, [Geraldo] Perdomo probably had a top-five season in all of baseball this year, and [Ketel] Marte does it every year. With those two guys, along with [Corbin] Carroll, I think we have three of the top 25-30 guys in all of baseball.”

That was certainly the case in 2025. Carroll, the club’s right-fielder, ranked seventh-best in MLB with 6.5 WAR, while the keystone combination came in at fifth-best (Perdomo at 7.1) and 24th-best (Marte at 4.6) respectively. Productive bats were a big reason for that. Carroll put up a 139 wRC+, Perdomo was a tick below at 138, and Marte was fourth-highest in the senior circuit at 145.

How long Arizona’s middle infield will remain intact is currently in question. Rumors that Marte — on tap to gain 10-5 rights in the coming season — could be traded have been circulating, and while Hazen has reportedly said that moving the 32-year-old second baseman is “mostly unlikely,” he has also acknowledged a need to listen to offers. Howe many of those he has received to this point is unknown, but given Marte’s résumé — the three-time All-Star has a 140 wRC+ and 15.3 WAR over the past three seasons — the return would be noteworthy.

As for Perdomo, he recently celebrated his 26th birthday and is under team control through 2030, so he seems a near lock to remain a Snake for the foreseeable future. Who would be the shortstop’s double-play partner if/when Marte goes elsewhere? Looking farther down the road, the answer may well be Kayson Cunningham. Drafted 18th overall this year out of San Antonio’s Lady Bird Johnson High School, the 19-year-old infielder is currently No. 70 on The Board with a 55 FV.

“He’s a decent little shortstop, but he’s going to move mostly to second base,” Hazen said of the 5-10, 182-pound Cunningham. “He’s got a good bat. He can really hit. It’s going to take him awhile, though. He’s young.”

Which brings us to the near term and a 23-year-old Stanford product who currently projects to be on the 2026 roster in a reserve role. Drafted 12th overall in 2023, Tommy Troy split this past season between Double-A and Triple-A, swatting 15 home runs, swiping 24 bases, and logging a 115 wRC+.

“He’s playing second base and center,” Hazen said of the 45 FV prospect. “He had a good season and will be on the radar next year. Ryan Waldschmidt, the kid we got from [the University of] Kentucky, will also be on the radar.”

Waldschmidt, an outfielder who was drafted 31st overall in 2024, has a 50 FV and is presently ranked the system’s top prospect. Does Hazen foresee room on the big-league roster for either or both of Waldschmidt and Troy?

“There is no team in baseball that can’t find room for good players,” replied the D-Backs exec. “[Lourdes] Gurriel is probably out for half the season. We’ll see what we do with the rest of the position player group.”

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RANDOM HITTER-PITCHER MATCHUPS

Troy Tulowitzki went 1 for 9 against Craig Stammen.

Troy Glaus went 1 for 9 against Trevor Hoffman.

Troy O’Leary went 1 for 9 against Jason Marquis.

Robinson Canó went 1 for 9 against Troy Patton.

Greg Vaughn went 1 for 8 against Troy Percival.

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Trades are uncommon during the GM Meetings, and that is true even for the notoriously swap-heavy Mariners. But they do happen from time to time, so I asked Justin Hollander, Seattle’s second-in-command, about any deals the Jerry Dipoto-led organization might have made in previous November sessions.

“We completed a trade with the Rays,” recalled Hollander, who has been in the Mariners front office since 2016. “Jake Fraley and Mallex Smith were involved in it, if I remember correctly. That would have been at the 2018 GM Meetings in [Carlsbad, California]. My last year with Anaheim, we traded for Andrelton Simmons at the [2015] GM Meetings. Those are the two that stand out. There are some small deals that happen every once in awhile, but as far as larger-scale GM Meetings deals, it would be Andrelton Simmons and the [aforementioned] Mike Zunino trade with the Rays.”

Dipoto came to Seattle in 2015 (he’d also been with the Angels, and briefly the Red Sox), first as general manager, and since 2021 as president of baseball operations. How many times over the past decade have the Mariners been on the verge of a GM Meetings deal, only to have it not happen?

“We get close to making trades all the time,” replied Hollander. “But nothing stands out as a substantial trade that we thought we were going to make that fell through.”

Asked if he is at all surprised that there aren’t more trades consummated in the precursor to December’s Winter Meetings, Hollander said that he isn’t.

“You’re trying to get a feel for what the marketplace has to offer,” he explained. “With free agency just starting you want to weigh different possibilities against each other, and trying to sort out the market five to seven days after [the World Series] ends is very hard. Having more complete information usually leads to better decisions.”

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Chatting with fellow scribes in Vegas, the idea came up that the Reds and Red Sox would be compatible trade partners. Cincinnati has pitching depth and could use an offensive upgrade, while Boston has outfield depth and is in want of a quality starter to slot behind Garrett Crochet. With that in mind, would a Jarren Duran-for-Nick Lodolo swap make sense for both sides?

The former has three seasons of team control and is coming off of a year where he recorded 70 extra-base hits, 24 steals, and a 111 wRC+. The latter has two seasons of team control and logged a 3.33 ERA, a 3.81 ERA, and a 24.3% strikeout rate over 156-and-two-thirds innings.

Which team would say no this theoretical deal? A poll I ran on Friday suggests that it would be the Reds, and that could very well be the case. Either way, I have to believe that both Boston and Cincinnati would seriously consider pulling the trigger on this theoretical deal.

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A quiz:

Five of the 33 players with 3,000 or more MLB hits have a last name starting with the letter B. Who are they? (Bonus quiz: Which of the five has the most home runs?)

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NEWS NOTES

Notable among recent coaching staff changes is John Gibbons joining the Los Angeles Angels as Kurt Suzuki’s bench coach. The former Toronto Blue Jays manager spent the past two seasons as the New York Mets’ bench coach.

Kris Negrón is another notable new hire. A member of the Seattle Mariners staff for the past four seasons, Negrón is reportedly joining the Pittsburgh Pirates to become Don Kelly’s bench coach.

Tom Timmermann, a right-hander who pitched for the Detroit Tigers and Cleveland Indians across the 1969-1974 seasons, died this past week at age 85. A native of Breese, Illinois, Timmermann finished his career with a record of 35-35 with 35 saves, registering a 3.78 ERA over 548 innings. He had 27 saves for the Tigers in 1970.

Bill Slack died on November 9 at age 92. A member of the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, the Sarnia, Ontario native pitched in the Red Sox organization for 13 seasons (never reaching the majors) then went on to manage at different levels within the system for 17 more seasons. He also managed and coached down on the farm for the Atlanta Braves.

Nominations are being accepted for the 2026 SABR Analytics Conference Research Awards. More information can be found here.

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The answer to the quiz is Adrian Beltré, Craig Biggio, Wade Boggs, George Brett, and Lou Brock. Beltré has the most home runs of the bunch.

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Alejandro Rosario is a promising prospect — the 23-year-old right-hander ranks third in the Texas Rangers system with a 45 FV — but he won’t be pitching for at least another season. I learned as much when I asked Chris Young about him in Las Vegas.

“Alejandro had an elbow injury and is going to miss all of next year as he recovers,” Texas’s president of baseball operations told me. “We’re hoping to have him back in 2027, hopefully by spring training of 2027.”

Young wouldn’t disclose if Rosario has had Tommy John surgery, saying only that the 2023 fifth-round pick out of the University of Miami has “a common elbow injury.”

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Washington Nationals pitchers didn’t miss many bats in 2025. The team that new president of baseball operations Paul Toboni is inheriting finished with just a 19.9% strikeout rate, which ranked third-worst in MLB. Not surprisingly, he sees that as an issue.

“Missing bats is good, so we want to miss bats,” Toboni told me at the GM Meetings. “I think it starts with doing a really good job of staffing out with folks who can create a structure for our pitching staff, to put together a process for them to do so. Create a culture, not solely around that, but to be a big piece of it. It’s a debate that has been solved over time, right? It’s an important thing to do, so we’re going to want to do it.”

Shortly after I talked to Toboni it was announced that the Nationals have hired Simon Mathews away from the Cincinnati Reds to be their new pitching coach. The 30-year-old former Los Angeles Angels prospect replaces 64-year-old Jim Hickey.

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FOREIGN AFFAIRS

The Australian Baseball League season got underway this week with the Sydney Blue Sox looking especially formidable. The team based in the capital of New South Wales beat the Brisbane Bandits by scores of 8-1 and 18-5. Erstwhile Baltimore Orioles left-hander Alex Wells was the winning pitcher in the opener, while Miami Marlins prospect Eric Rataczak homered in the second-game rout. Also going deep for the Blue Sox was 18-year-old catcher Joshua Nati.

Chicago White Sox prospect Drake Logan homered twice for the Perth Heat in their 13-0 season-opening with over the Adelaide Giants. The 25-year-old outfielder played at three levels this season, with 11 of his games coming at Triple-A Charlotte.

Kazuo Ohno has made two appearances and allowed three hits and one run over eight-and-two-thirds innings for the Puerto Rican Winter League’s Gigantes de Carolina. The 21-year-old southpaw made his NPB debut with the Fukuoka SoftBank Hawks this season, but pitched primarily with their top farm club.

Jadher Areinamo is slashing .326/.375/.651 with seven home runs in 96 plate appearances for the Venezuelan Winter League’s Tiburones de La Guaira. Acquired by Tampa Bay from Milwaukee this summer as part of the Danny Jansen deal, the 21-year-old middle infielder is No. 17 in our Rays rankings with a 40+ FV.

Japan outscored South Korea 11-4 yesterday to win the first of two exhibition games in Seoul. A three-run pinch-hit home run by Tokyo Yomiuri Giants catcher Yukinori Kishida broke a 3-3 fifth-inning deadlock.

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A lot of baseball fans know that Warren Spahn finished his Hall of Fame career with 363 wins and 363 base hits. Not as well known, and even more remarkable, is the distribution.

Spahn had 356 wins with the Braves, four with the Mets, and three with the Giants
Spahn had 356 hits with the Braves, four with the Mets, and three with the Giants.

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A random obscure former player snapshot:

Ollie Welf isn’t as famous as Moonlight Graham, but his career was strikingly similar. A pitcher/outfielder by trade, Welf appeared in just one big-league game, with the Cleveland Indians on August 30, 1916. He wasn’t on the field for long. The Ohio State University product pinch-ran with two out in the ninth inning and the next batter was retired to end the contest.

His minor-league tenure was lengthier, albeit still relatively brief. Welf played four seasons down on the farm, all of them in the Class D Cotton State League. He suited up for the Greenwood Chauffeurs, Meridian White Ribbons, Meridian Metropolitans, and Hattiesburg Timberjacks/Columbus Joy Riders.

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FARM NOTES

The Surprise Saguaros won the Arizona Fall League championship game on Friday night, scoring seven times in the eighth inning to beat the Peoria Javelinas 9-4. A two-run single by 22-year-old Cleveland Guardians infield prospect Juan Benjamin plated the decisive tallies.

Esmerlyn Valdez was named the AFL’s Offensive Player of the Year. The 21-year-old outfielder/first baseman in the Pittsburgh Pirates system led the circuit in home runs (8) and slugging percentage (.842). Somewhat surprisingly, the honor didn’t go to Max Anderson, who led in batting average (.447), OBP (.609), and OPS (1,417). The 23-year-old Detroit Tigers infield prospect topped Valdez by a wide margin in the first two of those categories.

James Hicks took home Pitcher of the Year honors in the hitter-friendly league. The 24-year-old right-hander in the Houston Astros organization allowed just six hits and a pair of walks over 14 scoreless innings. He fanned 19 batters.

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Alfredo Duno didn’t have a good AFL season from a statistical standpoint. The 19-year-old backstop slashed just .213/.356/.298 over 59 plate appearances. Even so, the Miranda, Venezuela native projects to have a rosy future.

“He’s super talented,” Cincinnati Reds GM Brad Meador said of the organization’s top-rated prospect. “He can really hit. He has big power. We feel that he has a chance to be a middle-of-the-lineup hitter who will do damage. The focus for him is behind the plate, for him to continue developing defensively. The bat will move faster than the defense.

“He’s very athletic for a catcher, especially for as big as he is (Duno is listed at 6-foot-2, 210 pounds), added Meador. “He moves well. We just have to keep developing him behind the plate. Is he a catcher long term? He certainly wants to be, and he puts in the work. We think he has the ability, so we’ll see how it plays out.”

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Cam Collier had a solid 2025 season with the bat. The No. 6 prospect in the Reds system slashed .279/.391/.384 with a 124 wRC+ while playing at three levels, primarily in Double-A. Which pitcher did he face that had him walking out of the box thinking, “Man, this dude is really nasty?”

“It would have to be Thomas White,” Collier said of the 21-year-old (as of late September) left-hander in the Miami Marlins organization. “Man, he has a great future. For a young guy, that dude could spot the ball where he wanted to, and at premium velocity. He’s just a dominant pitcher.”

White had a 2.31 ERA, a 2.27 ERA, and a 38.6% strikeout rate over 89-and-two-thirds innings across three levels, topping out in Triple-A. He is currently No. 18 on The Board with a 55 FV.

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LINKS YOU’LL LIKE

Who are the top defensive players in free agency? Mark Simon answered that question at Sports Info Solutions.

MLB.com’s Thomas Harding wrote about how Paul DePodesta is already digging in on how to improve the Rockies’ reputation.

At The Chicago Sun-Times, Maddie Lee wrote about how the Cubs don’t have many player contract commitments past 2026, and what that could mean going forward.

Duane Kuiper is insulted by Joe Maddon feeling insulted, and Sean Keane wrote about it at McCovey Chronicles.

The Athletic’s Evan Drellich wrote about how, after a pitch-betting scheme, MLB team execs know that they face a problem — but don’t know how to fix it.

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RANDOM FACTS AND STATS

The Arizona Diamondbacks had 64 sacrifice flies this year, the most in the majors.
The Pittsburgh Pirates had 32 sacrifice flies this year, the fewest in the majors.

The Miami Marlins allowed 191 stolen bases, the most in the majors.
The Kansas City Royals allowed 47 stolen bases, the fewest in the majors.

Tony Oliva had 40.7 WAR, 220 home runs, and a 129 wRC+.
Don Mattingly had 40.7 WAR, 222 home runs, and a 124 wRC+.
George Springer has 40.6 WAR, 293 home runs, and a 130 wRC+.

Bobby Richardson was named an All-Star in seven of his nine full seasons with the New York Yankees. The slick-fielding second baseman finished his career with 6.3 WAR and a 78 wRC+ while slashing .266/.299/.335 in regular-season play. He slashed .305/.331/.405 over 138 plate appearances in the World Series.

On today’s date in 1950, the Pittsburgh Pirates selected Dale Long from the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft. The lefty first baseman went on to set a since-equalled major-league record by homering in eight consecutive games in 1956. Then with the Pirates, he would later become one of the few left-handed throwers to catch in an MLB game. Long did so twice with the Chicago Cubs in 1958.

The Pacific Coast League’s Mission Reds signed Boom-Boom Beck on today’s date in 1934. The right-hander, who had been pitching for the Brooklyn Dodgers, proceeded to go 52-61 with a 4.04 ERA over three seasons with the PCL club. Beck later returned to MLB and had thrown more than 3,900 professional innings by the time he finished his career with the Toledo Mud Hens in 1950.

Players born on today’s date include Herb Washington, whose MLB career comprised 105 appearances for the Oakland Athletics, all as a pinch-runner, across the 1974-1975 seasons. A world-class sprinter with little previous baseball experience, the Michigan State University product scored 33 runs and was 31-for-48 in stolen base attempts.

Also born on today’s date was Glenn Burke, who holds the distinction of being the first MLB player to come out to as gay. An outfielder who played in 225 games for the Los Angeles Dodgers and Oakland Athletics from 1976-1979, Along with Dusty Baker, Burke is credited with inventing the high five.