Mike Hazen discusses the signing of Michael Soroka

Today, the Arizona Diamondbacks made official the free-agent signing of pitcher Michael Soroka, who is expected to become part of the Opening Day rotation for the team. To make room for the player on the 40-man roster, Arizona designated pitcher Bryce Jarvis for assignment. GM Mike Hazen spoke to the media this afternoon, explaining what drew his eye to Soroka, and what may follow for the team. [This transcript has been lightly edited for readability]

What was it about Mike Soroka: what can you tell us about why he was the right signing for you.

We’ve been in the market for starting pitching, likely multiple starting pitchers, this offseason. We felt like Mike had the combination of stuff, bounce-back potential, and upside to make a good fit for us. I know there’s been some things in the past from an injury standpoint that we felt like very comfortable with, in terms of the work that he had put in. He’s worked hard at building out his arsenal: he started to do that at the end of last year. We feel confident that’s going to translate into success in 2026. But more than anything else I think the background, the stuff, the ability to go out and compete, the makeup as a starting pitcher – we felt like it was a good deal for us.

What did he add to his repertoire?

He’s just building out his pitch arsenal right now. He’s added a couple of pitches to his arsenal: we’ll see how they play going forward. But he did some of that in Chicago, and then into the off-season. We’re confident that the way he’s going to present moving forward, in addition to obviously a couple of really good pitches that he already has, we think that has a chance to take him to the next level.

As you look to round out the rest of your rotation, do you imagine being able to do so with trade or free agency?

I don’t know: maybe both. We are in both markets right now, so it could come in either one of those.

Back to Soroka real quick. Is this a pitcher that you maybe targeted or scouted heavily in the past, or did he really come on your acquisition radar more over the last few months?

We’ve tried to acquire him in the past, in different contexts at different times. But he was one of our early priorities when we went off into this off-season.

Anything getting closer do you feel like?

I’ve told you guys this before. It’s hard for me to be able to truly characterize what “close” means. Yes, I think we’re within a phone call or two away from getting something done. But whether and how that comes, is to be determined.

It seems like with all the injuries, that maybe having guys you can really count on to log innings is important. How did you square that with Soroka’s injury history?

Yeah, it’s a good question. I think in the way the pitching is built out so far – to be determined based on what we do next – I think we have a number of guys at the AAA level and above, who probably fit into that category. In terms of being able to come up and pitch for us in that “logging innings”, depth standpoint, we feel like the floor has been raised a little bit, from the growth of some of our young minor league players, and then the trades that we made last year at the deadline. So we felt a little more confident because of that. But, certainly, that issue is something we’re still focused on, adding innings to our starting rotation.

Anything new on the Ketel Marte front?

No, nothing new. Nothing to report.

With regards to that, would your preference – if such a trade were to transpire – be to acquire a front-line level starting picture or would your preference be to attract multiple trade pieces?

Yeah, I don’t really have an answer for that. I understand the question. It’s just fairly difficult for me to answer, and I’m not going to tip anything about which direction we would go.

What’s the interest been like on there on your left-handed hitting outfielders?

Fairly steady. I feel like it doesn’t seem there’s enough focus on it right now, with what’s out there from a trade conversation standpoint. So I’m assuming, at some point in time, that becomes more of a focus for us and other teams.

Derek Hall and Ken Kendrick have both indicated publicly on the radio that payroll is likely to be a bit less than last year. Are they talking about less than last year’s opening day or less than year-end, as a result of some of the moves at the trade deadline?

You’d have to ask them that question. I don’t know. I have some maneuverability in the market from a financial standpoint, so that’s what I’m most concerned with right now. Where that goes ultimately won’t be my answer – it’ll be theirs.