Mike Hazen, Torey Lovullo, Craig Breslow and the connections between the Diamondbacks and Red Sox

How the relationship between the two organizations could play a role in a Ketel Marte trade or Alex Bregman's free agency

The Arizona Diamondbacks have suddenly emerged as a potential landing spot for former Boston Red Sox third baseman and current free agent Alex Bregman. The Red Sox have been considered one of the favorites to trade for Diamondbacks second baseman Ketel Marte.

Let’s dig a little deeper into some of the relationships between the key decision makers on these two teams that could allow a sort of superstar swap like this to even be possible.

Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen and manager Torey Lovullo both have deep ties to the Red Sox. Hazen was with the Red Sox organization from 2006-2016, serving as the team’s general manager under president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski from 2015-2016. Lovullo served as the Red Sox bench coach from 2013-2016, and was briefly the interim manager during the end of the 2015 season. Red Sox chief baseball officer Craig Breslow was a part of the Red Sox organization as a player from 2012-2015, overlapping with both Hazen and Lovullo.

Hazen, Lovullo and Breslow all played key roles on the Red Sox team that won the World Series in 2013.

Hazen has used his familiarity with the Red Sox organization to woo free agents to the desert in the past. Most notably, he utilized his relationship with Eduardo Rodriguez, who he worked with on the Red Sox from 2015-2016, Rodriguez’s first two seasons in the Majors, to sign him following the D-backs’ World Series appearance in 2023. Hazen said that his meeting with Rodriguez at that year’s Winter Meetings lasted over two hours and was the longest he has had with a player in his career.

Here’s what Rodriguez said about his relationship with Hazen during his introductory press conference (via MLB.com).

“They didn’t have to sell me too much, because I trust them back from Boston. That stems from the relationship we had back then.”

In Bregman’s case, while he has only played in Boston for one season, it is clear that Hazen and Lovullo are still aware of the inner-workings of the Red Sox organization and could likely use that to help them in their pursuit of the two-time World Series champion.

In addition to Hazen and Lovullo’s Boston connections, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal laid out some of the other reasons why Bregman could be a match with the Diamondbacks. Rosenthal points out some of the similarities between Bregman and Corbin Burnes, who surprisingly signed a six-year, $210 million contract with the Diamondbacks last offseason. They are both represented by super agent Scott Boras, live in Phoenix during the offseason and have young families, making the ability to live in the same place year round even more appealing.

Bregman is also very familiar with the Southwest. He grew up in neighboring New Mexico, about six hours away from Phoenix in Albuquerque where his father Sam Bregman is currently running for governor.

Now let’s look at the Marte side of the equation. Ever since reports came out during the season about the Diamondbacks possibly considering a trade because of his clubhouse issues, most notably him missing crucial games after the All-Star break, the Red Sox have been linked to him.

The Red Sox seem like a perfect fit. They have not had a consistent, everyday second baseman since Dustin Pedroia’s career ended prematurely after he got spiked by Manny Machado in 2017. The Red Sox are also one of the only teams that has the combination of Major League talent and prospect capital to put together a strong enough offer for the Diamondbacks, who are notoriously averse to fielding non-competitive teams.

The potential framework for a Marte trade with the Red Sox could include one of the Red Sox’s Major League outfielders, Jarren Duran, Wilyer Abreu or Ceddanne Rafaela, along with one or two of their top younger players or prospects, like shortstop Marcelo Mayer or pitchers Payton Tolle and Connelly Early. The Red Sox also have a surplus of pitchers with more Major League experience than Tolle and Early after trades for Sonny Gray and Johan Oviedo if that is what the Diamondbacks prefer.

With a deal of this magnitude and so much talent potentially transferring between teams, it helps to be working with someone you trust. Just this offseason, Breslow has shown a willingness to make deals with front offices with Red Sox ties.

Ben Cherington was with Boston during Breslow’s initial stint as a player with the team in 2006 and later as the general manager when Breslow returned from 2012-2015. Breslow sent the Red Sox’s No. 3 prospect (per MLB Pipeline), Jhostynxon Garcia, to the Pirates, where Cherington is currently the general manager, for Oviedo.

Paul Toboni, who was with the Red Sox since 2015 before being named the Washington Nationals’ president of baseball operations in September, was considered one of Breslow’s most trusted assistants over the last two seasons. On Monday, the two completed a rare pitching prospect for pitching prospect trade, with Jake Bennet (Nationals No. 11 prospect) heading to Boston and Luis Perales (Red Sox No. 7 prospect) heading to D.C.

If you peel back the layers a bit, it is easy to see just how much familiarity there is between the Red Sox and Diamondbacks. That familiarity may just be enough to get the ball rolling on some league-altering moves involving Bregman and Marte.