Amiel Sawdaye and Mike Hazen: The new GMs in town

What went into the decision to take this job, and what made it appealing?
Obviously, the relationship with Mike made it the most appealing. There’s a lot of good, young talent here - a lot of really good people. really good players, up and down the roster. I think the new challenge for me, is something that I’m really excited about, and I’m excited to be out here in the desert.

Mike, what led you to the hiring and what makes you excited about it?
Amiel and I have worked together for a long time. I’ve had the opportunity to watch first-hand how he has grown as a front-office executive, an evaluator and a scouring director. He has done so many things in the office in Boston, contributed to so many good players being there, the process around drafting players, signing players, contributing to major-league decisions. He’s very smart, he’s passionate about baseball, he’s one of those people I’ve worked side-by-side with. I think he’s going to add a lot to what we’re doing here. He’s a huge piece of what we’re going to be doing moving forward.

What will some of his responsibilities be?
Obviously, he’s going to be working very closely with us on the major-league side, a step-up in responsibility from where he was in Boston, given his more primary focus on signing players, draft, international-type stuff. So he’ll be working directly with us on the major-league club, with the major-league coaching staff. He’ll also oversee a lot of the process that goes into our evaluation and scouting. We want to fine-tune what we do there. They’ve done a really good job in the draft here recently, with Deric [Ladnier, scouting director] and we want to just continue that. I think Amiel will be a valuable resource for these guys. as we continue to focus on that area of the operation. As every club does, it’s such a vital piece to what you want to have, operating at peak efficiency for productive sustainability moving forwarded.

Have you decided what style of baseball you will employ?
Not really - we don’t have a manager yet, and that’s a big piece to the equation. They’re going to bring their philosophies. They’re the ones working with the players on a day-to-day basis. We will contribute, certainly, from a philosophical standpoint, and there’s going to be a lot of discussions around that. I think there’s probably some core beliefs that everyone holds, in regard to playing smart and intelligent baseball. But as fae as specifics, no, we haven’t really got into that yet.

What was your interview with Dave Dombrowski like and how close did you come to taking the position in Boston?
The interview went great, it was a great chance to spend some time with Dave. Enjoyed working with him and the Red Sox, Both the opportunities were out there. I chose to come here for the new challenge.

Have you begun the managerial interviews at this point?
No, we’re going to start doing that shortly.

Do you expect Bryan Minniti and Mike Bell to stay on? It sounds like Deric is staying on.
I don’t really want to get into any other specific people in the office. I look at this as an addition to the good people that are here. There are going to be opportunities for a lot of people here. Any additions are just going to contribute further to what we’re trying to do. As we go through this process, it’s a challenging process any time anyone new comes in. I think what we want more than anything else is for everybody to feel valued and have a really good place for what we’re going to do moving forward.

You sound like you’re pretty close to getting started on the managerial search. How many names do you think you’re going to have and when do you expect to begin?
We’re going to get started shortly. I don’t really want to get into too many specifics, but I think somewhere between five and seven guys is what we’re going to look at initially. But leaving that open-ended. We’re trying to find the right person, and as you go through these processes, sometimes it’s fluid in terms of finding the right fit for our ball-club in the short- and long-term.