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Things have picked up quite a bit on the trade and free-agent front for the D-backs over the past week, which could mean they make a move before -- or at -- the Winter Meetings.

Or not. With these things, you never know until it happens.

"I've said this a million times before: What does 'close' mean?" Hazen said. "We're involved in a number of different things. I think the trade market has been extremely active this week in advance of the Meetings, which is a little atypical, in my opinion. So yeah, it could happen."

The D-backs continue to get a lot of calls on their young group of outfielders. While they're not willing to talk about dealing Corbin Carroll, it's possible they could move one of the other three: Jake McCarthy, Alek Thomas or Daulton Varsho.

Hazen has talked since the end of the regular season about the desire to add to the bullpen as well as pick up a right-handed bat, a backup catcher (or maybe a starting one) and possibly starting-pitching depth.

But these things are fluid, and Hazen hinted that there may be other ways to improve the team that haven't been discussed as much. That could mean that other places on the roster that seemed settled might not actually be.

"We're going to aggressively help our team any way we can," Hazen said. "We're not shutting off opportunities to do it. We'll be interested to see if there's other creative ways to make our team better, even if that's not in a way we've talked about. We're exploring a bunch of different ideas that might change the complexion of our team a little bit, but that's OK. I think we need to be open to these things to move the ball forward."

If something does happen before the Meetings, it would likely be with regards to a reliever or relievers. Dealing one of their outfielders will take a little more time.

"I think the other areas that we're in, from the trade-market standpoint, are probably still pretty far away," Hazen said. "But you never know. Those things change on a dime."

All of which should make the months ahead very interesting.