PHOENIX -- D-backs general Mike Hazen met with managing general partner Ken Kendrick and team president/CEO Derrick Hall last week to discuss the direction of the organization going forward. No firm determination has been made yet.
That's because, as Hazen said one day after the season ended, he and his staff need to gauge what both the free agent and trade markets look like first.
"We'll have to see how that progresses," Hazen said. "There could be value in the free agent market, there could be value in the trade market, but we don't know either right now."
Hazen said it will likely be another month before that starts to take shape. The payroll for 2019 has not yet been set, either, which will be another determining factor in what moves the D-backs pursue.
"We've sort of agreed to gather information and reassess from there," Hazen said of his discussions with Kendrick and Hall.
Hazen has referred to being "creative" in how he assembles next year's team particularly in how they fill potential holes left by their two big free agents -- outfielder A.J. Pollock and left-hander Patrick Corbin.
"We know we have to replace A.J. and Patrick, if they don't come back," Hazen said. "So we know starting, that way we're probably on paper a little worse for the wear than we were to start the 2018 season. We need to figure out a solution there. The creativity will come in that I don't think it's just as simple as trading prospects for Major League players. That's been the formula that we have used in the past."
It's possible the D-backs could look to trade an established player for another established -- or near-established -- player that fills a hole on the roster.
Or maybe it's trading a player and saving money on his salary to then use to fill one of the holes.
"Maybe there are areas in organization that are a little stronger than others that we would have to pull from to fix some of the holes on the roster," Hazen said. "But none of that's been determined yet, because we don't know what the market is going to be for anything."
Hazen declined to comment on whether the D-backs would listen to trade offers on specific players, and while trading someone such as franchise cornerstone Paul Goldschmidt -- who has a club option for 2019 before becoming a free agent -- could be a tough sell with the fan base, it seems the D-backs will do their due diligence to find out what return they could get in a deal for anyone on the roster.
"I think we're going to have to engage the market and see what exactly we can do to help make the team better," Hazen said. "When you start talking about certain players, I'm not 100 percent sure that taking them off the team makes you better. There are ramifications for considering those types of things. Not to say one way or the other what we're going to do, but if you consider certain players, they're pretty hard to replace."