What made the Los Angeles Dodgers' offseason so impressive wasn't merely landing Shohei Ohtani -- it's what came after it. They didn't just reel in the biggest baseball star in the world; they also added the best pitcher on the trade market (Tyler Glasnow), the most accomplished pitcher in Japan (Yoshinobu Yamamoto) and the best corner outfielder in free agency (Teoscar Hernández).
Mike Hazen, who runs baseball operations for the Arizona Diamondbacks and is as directly impacted by the Dodgers' activity as anybody, wasn't surprised.
"When they land Ohtani, you go numb," Hazen said. "You're numb at that point. There's nothing else they could've done that would've shocked me."
Hazen spoke last month from the D-backs' spring training facility, on the heels of a stirring October run he still appreciates but doesn't cling to. Hazen is living proof that one can compete with and even conquer the modern-day Dodgers, no matter how rich and smart they might be.
