D-Backs GM: Optics of Red Sox firing Dombrowski difficult to comprehend

The Boston Red Sox shook up the baseball world earlier in September when they fired team president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski less than one year after the club won 108 games en route to a World Series title.

In the wake of the firing, one former Red Sox executive said the move is tough to understand from the outside.

"The optics are certainly difficult to wrap your arms around, I guess," Arizona Diamondbacks general manager Mike Hazen told Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic. "It's a very tough job. It's a meat grinder, from all angles."

Hazen, who formerly served as Red Sox GM for one year under Dombrowski before leaving for the Diamondbacks, was seen as a potential replacement in Boston this time around. However, he signed a contract extension to stay with Arizona days after Boston dismissed Dombrowski.

Despite the timing, Hazen was clear that his decision to stay with the Diamondbacks wasn't due to any resentment toward the Red Sox organization.

"The history of that place, and walking into Fenway Park every day as your office ... I really don't know how to explain," Hazen added, before noting that others will still covet the job regardless of Dombrowski's situation.

"You can't go anywhere because everybody in that city knows who works in baseball operations, from the head of baseball operations down to the interns," Hazen said. "It makes for a pretty special environment. It's very challenging. Every move is scrutinized ad nauseam. I think it's a very difficult task for the head of baseball operations. But there are people out there who are one hundred percent up to the task of doing it."

Prior to Dombrowski's hiring and eventual midseason firing, the Red Sox memorably accepted the resignation of Ben Cherington in the middle of the 2015 campaign, unceremoniously ending a 16-year tenure with the club that included winning the 2013 World Series.