Three Padres takeaways from A.J. Preller's wildest trade deadline yet

New York Times

2 days ago

As the final, frenetic hours before the latest trade deadline ticked down, A.J. Preller rose above the chaos.
More than any of his peers, he personified it.
Preller, almost 11 years into his tenure as the Padres' chief baseball executive, strip-mined his farm system Thursday, surrendering top prospect Leo De Vries and many other young players to acquire Mason Miller, Freddy Fermin, Ryan O'Hearn, Ramón Laureano, JP Sears and Nestor Cortes. Meanwhile, the Padres did not find compelling enough offers to trade away pending free agents Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez.
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Here are three takeaways on four significant trades that went down in a span of seven hours.
Last October, despite an early-round exit, the Preller-era Padres felt they came closer than ever to capturing the franchise's first World Series title. They took the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers to the brink in the National League Division Series. They relied on a deep bullpen and a dynamic offense. They fell short at the end when they failed to score in 24 consecutive innings.
Now, their bullpen appears better than ever. The offense may not be as good as it was last fall, but it received a few clear upgrades Thursday. But back to that bullpen: In Miller, Suarez, Adrian Morejon, Jason Adam and Jeremiah Estrada, the Padres now boast an unparalleled ability to shorten games. That should play this October. With the Dodgers and the rest of the National League looking vulnerable, the Padres feel their chances might be even better than last year.
Preller didn't end up trading injured catching prospect Ethan Salas, but he did the previously unthinkable by surrendering De Vries — along with well-regarded pitching prospects Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Núñez — to acquire Miller and Sears. Then the executive gave up young big-league pitchers Ryan Bergert and Stephen Kolek for Fermin, the team's new primary catcher. He forked over six low-level prospects for O'Hearn and Laureano, who figure to spend most of their time in left field and at designated hitter, respectively. And he sprang for a rental starter in Cortes, who should temporarily help replace some of this year's departed rotation depth. (In a more minor transaction, the Padres swapped out minor-league catcher Brandon Valenzuela and brought in reserve infielder Will Wagner.)
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Yeah, it was a lot. And Preller might have mortgaged the future like never before, especially because Miller presents a sizable injury risk. But consider: In acquiring a controllable relief ace who could be stretched out as a starter next season, Preller gave up De Vries — this one hurts, yes — an undrafted free-agent signee, a $125,000 international signee and a minor-league signee. He has proven throughout the years that he can keep coming up with ways to find talent, even as he repeatedly trades it away.
Thursday's additions, according to FanGraphs, merely increased the Padres' current commitments by a few million dollars. The projected payroll ticked up to $215 million. The estimated luxury-tax number rose to $267 million. It seems financial flexibility continued to be a hugely influential factor this deadline.
Those constraints likely prompted Preller to pay higher prices in prospect capital while he acquired players with minimal or modest salaries. The only two rentals are O'Hearn and Cortes. Everyone else is controllable beyond this year. (Laureano has an affordable team option for 2026.)