When the work was finished, and five trades involving 22 players had been executed within six hours, A.J. Preller’s peers called him everything from a “lunatic” to a “genius,” a divergence befitting Major League Baseball’s most polarizing executive.
In the time between breakfast and lunch on the West Coast, Preller, the San Diego Padres’ frenetic general manager, acquired eight players and parted with 14 others. He landed another impact talent (star closer Mason Miller) and plugged every imaginable hole on his roster, but he also dealt 11 prospects from a sagging farm system, including its best (shortstop Leo De Vries). He put the 2025 Padres back on par with the best teams in the sport, including rival Los Angeles Dodgers, but he also might have compromised the years to come.
Preller later recalled a line relayed to him by Billy Beane, a longtime exec of the Athletics who became an icon in his profession.
“I’ve traded MVP-caliber players, Cy Young-caliber players, All-Stars,” Preller recited, “and over 25 years later, I’m in this chair and won a lot of games.”
It’s a mantra Preller has come to live by. His former prospects are sprinkled throughout the sport, blossoming elsewhere, a list that includes Max Fried, Luis Castillo, Emmanuel Clase, Andres Munoz, David Bednar, CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore and James Wood. Someday, De Vries, the 18-year-old used to pluck Miller from the A’s last week, might be a star, too.
But Preller, like Beane before him, prefers to focus on what he gets rather than what he gives, and how this year’s prize, Miller, joins Justin Upton, Craig Kimbrel, Blake Snell, Yu Darvish, Joe Musgrove, Josh Hader, Juan Soto, Dylan Cease, Luis Arráez and Tanner Scott — players who came back in deals and, in varying ways, made the Padres matter.
“You obviously are always trying to make good trades,” Preller said. “But I think we understand you got to give up good players to get good players. And in the end, if it puts your team in a good position for now and for the future, that’s a positive outcome.”
Four and a half years ago, Preller landed Darvish, Snell and Musgrove in a span of three weeks. Three years ago, he got Hader and Soto within two days. Last year, he acquired Cease, Arráez and Scott over the course of four months. This year, he set a new bar, using the few resources he had to turn a top-heavy roster into one of the National League’s deepest
Ryan O’Hearn and Ramon Laureano, two former Baltimore Orioles in the midst of breakout seasons, add length to a lineup that had received a major league-worst .584 OPS from its Nos. 7, 8 and 9 hitters. Freddy FermÃn, an underrated catcher who served as Salvador Perez’s backup with the Kansas City Royals, upgrades the Padres’ weakest position. JP Sears, also acquired from the A’s, and Nestor Cortes, plucked from the Milwaukee Brewers, provide cushion to a rotation that can now count on a healthy Yu Darvish and a returning Michael King factoring into the stretch run. Miller joins Jason Adam, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada and incumbent closer Robert Suárez to form a devastating five-man relief corps that can essentially trim games in half.
Preller adeptly plugged every hole, and even fortified a strength, while keeping Suárez and front-line starter Dylan Cease, two pending free agents who were widely expected to become collateral. He did it all while barely increasing the payroll, if at all, a much bigger factor in the wake of late owner Peter Seidler’s death in November of 2023.
A person close to Preller called it “a masterful performance,” noting that seven of the eight players he acquired — all but O’Hearn — are controllable beyond this season. Sears, FermÃn and, most notably, Miller, who won’t be eligible for free agency until after the 2029 season, are all in the pre-arbitration stages of their careers. Another rival front-office member, though, described the trading of De Vries as “a massive gamble” with “potentially devastating” long-term consequences, especially with Miller’s history of arm issues.
Preller’s willingness to move him speaks to his innate boldness, but also a belief that the Padres can continue to draft and develop impact talent.
It also speaks to the urgency.
Some of the Padres’ most high-profile players — Manny Machado, Xander Bogaerts and Darvish in particular — are deep into their 30s. A World Series championship continues to elude the 56-year-old franchise. And the Dodgers, the team they’re perpetually chasing, are once again within reach, with six more games against them later this month.
The Padres surged to a 14-3 start this season, posted a losing record in May and June, then righted themselves again in July. When the trade deadline arrived, they sat 3 ½ games up on the final wild card spot and three back of the Dodgers for the top spot in the division.
By then, an NL West that seemed legitimately four teams deep not long ago had been whittled down to two legitimate contenders. The Arizona Diamondbacks couldn’t overcome their pitching injuries and traded a handful of notable pending free agents before the deadline. The San Francisco Giants faded quickly after acquiring Rafael Devers in a rare June blockbuster and also shed expiring contracts. The Dodgers, meanwhile, approached the deadline amid one of their worst stretches in years, slogging through 14 losses in their first 24 July games — and responded with moves on the margins.
Brock Stewart, a much-needed high-leverage reliever who has been dominant against opposing right-handed hitters, and Alex Call, an outfielder lauded for his plate discipline, constituted two useful complimentary pieces. But the Dodgers fell short on bigger talents — most notably Cleveland Guardians outfielder Steven Kwan, who did not move, and Minnesota Twins setup man Griffin Jax, who went to the Tampa Bay Rays — because they were unwilling to part with their best prospects, according to rival executives. Their reluctance came despite possessing one of the strongest farm systems in the industry.
The Padres did the opposite, shedding the best prospect from a system that stands among the sport’s thinnest. Given how scouts have seemingly soured on 19-year-old catcher Ethan Salas, De Vries, several evaluators have said, stood as the Padres’ only remaining high-ceiling prospect.
“He’s asked about in every deal,” Preller said. “He’s a really good player; he’s a tremendous prospect. We weren’t gonna do it unless we got the right fit.”
The Padres found that fit in Miller, who they scouted as an amateur leading up to the 2021 draft — and Preller still laments how he got away. He remembered hosting him at a predraft workout at Petco Park and asking if he would be willing to take a cut on his projected draft slot. Instead, Miller went to the A’s in the third round, surged through their system, suffered a sprain to his ulnar collateral ligament, transitioned from starter to reliever and became one of the game’s most electric closers, not to mention its hardest thrower. Miller’s ERA has gone from 2.49 in 2024 to 3.66 in 2025, but some of the underlying metrics suggest he has been just as dominant.
Said Preller: “He probably should’ve been a Padre a few years ago.”
He’s a Padre now, an acquisition that has triggered varying degrees of shock, dismay and wonder from members of 29 other teams. But to the Padres, Preller said, “the feeling is excitement.” At this time last year, Preller fortified a bullpen that was already a strength, then watched a mostly mediocre Padres group elevate to another level down the stretch, going 34-18 in August and September and looking like one of the best, deepest teams in the majors heading into October. The Dodgers rallied to beat them in five NL Division Series games, then openly lauded the Padres as the best team they faced while on their way to a title.
A listless offseason, in which glaring holes were filled on the cheap, was followed by an up-and-down first four months that highlighted obvious vulnerabilities.
Now, the Padres have life again.
“I feel like we made our club better,” Preller said. “We’re looking forward to seeing how we do here in the last few months.”