A.J. Preller’s busiest deadline day was a sight to behold: ‘Something out of a video game’

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The reactions ranged from curiosity to awe to personal lament.

As A.J. Preller put the finishing touches on the busiest transacting day of his 11-year tenure, the San Diego Padres general manager evoked strong opinions from various corners of the industry. This was normal, even if the circumstances were not. It was Thursday afternoon on the West Coast, and over the seven hours that led up to another trade deadline, Preller and the title-chasing Padres had pulled off five trades involving 22 players, including a blockbuster that saw them land baseball’s hardest thrower while moving one of the sport’s best prospects.

One rival evaluator panned the acquisition of Mason Miller as an overpay, noting that the star reliever’s performance, while impressive, could be recreated at the kind of cost that did not include teenage shortstop Leo De Vries. Another wondered if San Diego had suddenly rebranded itself as the most dangerous team in the National League. “The volume of deals made by them,” the scout said, “is something out of a video game.” Still another person worried that a planned trip to watch a Padres minor-league affiliate could prove fruitless.

“Might be me and an empty stadium because of forfeit,” the third evaluator said.

It was a joke. It also felt appropriate. No GM pursues splashes or eschews half-measures as relentlessly as Preller. Thursday might have brought his most aggressive and most creative trade deadline yet.

The Padres added Miller to what was already a league-best bullpen. They hung onto incumbent closer Robert Suarez and starter Dylan Cease, reasoning that the pending free agents could still provide more value than what they might have brought back. The Padres splurged for a new primary catcher in Freddy Fermin. They altered the complexion of a previously top-heavy offense by importing Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano. They replaced some newly departed rotation depth by adding JP Sears and Nestor Cortes, who joined O’Hearn as the lone rentals among the newcomers. In lesser moves, they acquired a Triple-A infielder and a low-level shortstop prospect.

They made all these additions while shipping out 14 young players. It was a dizzying collection of capital, from De Vries, whom some scouts already view as a top-five prospect in the entire sport, to promising big-league starters Stephen Kolek and Ryan Bergert, to talented minor-league pitchers Braden Nett and Boston Bateman.

Arguably just as notable, the Padres accomplished all of this while increasing their payroll and luxury-tax numbers by only a few million dollars. According to FanGraphs, the former figure ticked up to $215 million, the latter to $267 million.

“From that standpoint, I think it’s going to end up probably being a pretty neutral process,” Preller said.

Preller’s lack of financial flexibility — or at least the kind he once enjoyed — was no secret. His biggest backer, late owner Peter Seidler, died in November 2023. Since then, the Padres have traded away star outfielder Juan Soto. They have significantly reduced what was a bloated payroll. They have continued operating amid a legal dispute between Seidler’s widow and two of his brothers, a conflict that remains ongoing.

The trades were bold. The vision feels fragile sometimes.
But AJ’s still upholding the dream.
Thank you for your excellence.
💛🤎#ForTheFaithful

— Sheel Seidler (@sheel_padres) July 31, 2025

So far, they have weathered these storms. The newly upgraded Padres project, on paper, seems to be as formidable as the 2024 Padres, who gave the eventual champion Los Angeles Dodgers a scare last October. Less than a year later, the 2025 Padres survived an often-rocky four months to awake on deadline day just three games behind L.A.

Now, that distance could be further bridged by a bullpen that will integrate Miller into the majors’ deepest array of setup men. According to team officials, the initial plan is for Suarez, the major-league saves leader, to remain as the primary closer. That would allow Padres manager Mike Shildt to deploy Miller and his powerful arm in a variety of high-leverage situations.

“Like we’ve seen so far through the first 100 games, if we have an opportunity to shorten the game, you want to take that,” Preller said. “I think also it gives Mike an opportunity to mix and match with the ’pen, an opportunity certain nights to be able to go to one set of relievers and give guys an opportunity to get a little bit of a rest and a blow and be fresh for, hopefully, what’s a long run here for the rest of the regular season and into the postseason.”

Miller, who turns 27 next month, represents one of the sport’s bigger gambles. He ranks first in average fastball velocity and second in strikeout rate, and the former Athletics closer comes with four additional years of affordable club control. The Padres could extract even more value by stretching him out as a starter as soon as next season.

However, the last time he started in the majors, he sprained his ulnar collateral ligament as a rookie in 2023. The Padres theoretically could have doubled down on their bullpen by acquiring a less famous reliever with a more modest price tag and similar results. (Despite strong underlying numbers, Miller has pitched to a 3.76 ERA this season.) Recent weeks did little to change the perception that Preller gravitates toward the biggest available names, sometimes to the detriment of his roster construction.

Still, he was busy in more than one area. Fermin gives San Diego a controllable, quality catcher at what was a position of dire need. O’Hearn and Laureano should help revitalize a lineup that often felt like it ran only seven or eight deep. The front office was willing to bet that, with free agency dangling in front of him, Cease could turn around his season over the next two months.

The Padres know they might come to regret all that they gave up Thursday. Still, Preller, who has plenty of reason to rue past deals, keeps finding ways to replenish a farm system that is often criticized for vanishing depth. The price of his latest blockbuster featured De Vries, who received a $4.2 million signing bonus in 2024. The rest of the A’s return consisted of an undrafted signee (Nett), a $125,000 international signee (Henry Baez) and a minor-league signee (Eduarniel Núñez).

“I think it’s pretty incredible he could spin Núñez as part of the deal for Miller and Spears,” said one National League scout.

Anyone can acquire and flip minor-league signees, of course. Almost no general manager seems as unafraid to trade the likes of De Vries and outfielder James Wood and left-hander MacKenzie Gore. (The Padres had discussions about potentially reacquiring Gore from the Washington Nationals. They found the cost prohibitive, as they did in their pursuits of the Cleveland Guardians’ Steven Kwan and the Boston Red Sox’s Jarren Duran.)

“For us, we’ve talked more about making fair deals and deals that work for both sides,” Preller said, citing his December 2023 trade of Soto that brought back starting pitcher Michael King as the headliner. “That’s the way the deal should be. You know, deals that helps both teams win. That’s the perspective we take. You obviously are always trying to make good trades, but I think we understand we’ve got to give up good players to get good players.

“At the end, if it puts your team in a good position for now and for the future, that’s a positive outcome. And if we’re doing our job, you’re going to have players in the big leagues (that are) doing well. And I think teams understand that, yeah, we’ll deal some players that will do that.”

Only a few months from now, Preller’s latest mortgaging of the future could prove ill-advised. Perhaps it will amount to a seemingly short-sighted attempt by a GM approaching the final year of his contract. The impact of the Padres’ latest batch of club-controlled additions might pale in comparison to the potential losses of Cease, Suarez, King and first baseman Luis Arraez — all key contributors, and all potential free agents.

For now, Preller’s most frenetic day of activity remains a sight to behold. Not least because, after everything that happened over the past 21 months, the Padres suddenly appear to have as good a chance as ever at running down that elusive title.

(Photo: Sean M. Haffey / Getty Images)

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