What can we learn from past Padres trade deadlines?

I wondered to myself this morning if anything could be learned from A.J. Preller's track record around the trade deadline. Could the past give us clues as to what's coming in the (near) future? So, as per usual, I spent way too long digging into it.

Below is a list of the players acquired by the San Diego Padres around the trade deadline in every summer since A.J. Preller took over as the team's General Manager.

For the sake of not mixing up early season trades with trade deadline moves, I am only going to include trades that were completed on or around the actual deadline.

Let's go in reverse order, starting with last season:

2024

RP Jason Adam
RP Bryan Hoeing
RP Tanner Scott
OF Brandon Lockridge
SP Martín Pérez

Pretty much everything the Padres gave up to get these guys were minor league prospects, so it's difficult to give any sort of review on who won the trade(s). That being said, this made a good bullpen great and gave the rotation enough depth to survive, and it led to a stellar end to the season for San Diego.

The Padres were 57-51, sitting in 2nd place in the NL West, when they started this flurry of trades (starting with Jason Adam on July 28th).

2023

RP Scott Barlow
1B/OF Jiman Choi
SP Rich Hill
1B/OF Garrett Cooper
RP Sean Reynolds

I had forgotten how depressing this was, but it makes sense in retrospect. The team had all the talent it needed, they just needed to get better results. These were some real "around the edges" moves from Preller, and I doubt any of them were meant to turn the season around.

The Padres didn't give up much (as you might imagine) to get these guys, but there were others moves made around the same time that included big name guys. Nelson Cruz and Rougned Odor were released. Cole Hamels and Craig Stammen retired. Stuff like that. It's obvious they were just trying to mix up the clubhouse to find something that would gel.

The Padres were 53-55, sitting in 4th place in the NL West, at the trade deadline.