Front Row Seat: A look inside A.J. Preller's trade deadline process

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San Diego Padres

The room where it happens: Inside A.J. Preller’s process, production at the trade deadline - San Diego Union-Tribune
“It pains me to trade players,” Preller said. “But I hope people are starting to get the sense that you can make trades and have good players go elsewhere and play well and your guys come here and play well. You can have sustainability. Because you can, you can continue to replenish and have possibilities. Like, those are all good things. That’s good for the game. It’s good for other teams to see that.

“I think that’s also why we’re able to make these deals. Because I think that people know now we’re not trying to pull a fast one. Like, we’re going to trade some good-ass players — Josh Naylor, Andrés Muñoz, James Wood, MacKenzie Gore. We’re going to move some guys. You can’t fit them all on one roster. We’re gonna get some great players back. And you can do both things. And that’s probably a little different. But I think people are understanding that makes some sense.”

Cease rounding into top form as Padres make playoff push - MLB.com
Cease pitched six-plus innings with two runs allowed to lead the Padres to a 6-2 win over the Red Sox on Sunday afternoon at Petco Park. The 29-year-old right-hander allowed just four hits, struck out seven and pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his last six starts.

Tom Krasovic: Padres bullpen brings the heat in series-clinching win over Red Sox - San Diego Union-Tribune
The enormous stress loads that a high-velocity pitcher’s elbow ligaments must bear argue against looking too far ahead.

But Sunday, the Padres climbed to within two games of the Dodgers in the race for the National League West title and a possible first-round playoff bye. L.A. holds some edges over the Padres, but the bullpen isn’t one of them.

The Padres have never drawn from a bullpen with as many high-velocity pitchers as the current group.

SF Giants’ matchup with Padres features teams trending in opposite directions - The Mercury News
Buster Posey denied this week on KNBR that the deals meant the Giants had shifted their focus to 2026, and if the postseason remains a meaningful goal for this season, it will likely mean catching the Padres — or at least coming close.

After dropping two of three against the Nationals over the weekend, the Giants begin the series seven games back of the Padres, who won their weekend series against the Red Sox.

“We worry about ourselves,” manager Bob Melvin said. “They’re ahead of us, so we have to beat them. I think we just like the way we’re playing right now. We needed to get past what was a difficult period and not very good period for us. It seems like we’re playing a lot better.”

Padres minors: Catching prospect Ethan Salas cleared for baseball activity - San Diego Union-Tribune
Salas has been asymptomatic for about a month, said A.J. Preller, the Padres president of baseball operations. The question is whether the minor league season has enough runway left for Salas to return from the stress reaction in the lower right side of his back this year or if he’ll have wait to make up for lost time in the Arizona Fall League or in winter ball.

The top prospect left in the system, Salas has been sidelined since April and played in just 10 games for Double-A San Antonio this season.

Odds & Ends

Five consecutive road wins for San Diego FC, shutting out Sporting Kansas City 2-0 - The Sporting Tribune
San Diego FC set a new MLS record with five consecutive road victories by an expansion side in their debut season, securing a 2-0 victory over the hosts Sporting Kansas City on Saturday night.

San Diego FC’s record-making season doesn’t look to stop rewriting history, with the club two wins away from tying St. Louis City SC’s 2023 17-regular-season win record and eight points away from tying LAFC's 2018 57-regular-season points record with eight matches remaining in their inaugural season.

Wave ends drought with late score, but has to settle for 1-1 draw - Times of San Diego
During the 85th minute, Wave forward Makenzy Robbe connected with a left-footed shot to the bottom left portion of the net to make the score 1-0. It was the was the first goal of the season for Robbe, a backup who checked into the game during the 68th minute.

But Angel City, which came into the match winless in its last six matches (0-5-1), kept fighting. Early in the 92nd minute, defender Alanna Kennedy managed to bounce a header into the net to level the score.

Four of the last five meetings between San Diego and Angel City have now ended in draws.

The ‘fifth Grand Slam’ in tennis and the Cincinnati Open’s bid for prestige - The Athletic
The Grand Slam arms race isn’t the only elbow-sharpening that goes on at the top of tennis. Indian Wells, Calif., is the home of the BNP Paribas Open, which has long held the unofficial but coveted title of the “fifth Slam,” at least since it moved to its current location, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, in 2000. The Miami Open, which immediately follows Indian Wells in the calendar, was held in similar regard before, but some of its luster has faded.

This week’s Cincinnati Open, the first edition following a $260million (£193m) renovation of the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, a short drive from the Ohio city that gives the event its name, is causing a stir among some of the players. Speaking on court with doubles partner and 2024 Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejčíková, Jelena Ostapenko said: “I almost feel like it’s the fifth Grand Slam. Those changes in one year? This is something unbelievable.”

Paramount buys UFC rights in $7.7 billion, 7-year deal in first major move post-Skydance merger - CNBC
Days after completing its merger with Skydance, Paramount has acquired the U.S. rights to TKO Group’s UFC for seven years, beginning in 2026.

Paramount is paying an average of $1.1 billion per year, totaling $7.7 billion, for UFC’s full slate of 13 marquee events and 30 “Fight Nights,” the companies said in a statement. All matches and events will be streamed in the U.S. via Paramount+, and select events will be simulcast on CBS. The deal payments are weighted, with Paramount paying less than $1.1 billion in the early years of the deal and higher values later.

Paramount won’t charge users any additional fees for access to the events, eliminating the pay-per-view model that ESPN+ has used for certain premium UFC events. Disney’s

ESPN had been paying an average of $500 million for five years of UFC rights. That deal expires at the end of 2025.

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