Front Row Seat: Padres look formidable after trade frenzy
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Darren Smith
Darren Smith
San Diego Padres
Padres add relief ace Miller on Deadline day with 5 trades, 22 players on the move - Padres.com
Preller reshaped his roster in a major way on Thursday – making five deals that involved 22 players before the Trade Deadline. The most stunning of those deals featured righty relief ace Mason Miller bolstering a bullpen that was already the best in baseball.
"The expectation with this group is always to go win a ring, go win a championship," Preller said. "That's the goal."
With trade barrage, A.J. Preller’s Padres try to eliminate any ‘weak links’ - San Diego Union-Tribune
“If you’re gonna win a championship, you can’t have really any weak links. And that was a focus for us over the last few weeks.”
In a flurry of trades that were all somewhat shocking in their own way, the Padres on Thursday added two starting pitchers, an outfielder, an All-Star first baseman who can play the outfield, an All-Star closer to pair with the All-Star closer they already have and a catcher.
It was quite a haul.
And perhaps the most stunning thing they accomplished was making those additions without subtracting any significant pieces from their big-league roster.
What’s left in the Padres’ minor-league system after Thursday’s trades - San Diego Union-Tribune
All told, nine of the Padres’ top 30 Padres prospects according to Baseball America went out the door: De Vries (1), Bateman (6), pitcher Braden Nett (7), Hightower (8), pitcher Ryan Bergert (13), pitcher Eduardniel Nuñez (14), pitcher Henry Baez (16), Neighbors (20) and Figueroa (29).
They got exactly one prospect back.
Switch-hitting shortstop Jorge Quintana, 18, was part of the return in a trade that sent outfielder Brandon Lockridge to the Brewers for pitcher Nestor Cortes. Quintana signed with the Brewers for $1.7 million the same day the Padres gave De Vries $4.2 million.
Padres Acquire Talent but Ship Out Several Top Prospects in Deadline Frenzy - MadFriars
The Padres acquired a massive haul of players, most of whom have multiple years of control. While it’s a bit jarring to see top prospects leave the system, the big league roster is deeper and more formidable.
The system lost a potential future star in De Vries, two current big league starters in Bergert and Kolek, and Baez and Nett are both already legitimate depth options. In return, they’ve added the much-needed offensive firepower to the big league roster, one of the best young relievers in the game, and the hope of an answer to the team’s glaring hole at catcher. They’ll also hope to develop Quintana into a future contributor or trade commodity.
A.J. Preller’s busiest deadline day was a sight to behold: ‘Something out of a video game’ - The Athletic
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.
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