A.J. Preller’s current contract with the Padres runs through the end of the 2026 season, but it appears as though Preller will the team’s president of baseball operations for quite a longer time to come. The Athletic’s Dennis Lin reports that Preller and team chairman John Seidler have had some talks about a new multi-year contract extension, and that deal could be officially in place within the next few days. Club sources tell Lin that the team wants Preller’s new contract completed by Monday, when the team is set to introduce new manager Craig Stammen during a press conference.
The news isn’t surprising, as the Padres have enjoyed a lot of success during Preller’s 11-plus years in charge of the front office. However, a report from Lin and Ken Rosenthal from a few weeks ago cast some doubt on Preller’s long-term future in San Diego, due to some apparent tension between Preller and team CEO Erik Greupner. Preller downplayed any issue, telling Lin and Rosenthal that “Erik and I have been together my entire time here and enjoy a strong and productive working relationship,” though
The Padres gave Greupner a contract extension in late 2024, and around that same time, former manager Mike Shildt had also received a new deal covering the 2026-27 seasons. There was curiosity over San Diego extending two notable organizational figures beyond Preller’s own tenure, plus Greupner and special advisor Eric Kutsenda reportedly pushed for Shildt’s hiring over Preller’s reported choice of Ryan Flaherty as the team’s latest manager. In addition, Preller’s own hands-on approach to overseeing all facets of the organization has led to some criticisms about micro-management, and has possibly been a contributing factor to the revolving door in the manager’s office during Preller’s tenure.
If Preller is indeed nearing the finish line on a new extension, it would appear whatever disputes might’ve existed behind the scenes have been settled for now, and the team will press on ahead with Preller and new skipper Stammen now leading the charge to finally get the Padres back to the World Series. Preller’s tenure has been marked by a lot of internal drama, managerial changes, big-ticket acquisitions, and a rebuild, yet the end result has been a steady diet of October baseball in San Diego.
The Padres have five winning records and four playoff appearances in the last six seasons, and the team made it as deep as the NLCS in 2022. Petco Park attendance and local TV ratings have gone through the roof due to this run of success, helping fund a payroll that exploded under former owner Peter Seidler. While the Padres have cut back on the spending to some extent since Seidler’s death in 2023, Preller’s penchant for bold acquisitions have helped keep the team in position to keep contending with both its established core (i.e. Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr.) and some newer faces (i.e. Mason Miller, Nick Pivetta) joining the ride.
how!
Probably by having a dialogue.
Lin, is that you?
I give Preller an A-…. Drew Pomeranz and Leo De Vries enter the chat…. Ok only a B+.
Tatis enters the chat. OK, an A.
Web
Trading for and extending Tatis Jr. were unquestionably Preller’s best moves.
I still expect Tatis to be among the top half dozen position players over the next decade.
I give Peter Seidler a good chunk of the credit for turning the franchise around.
A B+ rating for Preller is very good and the team is clearly top-notch at identifying young talent.
I will be satisfied with top 10 or 12 from Tatis. He is there. If he plays up to his pre-injury level, he will be in that top 5 or 6 you mentioned. Most players with that type of shoulder injury requiring labrum surgery, like Bellinger, Bogaerts, and Kim never get back to baseline performance.
Peter Seidler was not involved in the day-to-day operations when Fowler and Preller put the plan in place in 2015 that has brought them to where they are today. It wasn’t until Fowler’s health started to fail in 2020 that he sold most of his shares to Seidler in November of that year.
After that Seidler spearheaded the signing of Bogaerts and the hiring Melvin. He wanted marquee names. That is why the Padres went after other big names like Judge and Turner that 2022-2023 offseason as well. He also spearheaded the extensions of Tatis and Machado.
While Peter Seidler was an incredible person, a truly wonderful philanthropist, and is to be commended for increasing payroll commensurate with the increases in revenue the Padres were seeing and allowing signings like Tatis and Machado, he was not the architect of the plan that got the team to where they are now. He was the guy that allowed Preller to follow through with that plan.
I agree that a B+ is very good.
Morse code.
Preller will make himself GM/manager in 2 years.
Too small. He is trading himself and Tatis to LAD for Friedman.
Dodgers don’t accept
Shohei can opt out of Friedman is not part of the F/O
Padres definitely need to keep Preller. From 1969 to 2014 before he was hired, the Padres had 12 postseason wins. With Preller they have 13 postseason wins since 2020. It’s nearly impossible to pass the Dodgers, but they at least make it exciting thanks to Preller.
Agree. To replace Preller when the team is in the midst of their most successful stretch in franchise history all while selling out 89% of their home games would be strange to say the least.
I mean, you can’t really make an apples-to-apples comparison between those two eras. There were only 2 playoff spots per league for the first 25 years of Padres history. Then 4 playoff spots for the next 18.. The year San Diego won most of its playoff games in the Preller era, they were the #5 seed.
But if you insist on comparing the pre and post-Preller playoff records: Pre-Preller, San Diego had 2 NLCS appearances and won both. Under Preller, they’ve made it once, and lost.
@Vegas
The Padres have the lowest winning percentage lifetime of all teams in baseball, at least last I checked. It wasn’t the lack of playoff spots keeping them out. They have been bad for more years than not in their existence.
Sustained winning, and sustained relevance to the level it has happened under Preller, simply hasn’t happened at any other point in Padre history. The closest parallel is 2004-2007, when they had four straight winning seasons, including two division titles (notwithstanding that 2005 was an all-time weak year for the NL West).
It’s a ridiculous analogy from Preller’s loyal defenders. The Padres had invested a lot in Preller 11 years and achieved nothing in the same period. The Rays, Royals, Brewers, Phillies, Mariners, Blue Jays, Orioles and a bunch of other teams had reached the World Series and AL/NL Championship Series. Preller had done nothing special; he had underperformed. Preller fans are acting like they’re some sort of underdog like the Rays/Brewers. The Padres had enough money and talent to reach the NLDS-NLCS-WS constantly and had underperformed constantly. They had had about 20 managers in 11years.
“Dodgers and friends baseball league
achieved nothing”
Trolls gonna troll
What has Preller achieved that the other teams I mentioned haven’t with a smaller payroll? 11 years and one NLCS appearance for preller, that’s a failure.
The Brewers, Cubs, Braves, Mets, Phillies, Cardinals, Nationals, Giants and D-Backs have all reached the NLCS at least once in the last 11 years. With that payroll, Preller has underperformed.
“achieved nothing”
Trolls gonna troll
Isn’t the Padres payroll around 40% less than the Dodgers annual TV contract alone??
Preller and the Padres have made the playoffs 4 times in the past 6 years. Prior to that they had made it to the playoffs 4 times in the previous 35 years.
The Padres have a long and rather pathetic existence and while they still have not won a World Series or dethroned the Dodgers for a division title, they are making the playoffs a lot and filling their park more than almost every single team in baseball.
The Padres will never be baseball royalty like a select few, but that’s okay. They’ve built a pretty amazing atmosphere that would have been hard to imagine in the early 2010’s when they were sporting 40mish payrolls and Padre fans spent their time fretting on when was the best time to trade their arb eligible players that were mostly just solid player types and not exactly stars.
It’s a fair comment. Since 2021, when the Padres became a big spender, they ranked 5.6 in total payroll, and they ranked 11th in record. The salary/record comparison is not perfectly linear, Preller had the 2nd, 6th, 3rd, 11th and 6th ranked payrolls (per Cots) and finished with the 17th, 10th, 15th, 5th, and 8th best record.
Or put another way, SD has ranked 5.6 in payroll while recording .535 record.
@padrepapi
“They’ve built a pretty amazing atmosphere that would have been hard to imagine in the early 2010’s when they were sporting 40mish payrolls and Padre fans spent their time fretting on when was the best time to trade their arb eligible players that were mostly just solid player types and not exactly stars.”
I don’t know if even that much thought went into thinking about the Padres during the early 2010s. Having been to the ballpark during those hapless days and gotten moved down from the upper level to field level, I think the fans were just there for the craft beer.
JazzHands please inform him what the Padres have achieved the last 10 years. Otherwise who’s really trolling here, him or you?
i_h
Them
It’s obvious and already been pointed out
JazzHands it is not obvious so make a point.
It’s already been pointed out
Go ahead and read what’s already been written
I did. You said trolls gonna troll. Basically you’ve said nothing.
For the third time, make a point.
It’s been made
Dafbl is a pathetic troll
First, thier choice of user name
Second, insisting that Preller has “achieved nothing”
What a dolt
That wasn’t so hard, was it?
First off, your handle isn’t exactly stellar. Second, you couldn’t be bothered saying that in the first place. Third, Preller has been fine as a GM. He’s had ups and downs. Good and bad. He’s the type that if he were fired tomorrow deserves a second opportunity.
Muted
You don’t even know what you’re talking about. Or what we are talking about.
Totally agree. Pre Preller, look at the payroll ranking. Previous GMs had to work with mid to bottom of league payroll. Had to sign over the him or beyond prime years. Preller even had a rough couple years at first then payroll increased and Preller is the savior?!?! Given the looser wallet we should’ve had more hardware in the case and even maybe one of the big trophies. Oh so it’s the players or managers fault that we can’t get to the big series but who’s the one that puts the team together and hires the coaches?!?! Can’t only look at papers for a good team. Listen to what everyone on the 2 teams in n the World Series are saying about their teammates. They had the most fun and would go to battle for each other. I doubt that’s the same attitude in the Padres clubhouse. Address that “team” and maybe we can be successful. Till then it will be a lot of should’ves and could’ves.
In your head in your head in yourheeeeaaaaad .
Insta mute. No reason to even feed this troll. I wonder what name he will come back with next?
An extension indicates that ownership lined good attendance and is fine with second place finishes.
When Preller had money he spent it. People can argue whether it was spent wisely or not but he’s had them in contention almost every year. He’s filled the stands and taken some big swings on trades. Let’s face it I’ve taken some shots at him from time to time but nobody hits all the time. So I think he’s earned an extension, More so than Hoyer anyway. Although Hoyer has been basically the same so it was kind of fitting they hooked up in the Playoffs. I say why not. I’m just kind of wondering how happy he is with the ownership situation and if that falls apart maybe he looks or greener pastures. Should be interesting. There are worse guys out there. I say that as a Cub fan so…………
Good points. It’s sounds like the interim dude and Preller may not have been in line with each other. That dude seemed to aligned himself with the CEO. Now that a Seidler is running the team it seems like that needle has moved back towards Preller.
While the Padres have had a revolving door in the chairman position, manager and coaches over the last 11 years. The CEO and POB have remained the same. So there has been some stability around the org. Hopefully they can find it throughout the org sooner than later. Heck even the current chairman isn’t guaranteed to be for long as there is still a lawsuit pending.
Good move…
Great news! Let’s go SD
I can remember talking to AJ the year he was hired. I had no idea who he was. He just showed up to our pick up basketball game lol.
What a nice guy and didn’t advertise his job title at all. Just a regular Baller, who had a very good game and was simply “one of the guys.”
Maybe not all agree but I think he’s done an amazing job keeping the Padres in contention all this time.
There’s been way too many years that the Padres have been irrelevant and that’s not the case in recent history thanks to this man.
” can remember talking to AJ the year he was hired. I had no idea who he was. He just showed up to our pick up basketball game lol.
What a nice guy and didn’t advertise his job title at all. Just a regular Baller, who had a very good game and was simply “one of the guys.””
How’d you figure out who be was?
He didn’t say he didn’t use his own name. He said he didn’t gloat about it. It’s pretty easy to know who Preller is in San Diego.
Simm, agreed but for the casual who doesn’t really follow the Padres he was just a guy, and I found out later who it was.
Again, this is not baseball related, but I feel like my experience with him on a personal basis has been such that I felt compelled to mention those things here.
Juan, I was reading the San Diego Union newspaper, and there was a Padres article and his picture was there and immediately called one of my fellow Ballers and said, “that guy who ran with us the last two weeks is the Padres GM !!”
My buddy admitted there was one or two guys who knew and there was a third who was a college friend and that’s how he found out about our court. But they kept quiet about it and allowed him to be him without any hassle.
I was clueless because remember this guy was hired from Texas as a lower executive or maybe even head of scouting or something. Had no clue he was just hired and looking for housing and scouting out the San Diego lifestyle.
All this to say, he’s a cool dude. I’m a nobody and he’s always been fantastic and even on the court where you know how things can get.
All this has nothing to do with baseball, but I’m throwing it out there because I think good people need some kudos once in a while.
Did AJ shoot logo 3’s though?
Good executive. Having had much bigger budgets to work with sure aided him too over the years
I am unironically glad to see it. The Chargers fired AJ Smith, who made them relevant. Glad to see the Padres not making the same mistake.
The team that will need to graduate more of its farm system to the MLB roster in the future is smart to let the man with unparalleled ability to build farm systems keep the job. He’ll just have to tear it down less often.
I agree with your points. Though I’d add that because of the age of some of their players they are in complete go for it territory. Which makes it less likely high end prospects make it to the majors as a padre. Like DeVries they will be traded to bring in inexpensive current mlb players to bolster the team now. Rather than waiting 2-5 years for them to make an impact.
So Preller will need to continue to find high valued prospects so he can trade them for inexpensive high quality mlb players to fill the holes on the team. There isn’t any money left to fill out the roster with mega contracts.
@Simm
Sure. The trick will be to somehow manage the transition from “go for it” mode to “letting the kids play” mode, and to what extent the franchise will be able to sustain winning during the process.
In a somewhat broader way, they are following the Dodgers blueprint post McCourt ownership.
Preller is obviously more spectacular in his trading. But it worked out for the Dodgers. Before they started really spending.
Oh God please no!
Sweet that Tatis just won his second Platinum glove. Fresh off a 6 win season. Owed 9/292m covering his age 27-35 seasons.
So glad he’s under contract and not a free agent right now!
Thanks Preller!!
Should have outbid the White Sox for him 10.5 yrs ago. Or never signed Shields at all and traded the White Sox Andrew Cashner or Christian Friedrich for Tatis instead. Don’t troll and say they wouldn’t have traded Tatis for those dudes. They traded him for Shields whose trade value was even worse.
Rumor has it they were going to offer Soto a bigger bonus than he got from the Nats but were too slow making that happen and he signed the day before they were going to make an offer.
Talk about franchise altering outcomes. Would have had Soto all those years and even if he walked you’d have Wood in LF. Not to mention Gore and co.
Dang. Life is rough. Amirite?!
Back to Tatis, sure they should have signed him in the first place. He was ranked in the 30-50 range in that international class. Still deserves kudos snagging said prospect before he ever played a single game and watch him turn into a star.
Giving him the 3rd largest deal in MLB history at the time when he wasn’t even arbitration eligible took some big cajones that were both thankful for today, I imagine.
Preller is a top 3 GM. I’d rather have him over Stearns. He always does anything he can to win. Most prospects never pan out, and he makes sure that everyone is available in all trades. The only moves that he made that I did not like was overpaying for Xander Bogaerts by about 100 million more then he was worth, and trading for Justin and BJ Upton
Yeah the Xander deal was out of desperation after missing out on Turner and Judge. Xander was the 3rd best free agent that year. At least position player wise. The padres were coming off going to the nlcs and thought they were a player away from going all the way. Unfortunately Xander regressed and while still a decent player. Has yet to be the player he was with Boston.
Still time I guess to hope he can have a great season still left in him. Though Father Time is getting close to closing any hope of that.
Pretty much all of the 2014/15 offseason was a total mess. That’s prob the one offseason Preller would like a total do over. Not that all the moves since then have worked out but trading Turner and Max were the two worse trades he has made.
Somehow though he keeps finding more prospects to trade.
His ability to re-stock his farm, even while trading prospects away, really is amazing.
Ron Fowler asked Preller to make a splash to draw fans to the ballpark and increase corporate involvement. It worked. Attendance was up more than 10%. Corporate sponsorships were up more than 20%.
The team didn’t win in 2015 and over the 2015-2016 off season they started what Fowler said outright was a tear down and a 5-year plan to rebuild the organization from the ground up with the goal to contend in 2021.
They made it to the playoffs in 2020, season tickets are sold out, the ballpark is sold out 90+% of the time, and the Padres are consistently in contention since that time. A WS appearance would be nice, but only one team a season in the NL does that. After 50 years of futility, it’s nice to go to the ballpark knowing that the team will be extremely exciting and will win more than it loses.
I have been a season ticket holder here since 1984 and I remember times you could hear the hecklers from the bleachers on the replays of the games because the stadium was empty and it was so quiet as the Padres lost game after game after game. What we are seeing now is fantastic. Only a troll who gets their jollies by trying to get a rise out of people on the internet would even try to question that.
LOL
Negativity is coming pretty much from Dodger fans. No one cares about you over here so go troll your own page. For the fans here. I would rather have AJ here than be hired within NL West like the Rockies. AJ has a brilliant baseball mind. He has to keep stiring the pot. Cronenworth,Darvish, & Bogaerts are the suckiest moves to sign long term contracts to. You will have hit & misses. We cannot afford to spend wildly like the NY & LA media markets it’s not gonna happen. Things do take time to get the perfect ingredients in a pot that everything comes together. We cannot buy our way into a championship. The Padres will have to earn it the old fashioned way. So, continuing on with AJ Preller is the most logical way to pull the bakers magic out of the oven to win a trophy. Idc about what the Dodgers,Yankees,are doing I care about what we are doing to get there. Padres fans are showing up night & day to the stadium when we couldn’t even fill half it at Jack Murphy stadium. Now, I believe with this team & fanbase it would sell out there too. I no longer live in SD cause the cost of living. I’ve made my home in SW Missouri living like a King. I’m able to follow them through MLB channel on a yearly subscription & cannot miss them when their on. So, stay loyal San Diego has I have in Missouri.
Make it happen. Preller has made the Madres interesting. Always something happening. A little chaotic but never boring.
LFGSD! 🤙🏽😎🤙🏽
Never dull, that’s for sure.
It’s about $ because 1 win in 1 LCS in 11 years isn’t winning.
It’s very hard to win a world series. Yankees and Dodgers have had to spend a zillion billion dollars to win theirs, Houston had to really cheat to win theirs, etc. All one can do as a GM is build a team that gives you as many bites of the apple (playoff berths) as possible. Preller has done that.
Has anyone seen Preller and Minneapolis mayor Jacob Frey in the same room together?
Baseball is more entertaining with AJ Preller
In the age of the cowardly GM, Preller is a mad scientist.
It’s not his job to make things entertaining it’s his job to win championships.
It’s his job to achieve the owner’s goals
That may be winning
It may be making money
It may be both
It’s almost certainly the second before the first
My brother in Christ. You cannot fathom the immensity of how much I do not care how much ownership makes.
The team sells most of its games out, merchandise sells very well. Players actually want to play in San Diego. The team is a spotlight team in national broadcasts. This is all because of what Preller has done. Winning the world series is really hard and hopefully they do that in the near future, but these other accomplishments are huge wins.
Many here don’t understand it takes consistency to become relevant to a wider audience and expand the fan base.
During the season they are relevant because they are a consistent threat to the Dodgers, who people love or hate, and that matters. And they can be a very fun watch. It builds up their credibility across the board, and increases the teams viability in terms of business and marketing opportunities. Not to mention franchise value.
Off-season, they are one of the most relevant teams because of Preller. He’s unpredictable, flashy, and interesting. It generates a buzz about the franchise every time the season ends because you have to see what’s going to happen next. You can’t say that about the majority of teams.
You can’t say he doesn’t try. As a fan and a player, there are worse things. And you’re in San Diego. If you’ve never been, then you probably wouldn’t understand. It’s a great area in many ways.
They might or might not get to a world series, but they continue to build a winning franchise, and Preller is a big part of that.
Don’t be short sighted.
He makes the offseasons entertaining every year. Took him a while to get his footing but he has turned the Padres into a relevant playoff contender.
Preller is great for the game. It needs to evolve and he isn’t afraid to be at the pointy end of that when it comes to the front office.
The extension talks seem to be taking forever. Does the man want bigger than the norm cash ? Probably has a fair argument for it.
Dennis Lin and Rosenthal are always trying to cause problems with the Padres for some reason. Can’t stand either one of them.
Apparently, the whole baseball media ecosystem is constantly trying to cause problems for the Padres. For some reason.
it’s mostly Lin and Rosenthal, they regurgitate the same ol’ tired narrative that the Padres are reckless for having a top 10 payroll.. Plus bowtie is bhuthurt because the Pads wouldn’t let him in their dugout in the playoffs.
Dude. I can read. Acee. MLB trade rumour writers. It’s everybody who dares to write something that is uncomfortable for Padre fans to read.
Acee actually doesn’t say much about the budget but he does try to project all sorts of drama when it’s usually a nothing burger. Unfortunately the national writers only follow Acee as if he’s still the objective insider he once seemed to be. We live in an era of spins for clicks. Attempt to engage and clarify or accept it naively, it’s a choice.
Lin works for Rosenthal and they both absolutely hate everything/anyone having to do with the Padres. Even Dodger fans think these two go too far.
It is called “journalism” and that is their job to investigate the facts whereever the facts may lead them.
Real Journalists are not cheerleaders for any team, company and/or political candidate or leader.
They seek the truth and don’t care where the chips fall.
They do “ruffle some feathers”, but
that is considered a “badge of honor”
with “real journalists:
“Real jouralists” do not do ‘puff pieces”
and or “marketing pieces” ….
True but neither are real journalists. They are click seekers.
The madness has got to stop
Preller has been with the Padres 11 years?!
He has had some good years and rosters and some bad years and rosters that did not pan out as planned..
The 1st half of his tenure was a a bit more chaotic with less positive results for the Padres and some bad signings.
I have been skeptical of some of Preller’s moves especially the Soto from the Nats to the Padres blockbuster trade that cost the Padres LHSP McKenzie Gore, OFs James Wood, Robt Hassell III
SS CJ Abrams and highly rated minor league closer Starlin Susanna.
Some of that value was recouped in the Soto to the NYY deal, but it is still looking like
advantage Nats.
One of Preller’s 1st trades with the Padres was the three way deal that sent a top SS prospect Trey Turner to the Nats. The top player the Padres received in that deal was Will Myers?!
Advantage Nats.
Preller broke even on that deal by dealing veteran, higher priced pitcher James Shields in a package deal that netted the Padres Tatis Jr as the best player in that package deal.
Advantage Padres
Preller kind of grows on you
In the last 4-5 years, he has grown as a POB/GM and finally figured it out for the Padres.
While I still question some of Preller’s roster decisions and trades, there is no questioning the respect that competing Front Offices and teams have for Preller and his Staff’s ability to identify, recruit, sign, trade for top level talent and “diamonds in the rough” that can be ‘coached up” and value can be unlocked to help the Padres and/or traded for major league level talent that can help them “win now”.
In the last few years Preller has proven himself to be one of the top POBs in the game:
He makes very big trades and has the guts to “go all in” to try to win championships.
Preller is very strong in drafts and constructing the roster with drafted players, trades and unheralded free agents looking to rejuvenate their careers.
He rebuilds his farm system very quickly.
He always has teams that want to trade for his prospects and players to help his present major league roster.
I hated to see him trade SS Devries in the Mason Miller deal, but he received big value in return also.
He also gave up a lot of his pitching depth in that deal.
His Freddie Fermin deal landed a quality backup that became a quality starting catcher in San Diego.
Preller gave up two rotation ready young pitchers in Kolek and Bergert in that deal which depleted the Padres pitching depth even further and I think it was an over pay(could have offered one of those guys and another pitching prospect that was not major league ready at the time).
The biggest challenge for Preller and the Padres going forward will be to infuse younger talent onto the starting roster both position players and pitching.
Try to hang onto and promote some of your top prospects so that the team is not top heavy in huge contracts and declining veterans that could cause the wheels to come off the team down the road.
All in all, the Padres record and performance speaks volumes.
Preller has been successful and entertaining with all his moves in San Diego.
If Preller can turn all his splashy moves into a World Series Championship, then they will build him a statue along side all the others at Petco Park