The Padres and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller have agreed to a multi-year contract extension, per a team announcement. The exact terms of Preller’s new deal are not yet known.
Preller, 48, was entering the final year of his contract in 2026 but now figures to continue his work at the helm in San Diego for the foreseeable future. He began his tenure with the Padres late in the 2014 season, and while it took several years for him to pull the organization out of the basement of the National League they’ve become one of the NL’s premier teams during the 2020s. The team has gone to the playoffs four times in the last six seasons, with a 470-400 record during that time that’s good for a .540 winning percentage. The Padres have only made it to the NLCS once in that timeframe, but it’s still undeniably the most successful stretch in franchise history given that the organization had just five postseason appearances under its belt in the 45 years it existed prior to Preller joining the team.
After more than a decade leading the Padres, Preller has become well-known among fans all across baseball as the league’s most free-wheeling executive. He pilots the Padres with dynamic energy, frequently making the sort of aggressive trades that most front office leaders around the game would shy away from. The results, in terms of stars brought into the fold, have spoken for themselves. In recent years, Preller has traded for Yu Darvish, Blake Snell, Josh Hader, Joe Musgrove, Mason Miller, Dylan Cease, and Juan Soto at the height of their careers in order to augment a lineup built around likely future Hall of Famer Manny Machado and homegrown star Fernando Tatis Jr.
Impressive as Preller’s work to turn the Padres franchise into one of the premier organizations in the majors has been, it’s not been without flaws. Extensions for players like Machado, Tatis, Darvish, Musgrove, and Jake Cronenworth (as well as the free agent deal signed by Xander Bogaerts) have contributed to a bogged-down payroll that has limited the team’s flexibility in recent seasons and forced some creative moves such as trading away Soto ahead of his final year under team control, as well as signing players like Nick Pivetta and Michael King to unorthodox contracts in order to fill out the rotation. Preller and his front office have managed to pull off the balancing act of keeping the team’s spending under control without trading away Tatis or another major asset under long-term club control from the big league club so far.
It’s a task that figures to only get more difficult as time goes on. For now, though, Preller has managed to keep his house of cards in San Diego from collapsing well enough to earn himself the opportunity to continue the work, and it’s not terribly hard to see why ownership would have confidence in his abilities. Preller’s penchant for trading away top prospects (including CJ Abrams, MacKenzie Gore, James Wood, and Leo De Vries) has been compensated for by a knack for consistently churning out high-rated prospects, a few of which (such as Tatis and Jackson Merrill) have even made their way to the majors as impactful pieces of the club. Preller has also developed a knack for putting together talented bullpens stocked with high-end talent. Even after losing players like Hader and Robert Suarez, the team can still field an elite relief corps thanks to Miller, Adrian Morejon, Jeremiah Estrada, Jason Adam, and others.
Notably, the vote of confidence Preller is receiving from ownership comes at a time when the team is in the midst of a transition at its highest levels. Longtime owner Peter Seidler abruptly passed away from cancer back in 2023, and since then the team has been under the control of a variety of Seidler’s family members and associates are various points in time. After some internal drama regarding the future of the franchise, things appear to be headed towards a potential sale of the franchise as the Seidler family announced that they’re exploring that possibility back in November. It’s unclear whether a sale will come to fruition at all, much less if progress is being made on that front. With that said, if a sale were to occur in the next couple of years, this extension ensures that Preller will remain in place to help guide the team through that transition on the field and provide some stability to the hypothetical new ownership group as they get settled in.
He’s one of the best general mangers I’ve ever seen, might be the padres best move this offseason
Haters gonna hate
Dodgers buy championships Padres buy play-off appearances
And close misses. It’s 50/50 with AJ
Im glad he gets the chance to complete the upcoming payroll gymnastics as the backloaded contracts all hit peak value in the coming years – notably, Bogey, Tatis, and Machado among others…
Its going to take some maneuvering as theres sizable increases. And SD isnt a place that usually comes to mind to be carrying 3 guys whose payroll alone exceeds $100m/yr for each of 2029-2034.
The best offseason GM in MLB history.
He makes great in season moves too
Like trading a 23 yo Trea Turner.
Haters gonna hate
Or trading for 16 year old Tatis.
Or trading 800 guys to get 800 other guys. The guy doesn’t stand still.
Like winter precipitation in southern California, Preller’s acquisitions tend come in clusters all at once, bookended by long periods of inactivity.
Like Soto, Frazier and Clevinger?
Well deserved. As sad as it is no other gm has sustained success like this for the Padres.
People can gripe about his trades free agent signings but end of the day he’s created competitive teams without those prospects and free agent misses
If Padres had decided to let him go he’d be out of work all of 5 minutes.
Most important, he’s turned the Padres from a sad sack small market franchise to a perennial contender that was second in the NL in attendance with 3.43 million last year.
Any owner that was willing to go into tremendous debt to fuel an 82-87 win team could make their GM look smart. Every GM in the league would look pretty good in that situation.
They won more games being financially considerate than they did spending what 293 mill? 89and 82 then 93 and 90 Trading Soto yielded better regular seasons
Has Preller done that, or was it the fact that Seidler was in the top 5-6 in salary every year? The top 5-6 in salary every year should equate to top 5-6 record.
JB
“Has Preller done that, or was it the fact that Seidler was in the top 5-6 in salary every year?”
Both
Padres won 90 games and 93 games post Seidler and without Bogaerts big contract
He’d get a job as a head of a scouting department somewhere. But never again as a GM.
FR
“He’d get a job as a head of a scouting department somewhere. But never again as a GM.”
It’s always amusing when people say things with great certainty that could not possibly know.
@JUJH Did the other guy not just do the exact same thing?
“If Padres had decided to let him go he’d be out of work all of 5 minutes.”
Rockies would hire him as gm in a heart beat given his ability to find talent via draft and ifa spending. So that’s not true at all.
@LNPM Nah the Rockies want an ownership puppet. Preller likes being given latitude to do things his way.
He’d have the freedom to run it however he wants. The only thing he wouldn’t have access too is spending. Which, everyone complains about his free agent spending so that’d be one less complaint.
Rockies ownership is known for their meddling ways.
And look where that’s got them. Plus Seidler meddled plenty in decisions to win SD a title. Going after Myers Kemp etc was also ownership meddling.
But not like the Rockies are the only don’t spend franchise that needs to rely on drafting and IFAs
He’d find work as a GM somewhere. Would he have as much authority like president of baseball operations I doubt it but he’s find a GM job.
Head of a scouting department.
Well when the crystal ball finishes the lottery numbers please do share
My brother in Christ, you are doing the same thing.
“If Padres had decided to let him go he’d be out of work all of 5 minutes.”
“Fernando Ringworm Jr.
February 16, 2026
Head of a scouting department.”
You yourself admit he’d be out of work all of five minutes lmao and would at the very least find head of scouting department role.
We just disagree on the type of job he’d find.
Pick one argument and stick with it
He has drafted well. The trades and FA signings are lacking.
Still will find a job in the event he’s removed as POBO
Any other GM been allowed to hire this many field managers without getting fired?
People forget the Padres were mostly cheeks outside like 5 seasons in their history prior to him coming along. They’ve been relatively competitive during his tenure and he’s great with scouting and building a farm system which are important to compliment the major league roster. For his flaws he’s still a good exec
This. Before AJ, I had personally seen a grand total of 3 playoff teams, with 7 total winning seasons.
He’s the 2nd best GM they’ve ever had, only behind Kevin Towers (architect of the ’98 pennant team, 4x NL West champs), and even then KT otherwise had mostly losing teams because of cheap ownership.
AJ certainly has frustrated me with plenty of his moves. I haven’t been his biggest fan. But with that said, the Padres are competitive and fun, which is something I could never say in the past, outside of a few seasons.
Trader Jack McKeon
Kevin Towers
And yet they have two teams that played in the World Series and neither one was lead by Preller
I literally mentioned KT. ’84 was before my time
Yes, Preller’s up there but he does not hold the record for most managers in single tenure. Effectively Wild did a deep dive on this.
The definition of insanity.
insanity is Preller’s native tongue
Hey I have these nachos, trade for your chili fries?
Would you prefer a puppet GM/PoBO whose priority is to save ownership money and not take any risks? There are plenty of those types around in perpetual rebuild mode.
Don’t bother with Dan, YBC. He’s the eternal pessimist in motion. Welcome back Preller!
From the Athletic. Thought I would share and enlighten.
San Diego Padres
Last year: 90-72, second wild card
World Series odds: 0.7 percent
One notable loss: SP Dylan Cease
One notable addition: UT Sung-Mun Song
Spinning their tires
The Padres’ biggest offseason contract went to Michael King, who’s a very good pitcher (the No. 12 free agent on the Big Board), but he’s also a re-signing, and thus not exactly an upgrade. Upgrades, in fact, were few and far between for the Padres this winter. Luis Arraez is gone, and Miguel Andujar is in. Mason Miller and JP Sears are back after being acquired at last year’s trade deadline, but Dylan Cease and Robert Suarez are gone, and Yu Darvish might never pitch again. Korean utility man Sung-Mun Song is getting his first shot in the Majors, Nick Castellanos is looking for a fresh start after his Phillies release, Griffin Canning could round out the rotation, and Joe Musgrove is back from surgery. Is that enough to make a difference? FanGraphs isn’t buying it, projecting the Padres to have their second losing record in seven years. PECOTA is slightly more bullish, but not by much.
Lol
Now all the haters (most of which would love AJ on their team) can shut up!
Probably doesn’t get the credit he deserves. It’s a real shame they have to compete with the dodgers in the same division. Incredible he’s put them in a position to nearly topple them a few times now.
For trading Trea Turner and James Wood?
29 other teams didn’t draft Trea Turner or James Wood. AJ’s teams drafts better than most MLB POBO.. Most fans haven’t figured out that prospects are currency the same as dollars. Trade all prospects except Tatis Jr and Merrill. You get more prospects for free in the next years draft anyway.
Nice muting. How many other teams traded Trea Turner and James Wood as prospects?
Ackchyually only 11 teams passed on Trea Turner (Blue Jays twice).
In 2019 the Padres had the top farm system in baseball per BA. Of their top 10, two of them were kept, Tatis (#1), and Morejon (#5). All of the others were dealt in various trades. Mackenzie Gore (#2) and Josh Naylor (#9) ended up the best of the bunch. The rest have been disappointments, Luis Urias (#3), Francisco Mejia (#4), Chris Paddack (#6), Luis Patino (#7), Logan Allen (#8), and Cal Quantrill (#10).
Most GM’s would have kept a majority of them and saw several flop and provide no value to the team on the field or in trade. That didn’t happen with a single one of those prospects. The Padres used to always be that other kind of team, hoarding prospects and never developing enough good ones to become relevant.
I welcome Preller’s trading ways and value his eye for talent.
Padres farm system rankings going back the past couple of years. The start of ’22 there was a ton of talk about how poor the system was because of all the recent trades (Snell, Darvish, Musgrove, Cleavinger, Nola, etc.) and then they pull off one of the biggest prospect trades in baseball history months later getting Soto. Fast forward 1 year after the Soto trade when he is still on the team and the farm system jumped from 28th to 9th best.
2022 Pre-season (17th)
2022 mid-season (28th)
2023 pre-season (23rd)
2023 mid-season (9th)
2024 pre-season (4th)
2024 mid-season (28th)
mlb.com/news/farm-system-rankings-2022-preseason
mlb.com/news/mlb-pipeline-2023-midseason-system-ra…
google.com/amp/s/www.mlb.com/amp/news/farm-system-…
Yes I agree that trading prospects for proven talent is in general a great way to add a missing piece or two and well worth the risk. My option though is his ROI is mediocre AND he hamstrings the teams future with awful contracts. Boegarts, Mannys risky extension, Darvish extension, 80 mil of cronenworth. These are contracts that are not moveable and now you are limited on budget and have few real pieces to move whether it’s in the farm system or major league roster.
Urias-Grisham trade was mostly a wash
Patino and Mejia were in the Snell trade… ok yeah I’ll give Preller that one. Even if the Padres did miss the playoffs in 2 of the 3 seasons they had Snell and stupidly refused to trade him at the 2023 deadline.
Allen and Quantrill were in the Clevinger trade. A top 5 bad trade of the Preller era.
Chris Paddack was traded for Taylor Rogers and Brent Rooker. The real crime there was trading Rooker for Cam Gallagher at the following trade deadline.
First Soto trade was one of the worst trades in MLB history. And I don’t wanna hear about Michael King or Dylan Cease.
Any team that needs a versatile MI would take the Cronenworth contract. Agree on the others.
When a top 5 bad Preller trade includes 2 of 3 of the best pieces dealt in the package being released in the years to come it begs the question, how bad even was the trade?
The funny thing about the Soto trade was it shot the farm system to the gutter and then in 2023 they didn’t even make the playoffs and had to win something like 11 of the last 13 to finish over .500. That stinks. Then they trade him when he is down to his final year of control and make a great trade, and then another flipping Thorpe in a package for Cease.
They go on to win 12 more games, their 2nd most in franchise history and follow that up with another 90 win season, first time having back to back 90 win seasons in franchise history. It’s damn hard to make one of the worst trades in baseball history and then go on to have two of your most successful seasons because of it all while setting attendance records each year. That defies logic.
Josh Naylor has been the real star of the Clevinger package and then Cal Quantrill has the 2nd most career WAR from his own first round. Arias and Cantillo could be something. Hedges and Miller don’t really matter.
The 2024 season was despite the Soto trade not because of it. And you know it. They get past the Dodgers if they still have Abrams, Gore and Wood.
His team beat the Dodgers once and then they lost to an 87 win Phillies team while having home field
Preller, what a GM. He always finds prospects to trades, makes big moves, he got Miller!
like leo de vries needed to be scrounged up. top intl prospect of his class, top 20 prospect his entire career. time will tell how that one plays out, could still go either way quick
This dude has never been afraid to make the big deals. Well deserved imo.
This makes me sick to my stomach
He should be in prison for the Bogaerts contract and the Machado extension.
I think you have to view those signings as investments. Petco is packed every game the past few seasons.
Let’s see how you feel in another year or 2 when those 2 contracts are completely underwater and absolutely crippling the team’s ability to compete for like half a decade.
I think I’ll feel great about those signings in a year or two.
Peter Seidler was the one that pushed those deals. He waned a bat when he signed Xander…tried to get judge and Turner that offseason. Had to settle for the third best bat in Xander.
Peter loved manny and was never gonna let him become a free agent.
Preller worked for Peter. Not every move can be blamed on Preller. Peter wanted to win a World Series in his lifetime and pushed his chips in.
While these deals may look rough in years to come. Nobody can blame them for going for it. Peter is beloved in San Diego for what he did.
I am aware of that situation, but both of those contracts feel like he was bidding against himself.
I highly doubt any other teams would have come anywhere close to matching them.
King- I don’t disagree.
It was a I don’t care what the cost is I’m getting a deal done type of moves.
Right, which is incredibly foolish and shortsighted.
You are the same guy that thinks the Orioles have a top pitching staff. Enough said.
Ok then Seidler was a bad owner.
I mention this with only love. The Eric Hosmer signing ($144M) was the foundation all of this was built upon.
If you are implying that Machado and all the others wouldn’t have signed without Hosmer you are dead wrong.
@Fernando Ringworm Jr.,
No, that’s not what I’m implying, so please take a deep breath. What I’m saying is that Preller managed to build a contender despite a potentially disastrous foundation. Deep breaths…
Happy to keep Preller around. He is an all in PBO and good for the game. Makes for exciting baseball.
They’ve likely been very close finalizing the contract, but after Manny and to some extent Musgrove and Tatis started to bring it up publicly, seems as though FO felt a need to get it done.
Definitely think the players being in his corner was apart of the reason. Add on King saying the main reason he resigned was his faith in Preller building a playoff caliber team.
The goal isn’t to be exciting it’s to win championships.
To win a championship you have to get in the dance. Beating the dodgers is no small task.
And trading Turner, Wood and de Vries and signing Eric Hosmer helps that… how?
Fantastic. Now let’s get ownership figured out.
Congrats to AJ-The man who made San Diego baseball fun again!
Probably a top 5 GM when you consider it’s a nightmare trying to compete with the Dodgers for any team in baseball over the past 5-6 years, but he’s done well.
I would have liked to have seen him sign Littell this season, but he’ll have something up his sleeve like always at the Trade deadline.
Would a top 5 GM trade Trea Turner?
Would a top 5 GM trade James Wood?
Would a top 5 GM trade Leo de Vries?
WOuld a top.5 GM sign Eric Hosmer?
Would a top 5 GM go through 5 full-time managers in 8 years?
OMG, 12 years ago Preller trade his recent first round pick who was 18 for a player that had just won the AL ROY, still had 6 years of control and had entered the season as the #4 prospect in baseball. He lost that trade, but to suggest that was a fireable offense is the most hindsightest thing ever spoken.
Fast forward 18 months and Fowler is publicly ridiculing their big game pitcher who is stinking the joint up after giving up 10 runs in 2.2 IP. Shields gets dealt immediately thereafter and the Padres pick up 30m of the 58m to get him out of town. Just having part of his contract off the books seems like a huge gift after Shields goes on to give up 21 ER in his next 8.2 IP with the Sox. Getting a 17 year old Tatis who becomes a franchise player and the most exciting player in team history is 10x the outcome of the Myers/Turner trade.
Leo de Vries wasn’t just given away. For a team that has had some of the most dominant relievers in baseball history pitch for them, Mason Miller looks like he is on a whole other level.
Miller with the Padres struck out 58% of batters faced, including the first 8 batters in a row he faced in the playoffs making history in the process. With the Padres batters have hit .086/.196/.116 off him. Those are about as ridiculous numbers as you will ever see from a pitcher.
@padrepapi Turner was 21 when he was traded and Myers had 5 years of control when he was traded. He was ticketed for FA after 2019. If you absolutely must glaze Preller at least get the facts right.
Trading Turner for Myers was not a prerequisite for trading Shields for Tatis.
If Miller is so great why did we keep hearing about Preller potentially trading him away all offseason?
Is Preller the only GM ever to trade away a future star or make a bad signing?
No but he is the only one to face this little accountability for doing it.
Well deserved.
Raise that “makes big moves” banner proud, sd!
ESL
“Raise that “makes big moves” banner proud, sd!”
Troll gonna troll
Solid move.
Wow.. this guy got extended bc he picked up Nick Castellanos for the min?
Probably got extended because the Padres and phones have almost identical win totals the last five years.
Phillies
Hey Manny, you got your guy AJ & Castellones now keep him in line & pump him up. Preller will be with the Padres for a contract term. Good signings AJ keep it up.
He’s been GM for 11 seasons and has a .488 winning percentage, zero division titles, and zero pennants. He’s run top ten payrolls for 4 of the past 5 seasons and is expected to be in the top ten again this year, with a team that, according to Fangraphs, has a 23% chance of making the playoffs.
I’ll take those 23% odds.
Nobody who knows baseball believes that number is accurate.
Simm
“Nobody who knows baseball believes that number is accurate”
What do you, as, presumably, someone who thinks they know baseball think the number should be?
There is real competition to make the playoffs but I’d put it around 45%. Which is a decent number to start the season.
Certainly above 23%. The team has won back to back 90 or more games and the team is better on paper now than to start last season.
Fangraphs odds in Feb don’t carry too much weight as some teams, Padres especially, fill out their rosters in late winter.
If I remember correctly fangraphs had the padres projected for less wins last year than this year. I could be wrong but I believe I read that somewhere.
yeah it did. And it was low earlier this winter, but then odds went up significantly with King signing. There will probably be a bump in next updates with the addition of a number of FAs in the past few days.
I love Preller & the Padres but I do believe it’s going to be a turbulent season. In addition to fangraphs, PECOTA has them a .500 team with 33% chance to make the playoffs. 20 games behind the Dodgers.
Over the last decade the margin of error for Fangraphs on w/l projections is 22%.
As of today at Bally’s sportsbook, which has a 2.8% margin of error over the last decade, the Padres are the 5th best team in the NL, meaning a playoff team. 1 win ahead of the Brewers and Braves, 4 wins ahead of the Giants and 6 ahead of the Diamondbacks.
As of Thursday at Caesars, which has a 3.0% margin of error for the last decade, the Padres were the 6th best team in the NL. That was before the injury to Waldrep was announced.
Pecota is better than Fangraphs. They have an 20% margin of error on W’L projections over the last decade.
Here are their 2025 projections by division.
1. Baltimore Orioles 87.2
2. Toronto Blue Jays 85.4
3. New York Yankees 85.0
4. Tampa Bay Rays 82.7
5. Boston Red Sox 80.0
1. Minnesota Twins 87.4
2. Kansas City Royals 82.2
3. Cleveland Guardians 80.1
4. Detroit Tigers 78.1
5. Chicago White Sox 62.3
1. Texas Rangers 89.3
2. Seattle Mariners 87.8
3. Houston Astros 87.4
4. Los Angeles Angels 74.3
5. Sacramento A’s 71.8
1. Atlanta Braves 93.8
2. New York Mets 91.6
3. Philadelphia Phillies 85.5
4. Washington Nationals 69.0
5. Miami Marlins 60.5
1. Chicago Cubs 91.4
2. Milwaukee Brewers 80.2
3. St. Louis Cardinals 77.7
4. Pittsburgh Pirates 74.8
5. Cincinnati Reds 74.3
1. Los Angeles Dodgers 104.3
2. Arizona Diamondbacks 87.2
3. San Diego Padres 85.8
4. San Francisco Giants 77.6
5. Colorado Rockies 55.3
Fangraphs, PECOTA, and the others you see used on here by fans are guesses and not good guesses.
A 20% margin of error means that team projected to win 80 games could win 64 games or they could win 96 games and still be within that margin of error.
20% margin of error is pretty, pretty bad! PECOTA in 2025 was too high on Arizona (Burnes injury happened, multiple bullpen guys blowout), too high on the Braves (multiple injury trainwreck), Rangers (hitting bottomed out), Orioles (couldn’t pitch). PECOTA in 2025 was too low on the Brewers (par for course) and Boston (can’t explain this one). I dunno, they weren’t bad if you take away the teams decimated by injury since that’s sorta unpredictable. They probably should have seen the Orioles and Rangers coming though.
Web
“Fangraphs, PECOTA, and the others you see used on here by fans are guesses ”
False
Web
“Over the last decade the margin of error for Fangraphs on w/l projections is 22%.
As of today at Bally’s sportsbook, which has a 2.8% margin of error over the last decade”
Citations requested
preller is maybe perfectly rated. too many vastly overrate, and other vastly underrate. he does a good job keeping the team competitive in an impossible division, and SD fans should kiss his shoes for helping shape the great baseball culture there. but he is also prone to somewhat short-sighted, ‘i must have this guy’ kind of moves and he always seems to have a top-heavy roster by design, as his high-level backups without clear star potential usually wind up in trades. this might be a tomlin situation, where the job is his until he steps down
@pohle
Fairest assessment. I’m overall a fan of his ability to find talent, but there’s always the headscratching, short-sighted moves. IDK if he’ll get enough leash to see it through the post-Bogaerts/Manny era especially with a sale looming, but I’d be very interested to learn how much of those big contracts were his vs. Peter Seidler’s handiwork.
Some years Preller does better than others. But one thing he’s done constantly in recent years (with previous ownership approval) is make the Padres relevant. In season and off-season.
Some might be too young to understand the importance of the above statement.
I’m throwing batteries at him if I ever see him for trading away Trea Turner, James Wood and Leo de Vries.
And somehow he is the problem. Got it
Interesting. 23% is about how often Fangraphs is correct within a 3 win margin. Their w/l projections have a 22% margin of error over the last decade. People talk about their projection like it means something when they are not even close most of the time.
Congrats to Preller, great trades last season, all overpays but gave the Padres a shot to win it all and set the team up for ’26 with Laureano and Fermin. Sears could be a difference maker this season.
FG has the Padres at 79 wins, Vegas has them at 85.5 and I like the over.
“Sears could be a difference maker this season.”
LOL
I like the over too.
This looks really good for any team wanting to sign the Padres. They don’t need to worry about finding a successful GM. His track record proves he’s in the top 5 to 10 of all MLB GM’s. Now, he just needs to lift them over the Dodgers. That’s a steep hill to climb for every GM in the league. Congrats AJ let’s keep churning the ingredients & get us a championship.🏆
Are you kidding? This looks terrible for any owner wanting to buy the Padres! A new owner typically wants to pick their own guy. And if that guy is Preller, nothing says they can’t extend him themselves.
In this case, the new owner wanting his own guy would be a mistake. Preller has become synonymous with winning Padres teams.
Losing him would be like buying a rudderless ship.
Sometimes all you can say is “lol.”
It’s good for the sale of the team. Ownership wants stability and continuity. If they decide to change leadership a couple years into it then that’s their prerogative. But having Preller signed through the transition is a big plus.
As a Dodger fan, I’m happy that Preller is coming
Not in that dumb “because he sucks” way, but because baseball, and the NL West, is more interesting with him in it.
As others have said, under his guide, the Padres have become relevant.
He makes creative trades. He’s kept the team afloat during owner turmoil.
I’m pretty happy with the Dodgers’ F/O, but if it were Preller at the helm, I imagine I’d be pretty happy too.
Ur post made me do some Jazz Hands, cheers buddy.
As Simm mentioned, Preller makes the game more exciting. And while I question almost all of his big moves, he drafts well, and does a very good job on his smaller acquisitions.
The goal is not to make the game more exciting it’s to win games. Preller has set them back in that department with his horrible trades and signings.
I said it makes the game more exciting. As a baseball junkie, I appreciate that.
And like I said, I question almost all his big moves.
But he drafts well and does well with smaller moves.
And his big trades and signings have almost all been flops.
Your hindsight is truly 20/20 Ringwormer! I don’t know how you’re so prescient about the past! Amazing!!!
I could say the same thing to everyone glazing Preller over getting Tatis for Shields. Read the comments from when that actually went down if you wanna know how Padres fans actually felt about it.
And like I said “I question almost all his big moves.”.
Gwynning,
I get Dodgers fans who aren’t happy with the front office and would definitely make smarter moves if only they had a say. Riiiight.
You know who else has says that? New owners when they decide to make front office decisions that screw their franchise for years. The only difference is, it’s highly unlikely any of these posters will ever own a team. Thankfully.
You can’t fix stupid.
It isn’t up to me, correct.
Which is the reason I do my job and they do theirs.
They would probably not agree with the way I do my job in it’s entirety. But I doubt they would want to throw batteries at me for doing my job. For other reasons? Maybe.
I’m not personally affected by the way any baseball front office does their job, either.
Strong feelings? I’m happy when my team is successful and frustrated when they aren’t doing well. But it doesn’t define me, and it’s something adjacent to my life, not a part of it.
Just like I am happy when I go to a restaurant I frequent and can have a great experience, or sometimes it isn’t as good. Different chef that day, my server wasn’t feeling good, etc
I define how I feel about the things I experience in my life. It’s a decision.
When I’m frustrated with the team, have I yelled at the TV or complained about it? Yes.
But I’m not going to chuck batteries (your example) at McCourt, who was a terrible owner and screwed the Dodgers more that Preller could ever do if he tried with the Padres. I just take my dollars and attention elsewhere until the situation changes. Doesn’t mean I don’t love baseball, but as a fan, it’s the worst thing you can do as a fan that might affect the team, if enough people do it.
And I also wouldn’t chuck batteries at the restaurant manager for his team having a bad run. I would eat somewhere else until the situation was better. Hire a better chef, train up the current one, etc
Maybe instead of batteries, bring it down to nerf guns. Just a thought.
Baseball is fun, but not worth an assault charge (charge, because you’re chucking batteries. Get it?).
Good for him. You might or might not like everything he does, but he’s always trying to put a strong team together.
Respect.
What a joke. All the trades, extensions, etc. little success. How about draft choices? Machado is a bad apple and should never get into the hall
Another loose end tied up. Still would like a few more arms added to the roster…
This Dodger fan respects Preller. He knows his business.
Happy to have him around. Padres need to figure out the clubhouse chaos, but the team’s scouting talent is undeniable under Preller. I’ve seen it mentioned before, but I think Preller’s depth moves (especially since 2023 offseason) have been stellar and shown tremendous improvement for a guy known for shocking deals/signings.
Not sure how much to attribute to Preller vs. organizational rebrand/imaging, but the revitalization of the team during his PBO stint has been remarkable. Getting Don Orsillo, the uniform change, etc. The team is lively and fun, and the difference in the ballpark atmosphere to even a decade ago is stark.
I’ll just interject… what clubhouse chaos?!?
Shildt primarily.
He gone
5 full-time managers in 8 years. But sure it’s always the manager’s fault!
So what?
How many other GMs have gone through that many full-time managers in that little time?
And how many of those others GMs has people glazing them this hard?
If Preller is gonna get credit for the strides the team has taken during his tenure, I think it’s only fair he takes some of the blame, too. Green and Tingler were in over their heads, Melvin hated it here, and Shildt made the coaching staff hate it here. Stammen was one of my favorite relievers, but I have no idea how he’s gonna do in his first job coaching former teammates. Maybe instability would’ve been a better choice than chaos.
I was born and raised in San Diego and 11 years old when the Padres became a ML team. ’84 was a fun season but so many fire sales throughout the years. The highlight before moving away in ’88 of course was watching Tony Gwynn at SDSU and then becoming a Padre in ’82. There’s always going to be haters, but at least Preller is trying to build a championship team and the stadium is full every game. BTW in “88 I moved to Colorado so as far as baseball goes……..
Stupidest move of the offseason. Why would you do this now and force the new owner to be married to Preller?
No one is married to Preller. New owners can fire him. His contract terms will be a drop in the bucket compared to the sales price.
Forcing them to do that depresses the value of the team. There is a term for that. It’s called an “unforced error.” They don’t lose anything by allowing the new owner to extend Preller, if they want to.
I agree there.
Ugh. Thats the problem actually. They gouge us for ticket prices and cable subscriptions to watch them on TV. And we pay for all the sports advertising companies pay for eventually.
Yet to the owners a few MILLION dollars isn’t even a consideration as you note. Sign the contract, pay it off if you fire him. It’s all peanuts to them.
That means as people were like ants to them.
New well funded owner could do whatever they want with Preller.
He is great at scouting and drafting players.
I don’t get it. He just signed another clubhouse cancer and they have won nothing. Why another multi year?
Are you aware of how noncompetitive the Padres have been for most of their existence? Sure they’re second (third?) fiddle to the Dodgers in the NL West right now, but this team had it’s first two B2B seasons of 90 wins ever last year. The team is 2nd in attendance to the Dodgers. If you told me that in 2017 when I regularly sat anywhere I wanted in Petco for <$20, I would've laughed in your face.
@straightuphonestguy Who do you think is currently 2nd fiddle to the Dodgers?
I feel Dbacks might surprise this year. But for the 2020s overall it’s been Dodgers #1 and Padres #2.
I could see the Diamondbacks sneaking in as a WC if enough things break right.
Any GM that has been around this long is going to make moves that don’t work out. It’s so easy for haters to 2nd guess. Those people don’t make mistakes in life of course.
Trea Turner and James Wood. Nuff said.
My posts are disappearing?
To me it feels like the Padres have underperformed based on how much money they’ve spent. What makes it worse is that they have some of the longest contracts in baseball. They’ll be paying several of these guys well beyond the point where they can still contribute. I haven’t even mentioned the clubhouse issues. I don’t think Preller is bad but he’s not good either.
Fernando Tatis Jr. is not “homegrown.”
Define homegrown then, Red Rooster!
Reddit Gwynning
Ha, knew it was u… and that’s still not me lmao
Sure, Jan.
Cursed franchise
Really? Hmm. Not sure how to evaluate this one. Going to read all the comments to see what true padres fans think.
100% on board with this extension. Bar none. No sarcasm. AJ is the guy to get us through this decade, hopefully with some bling and a piece of metal.
Good seeing you here. I might have to make the drive to SD and hang out with you and the other Padres fans here this season.
All good ADF, cruise by Petco anytime braddha! Give us a head’s up and I’ll get the beers on ice
He has some of the worst contracts and has depleted a farm system with nothing to show. If greatness is judged on the cajones needed to make big splash’s then yes, he is great. As far as making pure organizational baseball moves the not only help the now but prepare for the future, he is far from great.
It depends. Every POBO/GM has an operating imperative from ownership. The imperative from Yankees ownership is certainly different from White Sox ownership. Preller, like every GM, operates in the manner that he’s instructed. Clearly, his ownership says go for it.
The GM has a lot of jobs.
Put a winning team on the field. Preller has accomplished that as the Padres have been in the playoffs 4 of the last 6 years and just had their 2nd straight 90-win season for the first time in franchise history.
Draft well and make good international free agent signings. Goal accomplished. Only one GM in baseball has had a higher percentage of those he drafted or signed in international free agency make it to the majors.
Fill seats. Accomplished. The Padres had the highest percentage of seats filled in MLB in 2 of the last 3 seasons. Season tickets are sold out for the 4th straight season already and several thousand people are paying to be on the waiting list.
He is still working on winning a WS, but only one team gets to do that each year and the Padres are in a division with a team that has outspent them by $140+ million per season on average since Preller arrived here. Do the math on the total. It will astound you.
Preller gets some flak for moves he has made. But what about moves he hasn’t made? Like refusing to trade Justin Upton and Ian Kennedy at the 2015 trade deadline, Jhoulys Chacin and Craig Stammen at the 2017 trade deadline, Freddy Galvis and Tyson Ross at the 2018 trade deadline, Tommy Pham and Mark Melancon at the 2021 trade deadline and Blake Snell, Josh Hader and Ha-Seong Kim at the 2023 trade deadline.
Fair points but not sure I agree with trading Kim in 23, he was contributing well in 24 before shoulder injury.
It’s amazing to me that as a Dodgers fan, in arguing in favor of the Padres being competitive against “Padres fans” who not only have recency bias, they have recency blindness.
Preller isn’t perfect, Padres ownership isn’t perfect at the moment. But dang guys, enjoy the this run of winning seasons.
Be angry at the Dodgers for blocking your path. But stop eating your own.
I got a question why do Preller stans act like he deserves all the credit for moves that look good in hindsight but none of the blame for moves that look bad in hindsight?
Fernando, he gets paid for results. And in the last handful of years he’s had excellent results.
That the team can’t beat the Dodgers is a problem 29 teams had the last couple years. What more do you want?
If he gets paid for results why are his stans defending the Clevinger and Soto trades like it’s their job?
Why are you attacking him like it’s your job?
Friedman signed Tanner Scott, Michael Conforto, and Kirby Yates last offseason.
It doesn’t make him terrible at his job. It means they didn’t work out.
The problem is when it becomes a habit.
I don’t think Preller has had a significant amount of terrible trades. They happen to everyone though.
Kemp, Myers, Upton, other Upton, Soto part 1, Clevinger, Clase, Arraez, Frazier, Nola, Galvis
To be fair, most of us would trade for Kate Upton
It’s the smile
That’s what GM’s often do.
I didn’t know Kate’s been traded before
Guy gets all this publicity and adoration and never won a World Series. Over rated!
I don’t belong to the AJ Preller fan club, and I do think the Padres should have moved on from him.
That said, I do think his “meme” image is very entertaining (the jokes about stimulants being behind his many moves), and I do respect that Preller goes for it. He’s very good for this website, obviously.
I don’t know who San Diego would be better off with, and maybe that’s part of why he’s stuck around so long. It also doesn’t hurt that this is the golden age of the Padres, and while they haven’t won a Series (let alone a pennant), that’s worth something. Moving on from Preller, the most successful GM overseeing the Padres’ most successful period would be likely seen as idiotic by the fan base. And while I do think “championship or bust” is a poor way of looking at a sport in general as a fan, being one of the five teams without a title does make it a little more important.
Not his job to keep this website afloat.
Whoever the 2nd in command is in Tampa, Cleveland or Milwaukee
The more interesting he can make the Padres, the higher their team franchise value goes.
If you lose Preller, you lose a lot of interest in the team.
The goal is to win games, build a farm system and win trades/signings more often than you lose them.
If the new owner doesn’t want to keep Preller then this reduces the value of the franchise by whatever they just extended him for.
Traded by Preller with at least 5 WAR in MLB so far (players who made it to 6 years of service time and became free agents I only included WAR they accumulated during their pre-free agency years):
Trea Turner, Max Fried, Yasmani Grandal, Emmanuel Clase, CJ Abrams, Ty France, Brent Rooker, Josh Naylor, Cal Quantrill, David Bednar, Zach Eflin, Andres Munoz, Mackenzie Gore, Eric Lauer, Joe Ross and Xavier Edwards.
I suspect James Wood, Jakob Marsee, Stephen Kolek, Ryan Bergert, Robby Snelling, and Leo de Vries will also have decent careers when all is said and done. Potentially Owen Caissie, Robert Hassell and Jarlin Susana as well.
Of those, the only ones where I’d say they got fair value are David Bednar, Eric Lauer, Xavier Edwards, and Leo de Vries.
Looks like he is pretty good at requiring talent.
Well you require talent to win games
Preller is good for the game. He always keeps the Madres interesting. His ability to restock his farm system on th fly has been masterful. The well maybe be dry, at the moment, in terms of his farm, but I wouodnt bet against Preller coninuing to churn out talent.
Filling seats is no. 1 priority of the Padres and Preller’s trades, no matter the results, are a part of the circus.
Isn’t this the clown who thought Eric Hosmer was a $140M baseball player? Should have been fired for that alone.
He could be a preppy version of Brian Sabean.
Padres guaranteeing a future without a WS win lol. Extend PED users, sign worn out arms into their 40s, and get robbed blind in the Soto trade BOTH times. Aside from the Machado deal (which is the only deal hes made that id argue is worth it), Preller is a complete moron who probably uses MLB the show as a trade simulator.