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A.J. Preller

A.J. Preller Discusses Padres’ Deadline Outlook

By Darragh McDonald | July 7, 2025 at 11:58pm CDT

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller made an appearance on MLB Network Radio this weekend and discussed his thoughts about the roster with the deadline looming at the end of the month.

“Getting Darvish, King back would be huge,” Preller said, referring to injured starters Yu Darvish and Michael King. “The bullpen’s been strong. We’ve got a lot of different weapons in the ’pen. You could add to a strength. And on the offense side, it’s probably rounding out the depth of the lineup. I think, like you mentioned, the top of the lineup should be strong… You’ve got to be deep one through nine and I think probably adding a bat or two is something that we’re going to look at here in the next few weeks to try to help our team get to October.”

Wanting to add to the offense is an understandable focus, as San Diego has some clear holes. It’s been reported earlier in the year that the club is looking for upgrades at catcher and left field. Behind the plate, the club isn’t getting any offensive contributions from Elias Díaz nor Martín Maldonado. The team has a collective .206/.269/.325 line from the catching position. That translates to a wRC+ of 70, which is ahead of just the Guardians, Nationals and Giants.

The left field situation is a bit more complex. Jason Heyward had the position for a while but struggled and was released. Gavin Sheets has taken over and is having a great year offensively, currently sporting a .264/.325/.451 batting line and a 119 wRC+. However, he’s not an especially strong outfield defender, so the Friars could consider adding a left fielder to push Sheets back to the first base/designated hitter mix. That would take plate appearances away from Trenton Brooks, who is hitting .200/.231/.400 on the year.

How the Friars go about adding to those spots will be an interesting situation to watch. The club’s payroll has been an obvious concern in recent years, which led to the Juan Soto trade. In the most recent offseason, they primarily limited themselves to modest one-year deals. The one exception was Nick Pivetta’s four-year pact, which was backloaded to reduce the financial impact in 2025.

On top of that, the club has traded away a lot of prospects in recent years as they have attempted to keep the major league roster stacked with talent. Their farm system is highlighted by two really strong youngsters in Leo De Vries and Ethan Salas but all reporting has suggested the Padres are reluctant to part with either of those two.

Put it all together and it will be a tricky balance for Preller but he should have plenty of options, at least for the left field spot. The Friars are known to be interested in Jarren Duran, though that might be more of a long-shot possibility with the Sox hanging in the American League race and Duran controlled for three more seasons after this one. Guys like Ryan O’Hearn, Cedric Mullins, Jesús Sánchez, Andrew Benintendi, Mike Tauchman, Ramón Laureano and Adolis García are some of the other possibilities. Behind the plate, old friends Kyle Higashioka and Gary Sánchez could be available.

As for the bullpen, as Preller mentioned, it has been a strength. San Diego relievers have a collective 3.25 earned run average, which is third in the majors, trailing only the Giants and Astros. But even a club with a strong relief groups can add another arm or two, and injuries can always pop up and change the calculus, so Preller’s openness to adding there is understandable.

The rotation is perhaps a bit more in flux. Starting depth hasn’t been the club’s strong suit for a while and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see them target upgrades there, though as Preller alluded to, their aggressiveness in this department might depend on how things unfold in the coming weeks.

Darvish has been out all year due to elbow inflammation but will come off the injured list today. He will jump into a rotation mix that also includes Pivetta, Dylan Cease and Randy Vásquez. King is out with a pinched nerve in his shoulder and his status is up in the air.

Having a playoff rotation of Cease, Pivetta, Darvish and King would be nice but it’s still unclear how realistic it is for the Padres to expect that. Vásquez has a 3.79 ERA on the year but fairly uninspiring peripherals. He still has an option remaining, so perhaps the Padres would consider grabbing one more starter and bumping him to the minors, though they would have to weigh that against other needs while also considering their payroll and the prospect cost of making such a move.

Photo courtesy of Denis Poroy, Imagn Images

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NL West Notes: Kelly, Pham, Dodgers, Padres, Preller

By Mark Polishuk | October 29, 2023 at 10:59pm CDT

Merrill Kelly’s gem of an outing in Game 2 has made him the talk of baseball, and The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal took a look back at the right-hander’s unique path to the World Series stage.  Beginning his career in the Rays’ farm system, Kelly signed with the KBO League’s SK Wyverns and spent four seasons pitching in South Korea, despite feeling an urge to return to North American baseball halfway through that stint.  Still, pitching in the KBO League sparked Kelly’s career to the point that Diamondbacks had interest in a free agent deal during the 2018-19 offseason, and Kelly signed a two-year, $5.5MM deal with club options attached for 2021 and 2022.

This was the only multi-year offer Kelly received that winter, so he jumped at the chance at some extra security as he made his MLB debut at age 30.  Between that initial contract and a subsequent extension signed prior to the 2022 season, Kelly’s time in Arizona has now included five seasons, at least $32.5MM in guaranteed salary, and now a key role in the postseason.  Kelly has a 2.25 ERA over four starts and 24 innings in these playoffs, and holds an interesting distinction as the first pitcher to earn a win in both the Korean Series (helping the Wyverns capture the 2018 title) and the World Series.

Some more from around the NL West….

  • Before the Diamondbacks picked up Tommy Pham from the Mets at the trade deadline, the Dodgers were known to be one of several other teams who considered acquiring the veteran outfielder.  Pham told Jorge Castillo of the Los Angeles Times that he wanted to join the Dodgers last offseason, but president of baseball operations Andrew Friedman twice turned down overtures from Pham’s agent, as L.A. was focused on adding a left-handed hitting outfielder instead.  David Peralta ended up being that lefty swinging outfielder, and while Peralta had a subpar season, Pham hit .256/.328/.446 over 481 combined PA with the Mets and D’Backs this season.  Pham has continued to contribute during Arizona’s playoff run, including a four-hit night in Game 2 of the World Series.
  • A.J. Preller’s management style as the Padres’ president of baseball operations has come under increased criticism due to the team’s disappointing 2023 season, as well as the reported discord between Preller and now-former manager Bob Melvin.  Preller spoke with Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune and other reporters about what he is looking for in hiring the Padres’ next skipper, with Acee adding details and anecdotes within the piece related to Preller’s approach, his (to some, overbearing) attention to detail, and the communication breakdown that occurred between Preller and Melvin over the last year.
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A.J. Preller Discusses Bob Melvin, Juan Soto

By Leo Morgenstern | October 4, 2023 at 10:55pm CDT

Padres president of baseball operations A.J. Preller addressed members of the media on Wednesday (including AJ Cassavell of MLB.com) to discuss his team’s disappointing performance in 2023 and what to expect from the offseason ahead. He confirmed that he will remain the club’s chief baseball executive going forward, and likewise, skipper Bob Melvin will remain at the helm in 2024. Preller also touched on the Padres’ farm system, a potential addition to the front office, and the possibility of an extension for superstar Juan Soto.

Considering that the Padres vastly underperformed this past season, it’s no surprise Preller and Melvin were on the hot seat. San Diego reached the NLCS in 2022, yet after a busy offseason in which the team spent over $400MM in free agency, they barely finished above .500 this year, falling two games shy of a postseason berth. The president of baseball ops didn’t deny how frustrating the 2023 season was, but he didn’t blame his manager for everything that went wrong. This comes two days after Padres chairman Peter Seidler expressed his complete support for the leaders running his team.

Said Preller, “Bob is our manager, and he’s going to be our manager going forward,” leaving no room for doubt that Melvin’s job is secure. However, the executive wouldn’t broach the subject of an extension – the manager is only under contract for one more year – instead emphasizing that both he and Melvin are focused on improving the current roster and getting the Padres back to the postseason in 2024. “Next year is going to be a different year,” he explained. “A different team, different players.”

While there won’t be a different manager or a different president of baseball operations, Preller said he has thought about possibly hiring a general manager. He has technically held both titles since he was promoted ahead of the 2021 season, but it has become quite common for teams to have a separate president of baseball ops and GM. Preller wouldn’t commit to making a hire, but he said he’d be open to adding a new executive “that brings different experiences” to the front office.

On the topic of reinforcements, Preller also addressed San Diego’s farm system, expressing confidence in the cohort of young players approaching the upper levels of the minors. He believes the team has several prospects who could make an impact sooner or later, especially as added depth. His remarks weren’t particularly revealing, but they were encouraging, given the sheer number of prospects the Padres have given up in recent trades, along with the draft picks they’ve lost by signing top free agents.

The executive wasn’t quite as confident about Juan Soto’s long-term future with the Padres. While he said his first move will be to discuss an extension with the three-time All-Star, he didn’t deny the possibility of trading the lefty slugger instead. “We’ve never been a group that says no to anything,” Preller explained. “I wouldn’t read into that. That’s just kind of the way we operate.” His comments suggest that no trade is imminent, but by not shutting down the question, he left the potentiality on the table.

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Padres Chairman Peter Seidler: “Current Leadership Continues To Have My Full Support”

By Nick Deeds | October 2, 2023 at 11:01am CDT

The Padres release a statement from chairman Peter Seidler this morning, seemingly offering a vote of confidence for president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and manager Bob Melvin, though neither was mentioned by name.

“We entered 2023 with expectations that we would build on last year’s NLCS appearance and contend for a World Series Championship. We fell short of that goal,” the statement reads, “The Padres organization will learn from this season and emerge in 2024 with the pieces in place to compete for San Diego’s first World Series title. Our current leadership team has my full support, and I have asked them to perform a thorough assessment of our organization, beginning today. We will make the changes necessary to play championship-caliber baseball for our extraordinary fans in 2024.”

The statement largely tracks with previous reporting, which indicated not only Seidler’s preference to retain both Melvin and Preller in 2024, but also that the club would be undergoing an internal review. Importantly, despite the seeming vote of confidence for the duo, the statement does not guarantee their return for the 2024 season, instead noting that the club plans to “make the changes necessary” to return to the postseason next year. After all, reports of philosophical differences that lead to the personal relationship between the Padres’ manager and GM fraying are well documented. Melvin is under contract through the end of the 2024 season, while Preller is signed through the end of the 2026 season.

Whoever is at the helm of the Padres next season, they’ll have a difficult task set before them as they look to improve the club’s roster following an 82-80 season. Shutdown closer Josh Hader and NL Cy Young award candidate Blake Snell are both poised to depart the club for free agency this offseason, and the club is reportedly looking to trim payroll down to $200MM for next season. While RosterResource indicates the club’s payroll in 2024 stands at just over $128MM at this point, that figure doesn’t include arbitration-level contracts for players like Juan Soto, Scott Barlow, and Trent Grisham, among others.

Those arbitration-level contracts could approach $50MM or more this offseason, with Soto alone expected to get a significant raise on his $23MM salary in 2023. That leaves the club with minimal space to take on additional financial commitments despite significant holes to fill in the rotation and bullpen, not to mention the need to deepen a position player group that suffered from an extremely thin bench throughout the season.

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Padres Prefer To Retain A.J. Preller, Bob Melvin In 2024

By Nick Deeds | September 27, 2023 at 10:55pm CDT

The Padres have been one of the most disappointing teams in the majors relative to preseason expectations this season, with the club’s 78-80 record putting them on the verge of mathematical elimination from playoff contention despite a $255MM payroll (per RosterResource) funding a star-studded roster that includes the likes of Juan Soto, Josh Hader, and Manny Machado. Despite the failures of the 2023 season, Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reported today that Padres chairman Peter Seidler hopes to retain both president of baseball operations A.J. Preller and manager Bob Melvin in their current positions for the 2024 season.

The news comes on the heels of reports of considerable change coming for the Padres this offseason and a deep disconnect between Melvin and Preller. Acee affirms the “fractured” relationship between the two, and notes that despite Seidler’s preference to retain both men firing one or both of them is nonetheless on the table if the two are unable to improve their working relationship. Acee notes that a “significant meeting” between Seidler, Melvin, Preller, and additional advisors will take place shortly after the conclusion of the regular season. The impending meeting, which will focus on an “internal review” the club has reportedly been conducting, figures to impact the club’s decision on whether or not to retain either or both men for the 2024 campaign.

Acee elaborates on the frayed relationship between Preller and Melvin, noting that a disconnect has been evident for more than a year but that things have worsened throughout the difficult 2023 campaign to the point where sources have described the relationship as “irreconcilable” to Acee, though he makes clear that those sources do not include Preller, Melvin, or “those who would have a voice in their fate.”

In terms of the feud’s direct impact on the season, Acee notes that the club’s players indicate that the relationship between Melvin and Preller shouldn’t matter to the team on the field, though he also points to situations surrounding two players that sources indicate were impacted by philosophical differences between the club’s two most front-facing officials. Per Acee, Hader’s concerns about being overused ahead of free agency this winter and veteran slugger Matt Carpenter’s usage were both situations exacerbated by the rift between Preller and Melvin.

Carpenter, in particular, has recorded just 52 plate appearances since the start of July despite having remained on the roster throughout the entire season until September 15, when he was placed on the injured list with inflammation in his right elbow. Acee’s sources indicate that the veteran remained on the roster at Preller’s insistence, despite a brutal .180/.310/.327 slash line with a 30.8% strikeout rate in 185 trips to the plate through the end of June.

Acee paints a picture of a divided organization, indicating that despite Preller’s importance in the club’s turnaround in recent years, his relentless work ethic causes issues with his interpersonal relationships, even beyond Melvin. Meanwhile, Acee notes that front office officials have expressed frustration with Melvin’s unwillingness to accept their input, even as Preller and the front office have largely given him control of day-to-day lineup decisions.

One thing that could impact the potential for either Melvin or Preller to depart is the financial aspect. With the Padres already expected to cut payroll this offseason, it’s hardly a surprise that ownership would prefer not to part ways with either of the organization’s highly-paid officials. Per Acee, Melvin is set to make $4MM in the final year of his contract next year, while Preller’s current contract pays him somewhere between $7MM and $10MM across the next three seasons.

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Padres Plan To Reduce Payroll To Around $200MM; Front Office Changes Possible

By Mark Polishuk | September 25, 2023 at 11:59pm CDT

An Opening Day payroll of just under $249MM and some aggressive acquisitions of star players meant that the Padres were fully expecting a championship in 2023, but San Diego has instead posted only a 77-79 record, and the season’s final week begins with the Padres still in mathematical contention for a wild card slot by only the faintest of margins.  It has been an unusual season in many ways at Petco Park, as such analytical numbers as the Padres’ +91 run differential (the 10th best in baseball), their 7-22 record in one-run games, and unfathomable 0-12 mark in extra-innings games all suggest that the Padres might simply be one of the unluckiest clubs in recent memory.

However, the organization doesn’t seem to be writing off 2023 to just misfortune, as Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the Padres are planning a different strategy for next season.  This includes “player commitments of around $200MM,” as Acee writes that the payroll cut is “in part because they are out of compliance with MLB regulations regarding their debt service ratio.”

Less spending isn’t necessarily a huge surprise, as the Friars have a lot of money coming off the books anyway in terms of pending free agents and several contractual options and may or may not be exercised.  However, what might count as eye-opening is the fact that president of baseball operations A.J. Preller might not necessarily be back, as “no decisions have been made regarding who will be running or helping to run the Padres’ baseball operations department beyond this season.”

Preller has been running the Padres’ front office since August 2014, a tenure that has consisted of an initial spending splurge for immediate success that didn’t pan out, followed by a rebuilding period, and then San Diego’s current state of sky-high spending.  The results have been mixed at best, as the Friars have posted winning records in only two of the last eight seasons and also might not reach the .500 mark this year.  The Padres’ two winning seasons under Preller (2020 and 2022) resulted in trips to the playoffs, with San Diego winning a series in the expanded 2020 bracket before falling to the Cardinals in the NLDS.  Last year’s playoff run saw the Padres eliminate both the Mets and the arch-rival Dodgers before eventually falling to the Phillies in the NLCS — San Diego’s first trip to baseball’s final four since 1998.

The inconsistency on the field could well be related to what’s happening behind the scenes.  Last week, The Athletic’s Ken Rosenthal and Dennis Lin published a fascinating look at the dysfunctional elements of the Padres organization, with plenty of criticism directed towards Preller.  As Rosenthal and Lin wrote, Preller’s “default setting of simply trying to outwork the competition, however, has not always sat well with managers, players, coaches and other team officials….Many also criticize him for poor communication and a lack of feel.”

This style of management (or micromanagement, in his critics’ view) might have resulted in the revolving door of managers and coaches during Preller’s tenure, and there is currently “a major disconnect” between Prelller and current Padres manager Bob Melvin.  This isn’t the only time that internal discord has been a public problem in San Diego, as the club’s collapse in the second half of the 2021 was largely attributed to a rift between the players and then-manager Jayce Tingler.

With such issues surfacing for a second time in three seasons, it could be that ownership has decided that a larger culture change if required, even if that means firing Preller with three years still remaining on his current contract.  Despite the Padres’ struggles this year, there had been more rumblings over Melvin being fired than Preller, especially after team chairman Peter Seidler gave Preller a full endorsement back in July.

However, Acee notes that “the path the team travels in many matters is currently be being charted by more people than usual, including members of Seidler Equity Partners,” as Seidler himself “remains involved but not nearly as intimately, as he recovers from a medical issue.”  It could be that the other members of the partnership group are less enamored with Preller than Seidler is, or it could be that Seidler (who is the largest single equity holder in the team) has decided himself that a change is necessary since the Padres simply never got things turned around this year.

The Padres’ payroll has exploded since Seidler took control of the club in 2020, and the chairman has been pretty forthright about his stance that increased spending will translate into consistent winning.  As such, a winning team and the subsequent higher national profile will lead to higher revenues — attendance, merchandise, TV ratings, etc. — that will help offset said spending.

How sustainable this tactic is over the long term has been a looming question in San Diego for the last two years, and the debt service issue Acee referenced could indicate that the Padres perhaps saw 2022-23 as their true all-in years before having to inevitably scale things back to some extent in 2024.  Falling so drastically in an “all in” year could be why Preller is now facing more scrutiny from upper management, and Acee also writes that missing out on the postseason cost the franchise at least an extra $10MM in playoff revenue.

Whomever is running the front office will have plenty of decisions to make, especially in regards to how to address this upcoming payroll cut.  Roster Resource projects that the Padres have just under $128.5MM on the books for 2024, though that doesn’t include the arbitration-eligible players — most notably Juan Soto, who made $23MM this year and will earn another hefty raise in his final arb year before free agency in the 2024-25 offseason.  Whether or not to trade Soto this winter, keep him for 2024 and let him walk in free agency, or try and retain Soto by adding another major long-term extension to the Padres’ ledger are the primary choices facing the team in regards to the star outfielder.

Trent Grisham and Tim Hill are two other arb-eligible players with far lower price tags than Soto, though Acee wonders if either could be non-tendered as the Friars look to cut costs.  Acee also notes that “it is virtually certain that” pending free agents Josh Hader and Blake Snell won’t be retained, and the Padres face other questions in regards to retaining either Nick Martinez and/or Michael Wacha on two-year, $32MM extensions.  Seth Lugo is likely also headed for the open market rather than exercise his $7.5MM player option for 2024.

Despite all of these portents of change, there doesn’t appear to be any shift in San Diego’s overall direction, or their desire to quickly return to contention in 2024.  None of the core group of Manny Machado, Fernando Tatis Jr., Xander Bogaerts, Yu Darvish, Ha-Seong Kim, Joe Musgrove, and others appear to be in danger of being traded, as their larger contracts should all be able to comfortably fit within the framework of a $200MM payroll.

However, while San Diego has plenty of roster needs to address, the payroll reduction could mean that the Padres won’t be nearly as aggressive in pursuing top-level free agents as they have in recent years.  Trading Soto would be one obvious way of unloading salary while still bringing back some (less expensive) win-now help for 2024, and the Padres might still be busy on the trade front rather than looking to splurge on the open market.  With all that awaits the Padres in what might be another newsworthy offseason, Preller’s fate might need to be decided relatively soon, so that a possible new PBO/GM can get moving quickly on winter plans.

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Padres Chairman Peter Seidler: “We’re Not Going To Reverse Course”

By Mark Polishuk | July 2, 2023 at 11:03pm CDT

Today’s 4-3 loss to the Reds dropped the Padres to 38-46, as the team continued to languish in fourth place in NL West.  San Diego is closer to the last-place Rockies than they are to a wild card berth (8.5 games) or the first-place Diamondbacks (11.5 games), and the Padres aren’t exactly gaining momentum, with seven losses in their last eight games.

It’s a very surprising dropoff for a club that reached the NLCS last season, and has been spending to franchise-record levels to continue that success.  The Padres exceeded the luxury tax threshold in each of the last two seasons and are easily on pace for a third, with a $250MM payroll and a projected $275.8MM tax number (as per Roster Resource).  Getting to the NLCS only made the Padres hungry for more, but a busy offseason that included signing Xander Bogaerts and extending Manny Machado and Yu Darvish has thus far yielded mediocre results.

The struggles of the Padres’ first three months haven’t dampened the overall view of team chairman Peter Seidler, who first of all hasn’t written off the Friars’ chances for 2023.  “We have half the season to play.  I mean, much, much stranger things have happened….So there’s a lot of catching up for us to do. I’m on the train that says we’re gonna catch up,” Seidler told Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune.  Just because the Padres’ plan for 2023 “hasn’t worked yet….it doesn’t make me lose sleep at night or lack confidence in what we’re doing.”

“I know we’re going to be good.  We’re gonna have every chance to be in the mix for the World Series every single year.  And so that gives me some kind of serious long-term comfort.  We’re not going to reverse course.  We’re always gonna adjust….All my focus now is on this year, because I’m as solid as I can be on the year after and two years after and three and the next decade.”

While Seidler naturally isn’t pleased with how the Padres have performed to date, he pointed to the trade deadline as an opportunity for improvement, saying “You know we’re always open for business.”  While naturally much can still change between now and the August 1 deadline, Seidler’s comment would suggest that the Padres are looking to be buyers, rather than sellers.  Of course, the team might take a middle ground and pursue both routes, perhaps trading some shorter-term assets for players who can help the Padres either in the rest of 2023 or in 2024 and beyond.

As to who could be making these calls on deadline day, Seidler expressed his total support in club CEO Erik Greupner and president of baseball operations A.J. Preller.

“I’m not afraid to make changes.  I never have been.  But I really value stability,” Seidler said.  “And when I know the person as well and the skillset as well as I know A.J. and Erik, they’re not going anywhere.  Period….I believe in stability.  It is something that is undervalued, generally speaking, in organizations and maybe particularly in sports franchises.  But I’m not for mediocre stability.  I’m for excellence.  And to me, A.J. is excellence.”

“That’s the very interesting thing about professional sports.  You have a couple of bad months and fans or the media say, ’You’ve got to fire this guy.’  It’s crazy to me.  Absolutely crazy.”

Preller is one of the longer-tenured front office bosses in baseball, running the Padres’ baseball ops department since August 2014.  It hasn’t exactly been a smooth ride, as Preller’s tenure has included only two winning records in his eight full seasons, though he did oversee a substantial rebuild (albeit in the wake of an ill-fated attempt to load up on big-name talent early in his stint as general manager).  Even as recently as 2021, the Padres seemed to be stumbling both on and off the field, but the hiring of Bob Melvin as manager seemed to calm things, and San Diego went 89-73 in 2022 before making their postseason run.  Preller received a contract extension following the Padres’ playoff berth in 2020, and his current deal runs through the 2026 campaign.

Seidler endorsed Melvin as well, though as Acee noted, Seidler (like Preller in recent comments) didn’t give a full guarantee about Melvin’s future as the Friars’ manager.  Melvin’s deal with the team is up after the 2024 season, and if the Padres’ struggles were continue, a managerial change might be one logical route of shaking things up, if a larger-scale front office change isn’t happening.

That said, Seidler seemed to disagree with the premise of a true guarantee of Melvin’s job security, asking “What’s the point in saying that?  Bob is one of the great managers in our game.  I’ll leave it there.  As well as being a great guy and as trusted a human being as you’ll ever find.  But we’re talking about a job here.”

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Padres Notes: Clevinger, Lamet, Pham

By TC Zencka | November 13, 2021 at 12:13pm CDT

The Padres are planning to have a healthy Mike Clevinger ready for Spring Training, per MLB.com’s Shaun O’Neill. The 30-year-old made just four starts in the regular season after being acquired from the Guardians midway through the 2020 season. Clevinger underwent his second Tommy John surgery, missing the entirety of the 2021 season. Clevinger’s absence was one reason President of Baseball Ops A.J. Preller went out and acquired Joe Musgrove, Blake Snell, and Yu Darvish last winter, though even those additions ended up being insufficient as injuries took their toll on the Friars.

Dinelson Lamet’s inability to stay on the hill certainly played a part, as the right-hander could not stay healthy enough to hold a rotation spot. He came off the injured list on April 21st, but made just one appearance before landing back on the shelf. He later missed another 66 days with forearm inflammation. He ended up moving to the bullpen, making 11 appearances in relief and finished with a 4.40 ERA/3.94 FIP across 47 innings. Lamet’s role in 2022 will be undecided until the spring, notes O’Neill.

They’re open to re-signing Tommy Pham, per Preller, but it’s going to be a numbers game now. The 33-year-old put up 1.4 rWAR in 561 plate appearances, leaving room for an upgrade, should the Padres find the right player. Pham’s contributions were suitable, though a .229/.340/.383 at the plate leaves much to be desired.

The Padres have some flexibility in the outfielder corners, where Will Myers, Jurickson Profar, and Adam Frazier could all see time next season. Ideally, however, only one of those three lines up at an opening day starter. There are plenty of corner outfielders available in free agency, however, so the Padres don’t have to rush a decision on Pham. Eddie Rosario, Jorge Soler, Joc Pederson, Kyle Schwarber, Nick Castellanos, Starling Marte, Seiya Suzuki, and Avisail Garcia are just some of the corner outfielders available, as well as more versatile options like Kris Bryant and Chris Taylor.

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Notes San Diego Padres A.J. Preller Dinelson Lamet Mike Clevinger Tommy Pham

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Padres’ Chairman: A.J. Preller’s Job Is Safe

By Keith Salkowski | October 7, 2021 at 6:56pm CDT

Padres president of baseball operations and GM A.J. Preller received a strong vote of confidence from ownership, reports Dennis Lin of The Athletic (subscription required).  San Diego Chairman Peter Seidler told Lin that Preller’s job is “as safe as a GM’s job can be.”  Seidler added: “I one-hundred percent believe in [Preller], one-hundred percent trust him.  And that’s not because I’m blindly loyal.”

That Preller is likely to continue leading the team for the long term hardly qualifies as a surprise.  It was just eight months ago that the club extended Preller’s contract through the 2026 season and added the PBO designation to his title.

The Padres, of course, are looking for a new manager after firing second-year helmer Jayce Tingler yesterday.  Last year, Tingler led San Diego to their first playoff appearance since 2006 and first postseason series win since 1998.  But the club’s second-half collapse in 2021, along with reports of tensions in the clubhouse, led to his dismissal.  Tingler was offered the opportunity to remain with the team in an as-yet-undetermined capacity, and Seidler said he hopes Tingler decides to stay. He added that the rest of the coaching staff has been given permission to look for opportunities elsewhere.

Seidler also told Lin that Preller alone will decide who the club’s next manager will be.  He said that while he and Preller recognize the value of major league managing experience, that won’t be a prerequisite for the new hire. “As we did when we hired Jayce, we put a premium on people with experience,” Seidler said. “But I would rather get the right 34-year-old than the wrong 64-year-old.”

Seidler’s comment regarding a new manager not needing prior big league managing experience is sure to raise eyebrows among at least some Padres fans.  Since being hired as GM in 2014, Preller has tabbed two permanent managers, Tingler and his predecessor Andy Green.  Neither had managed an MLB club prior to joining the Padres. There’s been plenty of speculation the Padres could zero in on a more veteran skipper this time around, but it doesn’t sound as if ownership or Preller consider that an absolute necessity.

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Latest On Padres’ Front Office

By Anthony Franco | September 23, 2021 at 7:20am CDT

TODAY: Ryley Westman has been promoted from director of player development to farm director, according to ESPN’s Jeff Passan and Kiley McDaniel (Twitter link).  Amateur scouting director Mark Conner has also been reassigned to a special assistant role, as international scouting director Chris Kemp will now assume Conner’s old duties.

SEPTEMBER 21: The Padres have decided not to renew the contract of farm director Sam Geaney, reports Dennis Lin of the Athletic. Geaney departs the organization after spending nearly seven years leading the club’s minor league system.

Geaney was hired in October 2014, just a couple months after the Padres tabbed A.J. Preller to lead baseball operations. The team made an ill-fated attempt to contend in Preller’s first year at the helm before committing to a significant teardown and rebuild. That process involved trading established big leaguers for prospects and a significant financial outlay in the international amateur market, leading to the construction of a farm system that was perhaps the game’s best for a couple years.

That rebuild began to bear fruit in 2019, when players like Fernando Tatís Jr. and Chris Paddack made their big league debuts. The team still struggled, but that changed in 2020. The Friars went 37-23 in last year’s shortened season, making the playoffs for the first time in fourteen years. In addition to bringing aboard talented young players like Tatís, Trent Grisham and Jake Cronenworth, Preller and the front office aggressively pursued star players in free agency and trade over the past few seasons. Eric Hosmer and Manny Machado had been brought aboard on huge free agent deals, while San Diego built a star-studded rotation via trade, landing Blake Snell, Yu Darvish and Joe Musgrove (in addition to the since-injured Mike Clevinger) from other organizations.

That series of bold strikes had a few effects. It thinned out the once-vaunted farm system significantly. Luis Patiño, who went to the Rays in the Snell deal, was perhaps the only truly elite young talent sent away. But San Diego parted with a collection of generally well-regarded players, dealing a blow to the minor league depth. Still, that seemed a price worth paying to build a fantastic big league roster, and the Padres entered the 2021 campaign with extraordinarily high expectations.

Early in the season, San Diego looked well on their way to meeting those lofty goals. They won 32 of their first 50 games; by late May, their chances of making the postseason were approaching 99% in FanGraphs’ estimation. Things have changed dramatically since that high water mark, with the club particularly struggling coming out of the All-Star Break. The Padres have gone just 23-33 in the season’s second half, entering play tonight with a 76-73 record that places them four games behind the Cardinals in the race for the National League’s final Wild Card spot (with the Reds also a game above them in the standings). Their playoff chances — considered a near-lock a few months ago — have plummeted to 3.4%.

Given that collapse, there’s been plenty of speculation recently about potential staffing changes that would go beyond Geaney’s dismissal. Preller, who was promoted to president of baseball operations and extended through 2026 in February, doesn’t seem likely to be in much danger. But alterations to the coaching staff could be a more realistic possibility, and the team will at least have one notable coaching decision to make this coming offseason.

The Padres fired pitching coach Larry Rothschild on August 23, bumping bullpen coach Ben Fritz to the position on an interim basis. That hasn’t brought about any sort of immediate turnaround, as Padres hurlers rank just 22nd in ERA (4.90) and 15th in SIERA (4.20) since making the change. This winter, they’ll need to determine whether to hand the job to Fritz permanently.

Recent days have also brought about some speculation regarding second-year manager Jayce Tingler’s future in the organization. Over the weekend, Ken Rosenthal, Lin and Britt Ghiroli of the Athletic and Kevin Acee of the San Diego Union-Tribune separately reported that Tingler, whose contract runs through 2022, is facing increased scrutiny within the clubhouse. Both outlets report that some members in the organization have questioned whether Tingler — a 40-year-old skipper in his first managerial job — has done enough to command the respect of the locker room.

Clubhouse frustration boiled over publicly on Saturday, when Tatís engaged in respective shouting matches in the dugout with bench coach Bobby Dickerson and Machado. Tingler had previously been ejected from the game, and development coach Ryan Flaherty intervened to break up the argument.

It’s certainly no surprise that frustration is mounting in the organization, given the manner in which the team’s play has fallen off. But Rosenthal, Lin and Ghiroli suggested some with the team see the spat as a microcosm of a broader leadership void. Acee, meanwhile, reported that some members of the clubhouse have desired Tingler’s dismissal for a while — and would continue to do so even if the team rights the ship and manages an improbable playoff push over the season’s final couple weeks. Both pieces present a detailed look into a seemingly messy situation and are worth full perusals.

Despite that reported discord, it’s by no means a fait accompli that Tingler’s managing his final few games in San Diego. Acee cautions that some players in the clubhouse still stick by the skipper, instead expressing frustration with what they believe to be other players’ excuses for the team’s underperformance. Both the Athletic and the Union-Tribune note that Preller and Tingler, who previously worked together in the Rangers’ front office, are very close personal friends, leading some to question whether Preller would be willing to dismiss Tingler.

It’s also impossible to pin down precisely how much blame Tingler actually deserves for the team’s struggles. As mentioned, the Padres were quite successful last season, Tingler’s first at the helm. This year, the roster has been hit hard by injuries, particularly on the pitching side. Clevinger was lost to a Tommy John surgery over the offseason. Fifth starter Adrián Morejón required the same procedure in April. Darvish, Paddack and Snell have all missed some amount of time due to injury; Paddack and Snell remain on the IL. Top prospect MacKenzie Gore, expected to be a potential big league option entering the season, struggled significantly in the minors and hasn’t proven ready for a call-up.

That’s led the Padres to look for buy-low pickups in recent weeks, with the team signing Jake Arrieta and Vince Velasquez after they’d been released by other clubs. That came on the heels of a trade deadline in which the front office failed to bolster the rotation, despite reported pursuits of Max Scherzer and José Berríos. (Arrieta was designated for assignment this evening after struggling over four starts).

The Friars weren’t completely inactive. They landed second baseman Adam Frazier and reliever Daniel Hudson only to see those players’ performances unexpectedly crater. But this extremely aggressive front office’s inability to land any rotation help was one of the more surprising takeaways immediately after the deadline, and it’s proven to be a significant storyline for the team in the second half.

For now, the Padres have tried to tamp down speculation about the future as they focus on the season’s final couple weeks. Tingler pushed back on the idea that he’d lost the respect of the clubhouse when speaking with reporters (including Bob Nightengale of USA Today) this evening. Machado and Tatís conducted a joint press conference tonight in which they claimed they’ve put Saturday’s incident behind them (video from Annie Heilbrunn of the Union-Tribune). It seems unlikely there’ll be any significant shakeup in San Diego while the season’s ongoing, but the Padres’ staffing decisions could prove to be one of the more important things to watch in the early portion of the upcoming offseason.

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