{"id":417668,"date":"2026-07-30T06:19:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417668\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T06:19:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T06:19:40","slug":"for-padres-players-linked-to-trade-rumors-uncertainty-comes-with-the-job","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/417668\/","title":{"rendered":"For Padres players linked to trade rumors, uncertainty comes with the job"},"content":{"rendered":"

Adrian Morej\u00f3n is pitching for the Padres to win.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s also pitching to make sure they keep him on the roster.<\/p>\n

The trade deadline is approaching, and every victory strengthens San Diego\u2019s playoff hopes and gives president of baseball operations A.J. Preller one more reason to resist selling.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s exactly what Morej\u00f3n is after. His calculus is simple: The longer the Padres stay in contention, the better his chances are of remaining with the only organization he\u2019s ever known.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope so,\u201d Morej\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n

The irony is, of course, that the more success Morej\u00f3n has, the more attractive he becomes to contenders looking for bullpen help.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know,\u201d Morej\u00f3n said with a sigh. \u201cI\u2019m trying to pitch good for the Padres, but I know everybody\u2019s watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s trade deadline week, baseball\u2019s equivalent of Shark Week. Players having breakout seasons become the chum, while rumors \u2014 many of them unfounded \u2014 serve as the bait.<\/p>\n

Morej\u00f3n, closer Mason Miller and slugging infielder Ty France have all been part of the rumor mill in recent weeks as speculation has swirled about whether the Padres will be buyers or sellers at Monday\u2019s deadline.<\/p>\n

The days leading up to the deadline bring countless questions to players about their futures \u2014 questions that are nearly impossible to answer. Social-media pundits confidently predict outcomes as if players are assets instead of people who, with one phone call, could be asked to uproot their lives, move their families and perform for a new team in the middle of a pennant race.<\/p>\n

Even for players who are paid handsomely and have support systems in place to handle the logistics, the uncertainty can be nerve-wracking.<\/p>\n

\u201c(Some) people are naive and think everything that you read online is real,\u201d said Miller, who was traded from the A\u2019s to the Padres at last year\u2019s deadline. \u201cBut I know that\u2019s not the case. (The talk) is impossible to completely ignore \u2026 but for all of us, it\u2019s out of our control in terms of what might lie ahead.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TyTy France of the San Diego Padres flips his bat after a home run against the Toronto Blue Jays during the sixth inning at Petco Park on Saturday, July 11, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nUneasy days<\/p>\n

France has lived the uncertainty before.<\/p>\n

He was traded at the deadline in 2020, 2024 and 2025. While there have been positives \u2014 a World Series run with the Toronto Blue Jays and the opportunity to play every day with the Seattle Mariners \u2014 the experience of being traded during the season is still \u201clife-altering,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The logistical headaches are greater than ever for the 32-year-old France, who has 16 home runs, 46 RBIs and a .877 OPS this season. He and his wife have a young son, with twins on the way.<\/p>\n

Miller described last year\u2019s trade from the Sacramento-based A\u2019s to San Diego as \u201cjarring,\u201d even if staying in California softened the transition.<\/p>\n

Going from a rebuilding club to a contender helped.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a big difference going from a team that (was) out of it at the end of July to a team that was right in it,\u201d he said. \u201cThat made the two months, I thought, go faster. That was my first taste of competitive baseball \u2014 like, true meaningful baseball down the stretch.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AdrianAdrian Morejon #50 of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Colorado Rockies during the eighth inning at Petco Park on Friday, April 10, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nThe home team<\/p>\n

While Miller is relatively new to the organization, Morej\u00f3n\u2019s connection to the Padres runs even deeper.<\/p>\n

The Padres signed the Cuban left-hander when he was 17 years old. The clubhouse is filled with teammates he considers family and a coaching staff that helped revive his career after injuries threatened to derail it. Morej\u00f3n will become a free agent after this season, opening opportunities that he and his agent will discuss in the offseason.<\/p>\n

Morej\u00f3n has been excellent for the third consecutive season, posting an 8-2 record with a 3.14 ERA and 64 strikeouts over 57 1\/3 innings while regularly hitting 100 mph.<\/p>\n

Right now, though, his focus is simple.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to not put too much pressure on me right now,\u201d Morej\u00f3n said. \u201cI know what\u2019s going on for the trade deadline. I try not to think too much about that because it\u2019s a little bit hard for me because I (have played) for 10 years with the Padres, so I don\u2019t like if (a trade) happens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI prefer to stay here. I know it\u2019s not my decision, but that\u2019s why I try to pitch good, trying to help the team win.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MasonMason Miller #22 of the San Diego Padres pitches against the Toronto Blue Jays during the ninth inning at Petco Park on Sunday, July 12, 2026 in San Diego, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)
\nValue judgment<\/p>\n

Miller is only in his third major league season, but trade speculation has followed him every summer.<\/p>\n

This year, though, he\u2019s become a household name.<\/p>\n

Miller saved his 28th game of the season on Wednesday, lowering his ERA to 0.79 in the process. He has struck out 85 batters in 45 2\/3 innings of work while appearing in his second All-Star Game.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think I\u2019m that much different of a pitcher,\u201d Miller said. \u201cBut I think that where it\u2019s a results-driven game, I\u2019ve ended up with better results over the course of the last year, and that\u2019s a byproduct of a lot of different things. Some of that is just also playing on a team that\u2019s competitive. So, each year has its little intricacies that make it different, but it\u2019s kind of the same thing. It\u2019s like, if somebody wants to give up the world to get me, I\u2019m sure that it has to be a yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Padres traded top-rated prospect Leo De Vries and three other players ranked in the top 20 of their farm system to land Miller a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody looked at that as a big prospect haul; kind of setting the bar, if you will,\u201d Miller said. \u201cEverybody has different ways of valuing and evaluating talent too. It\u2019s a pretty hard thing to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cA closer is valuable on a good team. It\u2019s less valuable on a team that\u2019s not as good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller is pragmatic as the trade deadline nears. He knows anything is possible. Until Monday passes, he and his wife, Jordan, are in the dark. They\u2019ll embrace whatever the future holds.<\/p>\n

But \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do like it here,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adrian Morej\u00f3n is pitching for the Padres to win. He\u2019s also pitching to make sure they keep him…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":417669,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[181,1334,74,76,75,2611,127,1696],"class_list":["post-417668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-diego","tag-latest-headlines","tag-mlb","tag-san-diego","tag-san-diego-headlines","tag-san-diego-news","tag-san-diego-padres","tag-sports","tag-top-stories-sdut"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=417668"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/417668\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/417669"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=417668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=417668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=417668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}