Initially, the Athletics had no intention of even discussing Mason Miller with the San Diego Padres. The A’s were targeting upper-level pitching prospects. In their estimation, the Padres didn’t have enough.

Padres general manager A.J. Preller asked the A’s to supply the names of pitching prospects they wanted from other clubs, with the idea of acquiring those players to obtain Miller in a multi-team deal, according to sources briefed on the discussions.

It was typical Preller. Tell him he can’t get a player one way, and he’ll try another. But the A’s did not want to complicate this. If they were going to trade Miller, it was going to be a team they could deal with directly. And the three clubs they identified as most likely to meet their price were the Philadelphia Phillies, New York Mets and New York Yankees.

All three clubs turned to other options, declining to go to the same lengths the Padres did to acquire Miller for four additional years, sources with each of those teams said.

The Phillies were unwilling to part with right-hander Andrew Painter, the No. 7 prospect in Keith Law’s latest top 60, and traded two other young talents, righty Mick Abel and catcher Eduardo Tait, for Minnesota Twins closer Jhoan Duran.

The Yankees were unwilling to satisfy the A’s request for a package headed by either shortstop George Lombard Jr. (No. 14 on Law’s list) or outfielder Spencer Jones, in addition to young pitching. Instead, they acquired three other relievers, David Bednar, Jake Bird and Camilo Doval.

After the Padres, the A’s viewed the Mets as the most serious about Miller. One source briefed on the Mets’ conversations described the team’s pursuit of Miller as “very serious,” representing the talks with the A’s as “substantial.” But the talks failed to advance, and the Mets in the final two days before the deadline acquired two other relievers, Tyler Rogers and Ryan Helsley, after adding Gregory Soto earlier.

How, then, did the Padres come away with Miller?

General manager A.J. Preller cited two factors: The constant communication Padres assistant GM Josh Stein maintained with the Athletics, focusing mostly on left-handed starter JP Sears initially. And the A’s realization that the Padres’ system was strong enough to build an acceptable deal, one that would include Law’s No. 13 prospect, shortstop Leo De Vries, and attractive young pitching as well.

Athletics GM David Forst told reporters, “When the Padres suggested they were open to including Leo, that’s kind of when this got serious.” Preller said it was actually the A’s who proposed a deal including De Vries a few days before the deadline, telling the Padres, “Hey, if this is something you want to do, this is the structure.”

However it transpired, Preller said the final deal — De Vries and pitching prospects Braden Nett, Henry Baez and Eduarniel Núñez for Miller and Sears — was not a matter of him relentlessly wearing the A’s down.

“You’re never going to badger a team. It’s not like that,” Preller said. “It’s more about continually being active and checking in and making sure that as we go through what we need to accomplish, Mason Miller was going to be an option, or he wasn’t.”

As late as the morning of the deadline, the Padres were only offering one of the pitchers with De Vries. But their momentum built throughout the day, with Preller completing five trades in the final seven hours.

Once Preller recognized he could add a catcher (Freddy Fermin), two hitters (Ryan O’Hearn and Ramón Laureano), a backup infielder (Will Wagner) and another starting pitcher (Nestor Cortes), he was comfortable parting with De Vries.

“We didn’t want to go down this path unless we felt we had a chance to be a pretty complete team,” Preller said. “The last day or so, we were trying to figure out which of the alternatives was the best for us.

“If you’re going to talk about players like Leo and what we think he’s going to be, we needed to make sure we could look at our team as a team that could legitimately be a championship-caliber team. When we got to that point and looked at the totality of the moves, we felt it was something we were more open to.”

Preller started his pursuit of Miller on the outside looking in. He ended, as he often does, willing to go to lengths others would not.

Revisiting the Red Sox

All right, I might have been too harsh when I said on my “Fair Territory” show that the Boston Red Sox’s pursuits of Twins right-hander Joe Ryan was “feeble at best” and that they didn’t “come at (the Twins) hard.”

“At some point, you’ve got to fire away.”

The Red Sox’s inability to take care of what needed to be done at the trade deadline comes off as an epic fail, says @Ken_Rosenthal. pic.twitter.com/4MKbDh5TXK

— Foul Territory (@FoulTerritoryTV) August 1, 2025

Still, consider what happened.

The Red Sox did not push for Ryan until the final hour. And though it was later reported they made various offers with multiple Top 100 prospects, none of their proposals included a major-league outfielder. And the bottom line is, the Sox did not sufficiently entice the Twins.

In defense of the Sox — and the Chicago Cubs, another team that failed to land an impact starting pitcher — very few starters actually were traded. Merrill Kelly, Shane Bieber and Charlie Morton were probably the best ones moved.

The Twins, though, traded with eight teams — count ‘em, eight — in the final four days. They also proved capable of pulling off deals late. Two of their moves — Griffin Jax to the Tampa Bay Rays, Louis Varland and Ty France to the Toronto Blue Jays — came in the final hour.

If the Twins were going to part with Ryan for three pennant races, it was not unreasonable for them to want one of the Sox’s outfielders, either Jarren Duran (three additional years of control) or Wilyer Abreu (four). And as hot as the Red Sox are, it also would not have been unreasonable for them to make such a deal (the Twins did not even broach the possibility of Roman Anthony).

By trading an outfielder, the Sox could have returned Ceddanne Rafaela from second base to center full-time. They also could have acquired a second baseman to make the return of Rafaela to center more plausible, or added a first baseman and moved Romy Gonzalez to second. Instead, they played a last-minute game of chicken with the Twins. And when the Twins didn’t blink, the Sox were shut out.

Inside the D-Backs’ deadline

Even after trading first baseman Josh Naylor on July 24, the Arizona Diamondbacks were not committed to selling. But after a 1-0 victory in 11 innings over Pittsburgh the next day, the D-Backs lost five straight to the Pirates and Detroit Tigers, scoring a total of five runs. Their streak extended to six games the day after the deadline with a 5-1 loss to the Athletics.

Even if they avoided selling, the Diamondbacks would have been ill-advised to part with the prospects necessary to rebuild their bullpen and contend. So, they ended up trading outfielder Randal Grichuk, third baseman Eugenio Suárez and right-hander Merrill Kelly, plus reliever Shelby Miller and lefty Jordan Montgomery.

Most in the industry perceived the return for Kelly as superior to the ones for Naylor and Suárez, a reflection, in part, of the price for quality starting pitching. Other factors beyond the D-Backs’ control also contributed to the market for their players being perhaps less robust than they anticipated.

Buyers were distracted by the availability of big names, from those who were traded like Carlos Correa and Mason Miller to those who were not like MacKenzie Gore and Sandy Alcantara. The last-minute decisions by the Twins and San Francisco Giants also increased the supply of available players, hurting the other sellers.

The Diamondbacks’ most unusual deal was the one in which they sent two injured pitchers, Shelby Miller and Montgomery, to the Milwaukee Brewers for a player to be named or cash.

Miller is on the injured list with a strained right forearm, but is expected to return sometime in August. Montgomery is out for the season after undergoing Tommy John surgery. And rather than acquire talent, the D-Backs chose to save about $2 million, paying down most but not all of Montgomery’s remaining obligation.

The D-Backs floated the idea of making such a deal with Montgomery to a number of clubs, according to sources briefed on their discussions. The Brewers jumped, taking on the additional $2 million in salary. Their decision was not without risk, considering Miller has been out since July 7. But in their view, it was better than trading a prospect.

The math is complicated, but according to FanGraphs’ Jon Becker, the D-Backs, with their trade,s saved roughly $11.8 million in 2025 payroll and another $3 million in ‘26 by escaping Grichuk’s buyout.

Why don’t rental hitters bring better returns?

Assessing deadline trades immediately can be problematic. Most in the industry, however, agree that rental hitters bring underwhelming returns. And they point to the Diamondbacks’ hauls for Naylor and Suárez as the latest proof.

Both sluggers went to Seattle without the Mariners yielding any of their top eight prospects, according to MLB.com. That wasn’t necessarily a fail by Arizona. The Mariners possess the game’s top farm system, according to The Athletic’s Keith Law. But Suárez, in particular, figured to generate a greater haul.

It still could turn out that way. For Suárez, the Diamondbacks acquired first baseman Tyler Locklear (the Mariners’ No. 9 prospect, per MLB Pipeline), plus minor-league relievers Hunter Cranston (No. 16) and Juan Burgos (No. 17). For Naylor, they acquired pitching prospects Brandyn Garcia (No. 13) and Ashton Izzy (No. 16), with Izzy generating immediate trade interest, according to D-Backs sources.

One reason rental hitters are undervalued is that team needs are so specific. With 13 roster spots for pitchers available, contenders always can find room for an arm. But the only teams interested in Naylor and Suárez were those with holes at their respective positions. Thus, the buyers faced little competition.

Another factor: Teams increasingly rely on matchups and can piece together offense with multiple players. A contender might not need the best hitter available at a position, just a platoon partner who fits into their offensive plan.

Finally, for the postseason, clubs clearly value pitching, both starting and relief, more than hitting. And the market is reacting accordingly.

Suárez, by the way, went 2-for-17 with a double in his first four games with the Mariners. He has gone 44 at-bats since his last homer.

Around the horn

* After Preller acquired Juan Soto and Josh Hader at the 2022 deadline, I wrote, “Many in the industry believe that at some point, all of Preller’s frenetic wheeling and dealing will catch up with him.”

Three years later, it hasn’t happened. And it probably isn’t going to happen, not with the Padres’ scouting and player development departments proving remarkably adept at replenishing the farm system Preller continually depletes.

The package for Miller and Sears included a $125,000 international signee (Baez), an undrafted free agent (Nett) and a minor-league signee (Núñez). The trade for Fermin cost the Padres a pitcher drafted in the sixth round (Ryan Bergert) and another who was a Rule 5 pick (Stephen Kolek). Then there was the deal for O’Hearn and Laureano, in which Preller traded the Padres’ second-, third-, fourth-, 12th-, 15th- and 18th-round picks from 2024 — more than a quarter of the team’s draft class.

Even with all that, it’s not as if Preller mortgaged the future. Five of the seven players he acquired — all but O’Hearn and Cortes — are under club control beyond this season.

* The Padres showed interest in re-acquiring MacKenzie Gore, whom they traded to the Washington Nationals as part of the Juan Soto/Josh Bell trade at the 2022 deadline. But they did not make specific offers, according to a source briefed on the discussions.

The Nationals have lost numerous stars to trades or free agency, from Soto to Bryce Harper, Trea Turner to Kyle Schwarber. Gore, with two additional years of club control remaining, is at the same level of service Soto was in 2022. Like Soto, he is represented by Scott Boras, whose clients generally shun extensions for free agency. But under an interim general manager, Mike DeBartolo, the chances of the Nationals trading Gore were never great.

* While the Pittsburgh Pirates’ deadline moves were largely uninspiring, some viewed the unloading of the rest of third baseman Ke’Bryan Hayes’ contract as a coup.

Not necessarily.

Hayes, 28, is in the fourth year of an eight-year, $70 million agreement. His deal, though, was front-loaded. Over the next four seasons, Hayes’ average salary is $7.5 million. He also is owed a $6 million buyout on a $12 million club option for 2030.

Hayes’ defense alone makes him almost worth that money; he leads major-league third basemen in both Defensive Runs Saved and Outs Above Average by wide margins. If he improves his hitting — something that cannot be ruled out in a new organization and a new, hitter-friendly ballpark — he eventually might be considered a bargain.

* The Toronto Blue Jays made a daring move by acquiring right-hander Shane Bieber as he completes his recovery from Tommy John surgery. But even though Bieber has looked good on his rehabilitation assignment, producing a 2.57 ERA over 14 innings in his last four starts, it’s probably wise to temper expectations.

Alcantara returned from Tommy John this season after an 18-month layoff and has struggled with consistency. Bieber, who has not pitched in a major-league game since April 2, 2024, is coming back in less time, about 16 months. If he proves worthy of a postseason start, great. If not, it won’t exactly be a surprise.

(Photo of Mason Miller: Chadd Cady / Imagn Images)