ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 As of midday Wednesday, A.J. Preller\u2019s flight plans were nebulous.<\/p>\n
He had a reservation for later in the day and another for Thursday morning.<\/p>\n
His travel depended largely on how things progressed in the various talks in which the Padres were engaged.<\/p>\n
If Preller not being willing to commit to a Wednesday departure was an indication the team was close to swinging a deal, it was pretty much the lone apparent sign.<\/p>\n
Speaking around noon in the suite that served as the Padres\u2019 operations hub this week, Preller characterized discussions at baseball\u2019s winter meetings as more informative than intense.<\/p>\n
\u201cGot a lot more information from teams and got a little better sense of what\u2019s out there for the market,\u201d Preller said. \u201cObviously, some players are signing, so that kind of starts to make that more clear about what\u2019s becoming available on the trade market and the free agent market. So yeah, it\u2019s been a productive couple days even though we haven\u2019t landed on anything yet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s definitely some things that are getting more clear both on the trade front and on the free agent pursuits. I think we\u2019re starting to get a better sense of some things that we may be able to do. But these things are fluid and can change hour to hour.\u201d<\/p>\n
And that fluidity is just one small issue contributing to the somewhat absurd exercise of reporting on rumblings at the winter meetings.<\/p>\n
Still, there was increased buzz Wednesday about the Padres and what they might have in the works. But there was virtually nothing in the way of actionable intel among the murmurs in the various lobbies and corridors between the Hilton and Waldorf Astoria.<\/p>\n
The same two sources who maintained all week the Padres were engaged on multiple fronts on potential deals that would address their needs and, according to one source, \u201cbe huge.\u201d Those sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk publicly, were not clear how far those talks have progressed. That is not peculiar, as Preller\u2019s circle tightens the further negotiations progress.<\/p>\n
It seems virtually no one in the league is convinced the Padres won\u2019t part with a reliever in their quest to add starting pitching despite their proclamations to the contrary. And there is a sentiment among a couple people who have been involved in talks with Padres officials that they are seeking to jettison some money as part of their machinations.<\/p>\n
Even with the assurance by team chairman John Seidler that the 2026 payroll will be around the same level as last season, the Padres don\u2019t seem to have the ability to add the two starting pitchers and the bat (first baseman\/designated hitter) they need without shedding some payroll commitments.<\/p>\n
One thing that has been established is they will not trade Fernando Tatis Jr. Several team sources had said several times that was the case.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, Preller was as expansive on the topic as he had publicly been this offseason.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a bunch of guys on our roster that we\u2019re not looking to have conversations about,\u201d Preller said. \u201c\u2026 If somebody wants to say, \u2018Hey, would you do this?\u2019 you\u2019re not gonna just, like, cover your ears and hang up the phone immediately. But I\u2019ve seen the reports on Tatis and things like that. He\u2019s one of the best players in baseball, is a two-time Platinum (Glove) winner. The guy has taken over portions of seasons and games and playoff series and everything like that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us to get to where we want to get to, we need Fernando. We think he can be an A-lane, MVP, whatever kind of category you want to put on it. He can be that type of player. \u2026 Every one of the different versions and iterations of the team and roster we put up there, it\u2019s \u2018Tati\u2019 right in the middle. Hopefully, he is one of the top players on our team this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
So, is he untouchable?<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s somebody that we\u2019re not talking about,\u201d Preller said. \u201cHowever you want to say that; if you want to say that\u2019s \u2018untouchable,\u2019 you can say that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whenever Preller ended up catching a flight home, the end of the winter meetings was by no means anywhere near the end of the Padres\u2019 search for (at least) a pair of starting pitchers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe know from the past experience,\u201d Preller said, \u201cthat there\u2019ll be some other guys we like and then more time left before our opening day to try to line up on some more talent.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Padres have for four consecutive spring trainings acquired a pitcher who became a significant part of their rotation.<\/p>\n
They traded for Sean Manaea three days before the 2022 season opener. Michael Wacha signed shortly after pitchers and catchers reported in 2023. The trade for Dylan Cease was completed as the Padres were boarding a plane for their season-opening series in South Korea in 2024. Nick Pivetta signed on the day of the first official workout for pitchers and catchers last spring.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve just got to get a feel for the market, our budget, what we can do payroll-wise,\u201d Preller said of the Padres\u2019 approach. \u201cI think the one thing we\u2019ve established, both in trades and free agency, is we try to come up with value for players and individuals. If we line up, we\u2019ll be aggressive, and we\u2019ll see if we can do something. If not, we\u2019ll be patient. \u2026 One thing that we try to establish is like, \u2018Hey, this is our process. This is the value we put on players. And if we line up, great; if not, we\u2019ll be patient.\u2019 And hopefully, you know, later in the offseason, there\u2019ll be something that fits better for us that we feel good about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2014 As of midday Wednesday, A.J. Preller\u2019s flight plans were nebulous. He had a reservation for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":342048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[65],"tags":[2558,363,2328,99,2557],"class_list":{"0":"post-342047","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mlb","8":"tag-latest-headlines","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-san-diego-padres","11":"tag-sports","12":"tag-top-stories-sdut"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=342047"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/342047\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/342048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=342047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=342047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=342047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}