Ethan Salas sounds a lot less like trade bait and a lot more like a future fixture in San Diego.
A.J. Preller didn’t go so far as to label the Padres’ top prospect untouchable, but his latest comments made the direction pretty clear. The club expects Salas to be at Petco Park, and it’s not developing him for someone else.
“We see him as being a big part of the Padres’ future,” Preller said during an appearance on 97.3 The Fan.
That matters because Preller has spent more than a decade treating the transaction market like open season. He has never been shy about moving prospects when the right deal comes along, and that history is exactly why Salas keeps popping up in trade chatter.
But this feels different. The Padres have reached the point where keeping Salas matters more than chasing another quick fix.
They paid a franchise-record $5.6 million international signing bonus for him in 2023, then pushed him aggressively through advanced minor-league assignments. He struggled at High-A, and a lower-back stress reaction wiped out most of his 2025 season. Even so, the patience is starting to pay off.
Salas has gotten healthy, settled in at Double-A San Antonio and rebuilt his prospect stock. The offense has come back, and the traits that made him such a coveted talent in the first place are still there. Preller has already said Salas has the natural ability to handle a major-league staff.
Of course, catcher is a brutal position to grow into. Learning how to run a pitching staff takes time, and so does building a big-league bat while carrying that kind of workload. The Padres can afford to let that development happen without forcing it.
That patience stands out for an organization that moved Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill straight into the fire. In Salas’ case, it sounds like the slower path is the smarter one.
Preller said it was exciting to imagine Salas at Petco, and that’s about as strong a signal as you’re going to get without using the word untouchable. The Padres need young, inexpensive production, especially with a roster packed with expensive commitments. A catcher with Salas’ upside would give them exactly that: a homegrown piece who can grow into a premium role and help balance the payroll.
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Padres Just Pushed Ethan Salas Into A Much Bigger Moment
Ethan Salas is moving up again, with the Padres promoting the young catcher to Triple-A El Paso after a strong Double-A season. It is another sign that San Diego still sees the 18-year-old as a major part of its future, and it comes at a time when the organization is sorting through its long-term roster picture with the trade deadline closing in.
A.J. Preller has already made clear that Salas belongs in the conversation about what comes next for the Padres, even as the front office weighs every possible avenue to improve the club now. The promotion only adds to the intrigue around a prospect who has climbed quickly, because the next step in his development is arriving just as San Diegos bigger decisions are starting to come into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Padres May Be Eyeing Another Preller Deadline Swing With Yankees
The Padres are once again doing what A.J. Prellers front office tends to do this time of year: casting a wide net and checking on a club with enough talent to make almost any deadline conversation interesting. According to the report, San Diego has had scouts stationed at multiple levels of the Yankees minor league system, a sign the Padres are not just tracking one name but trying to build a fuller picture of what New York might be willing to move.
That kind of coverage leaves plenty of room for different kinds of deals, from prospect-heavy returns to more immediate help or even larger multi-player swaps if the two sides line up. The Padres and Yankees have already shown they can navigate complicated trade talks, and San Diegos history with New York includes the seven-player Juan Soto deal that reshaped both organizations, so this is the sort of deadline link that bears watching closely. [Read more 🡒]
One Padres Contract Lesson Still Stings Because The Player Held Control
No-trade clauses are one of the few levers in baseball that can still shift power toward the player, and the Mets situation is a reminder of how much leverage that can create when big names are involved. Francisco Lindor and Bo Bichette are among the players who can control where they go, which is exactly why these clauses remain such a valued negotiating chip even as many clubs try to avoid them.
San Diego has seen the downside before. Eric Hosmers clause became part of a messy trade path for the Padres, with the kind of player control that can force a front office to keep adjusting its plans when a move starts to come together. The Braves have taken the opposite approach by refusing to hand out that protection, and the contrast helps explain why these clauses still matter so much when a team is trying to navigate a deal that is never fully in its own hands. [Read more 🡒]