The Padres’ deadline picture has changed fast, and Mason Miller is right in the middle of it.
San Diego dropped a 4-1 decision to the Giants on Thursday night, slipping to 55-54 with three games left before the trade deadline. A team that opened the season with bigger ambitions and then spent months looking more like a seller has suddenly played its way back into the thick of the National League wild-card race. That shift matters, because it changes the way the front office has to think about every move.
Miller, the All-Star closer whose name has been circling in trade chatter, addressed that reality and the price tag that came with getting him to San Diego in the first place at last year’s deadline.
“Everybody looked at [last year's trade] as a big prospect haul; kind of setting the bar, if you will,” Miller said. “Everybody has different ways of valuing and evaluating talent too. It’s a pretty hard thing to do."
That’s the tension hanging over the Padres right now. Early injuries, a stagnant offense and shaky pitching pushed them toward the seller side of the deadline conversation. But with the lineup producing more and the club sitting one game over .500, they’re starting to look like buyers again.
There’s also plenty of noise around what San Diego might do beyond Miller. A trade prediction involving the Yankees sends another All-Star reliever to New York, with the American League club needing bullpen help and having the kind of pieces that could interest the Padres. At the same time, San Diego has reportedly been scouting starters from the Blue Jays and Mets, a clear sign the rotation remains a major concern.
That’s not surprising given how often the starting staff has been a pressure point this season. Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta are both nearing returns, but there’s still no guarantee about the workload San Diego can expect from either one after an injury-riddled first half.
Elsewhere around the club, Manny Machado called out reporters amid the Padres’ five-game winning streak, and the team is also targeting three outfielders at the deadline, including two from an NL West rival.
The Padres are set to announce their starting pitchers for the final series before the deadline against the Giants, and the next few days should tell the story of whether this surge is enough to keep San Diego buying - or whether the front office still sees a deal too good to pass up.
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