AJ Preller has made a career out of treating the trade deadline like a stage built for him. Few executives lean into this time of year with more appetite. But the Padres are threatening to turn his favorite stretch of the season into something far less fun.
USA Today’s Bob Nightengale reported that if the slide keeps going, Preller may have no choice but to “wave the white flag” because of an underachieving roster and a payroll that has already gone big. That’s the bind San Diego is in now: the Padres are running short on convincing reasons to keep pushing all-in at the deadline.
The timing matters, too. San Diego just ended an eight-game losing streak and avoided a four-game sweep against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 5-2 win on July 5. That result stopped the bleeding, but it didn’t erase the bigger picture.
The Padres entered the season with a roster that looked good enough to stay in the postseason conversation. Instead, they’re sitting at 44-45, a record that leaves them on the wrong side of expectations and staring up at a crowded National League field. To get to the final Wild Card spot right now, they would need to pass six teams.
There is still time to change the story. The Padres have 24 games left before the trade deadline on August 3, so nothing is settled yet.
But if they’re still hanging around .500 when that date gets closer, the conversation has to shift. At some point, it stops being about buying for this year and starts being about what comes next.
The clearest need on the roster is starting pitching. MLB.com’s AJ Cassavell pointed to that as San Diego’s biggest deadline priority, with Joe Musgrove and Nick Pivetta both major question marks as they recover from elbow injuries.
Even if both pitchers make it back after the deadline, the Padres can’t count on them to return in top form. And with the offense struggling, the logic is pretty straightforward: the club needs help in the rotation to ease the burden on the bullpen.
Still, nothing about this Padres team feels simple right now. If they were sitting five or six games above .500 and locked into the Wild Card race, the path would be obvious.
Go get the starter. Fill the holes.
Let Preller attack the market.
But with the team below expectations and needing to climb over half the league just to get into the final playoff spot, that kind of aggressive deadline push is a much tougher sell.
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Mason Miller stands out as the kind of arm that can change the conversation quickly, while Adrin Morejns role as a trusted lefty only adds to the appeal of moving a pitcher with real leverage value. Jake Cronenworth is also part of the calculus, even with his bat stuck in a rough stretch, because clubs always weigh track record against current production. The real question for San Diego is whether it settles for modest returns or pushes for the kind of deal that actually changes the direction of the roster. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Turn To Another Arm As Pitching Desperation Deepens
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Britos path back has been encouraging enough to earn him another look, with the right-hander performing well in rehab outings at Triple-A El Paso and Double-A San Antonio. For now, the bigger issue is simply getting him available, because the Padres injured list keeps growing and the need for pitching help keeps getting more urgent by the day. [Read more 🡒]