Adrian Morejon didn’t need long to make his stance clear after the trade deadline passed and he was still a Padre.
Kevin Acee of the San Diego Tribune reported that Morejon thanked AJ Preller for keeping him in San Diego, then delivered a simple follow-up to the president of baseball operations: “And after that, now let’s continue winning,” Morejon said to the Padres' president of baseball operations.
That moment came after plenty of noise around Morejon leading into Monday’s deadline. A number of teams were interested in him, with the New York Yankees mentioned most often. Morejon, though, wanted to stay put, and San Diego ended up holding onto one of the key arms in its bullpen.
There was even a report saying the Padres turned down a deal that would have sent Morejon to the Yankees for Will Warren. In the end, the club kept its bullpen core together as it tries to keep pushing toward October.
Morejon has been a major piece of that relief group all season. He’s worked as the Padres’ top high-leverage arm behind Mason Miller and has established himself as one of the best left-handed relievers in MLB. In 54 appearances and 62.1 innings, he has a 2.89 ERA, 75 strikeouts and an 8-2 record.
The left-hander has done all of it in a Padres uniform. He has spent his entire eight-year career with San Diego and made his first All-Star team in 2025.
The deadline approach matched the Padres’ usual posture in recent years: they bought. San Diego added left-hander Robbie Ray from the San Francisco Giants and right-hander Casey Mize from the Detroit Tigers to help the rotation.
Preller said the club was focused on adding pitching depth and making a push for a National League wild-card spot. Right now, the Padres are one game out of the final wild-card position, with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies ahead of them.
“We’re trying to win,” Preller told reporters on a conference call after the deadline. “We don’t apologize for it.
We’re trying to win championships. We’re trying to get to the postseason and do it year after year.”
After a rough stretch in May and June, San Diego has picked things up lately. The Padres have won six of their last nine and will try to keep closing the gap as the postseason race tightens.
In Other News...
Padres Are Betting On A Veteran Bat To Fix One Lineup Problem
The Padres have turned to a familiar kind of midseason fix, agreeing to a major league contract with veteran outfielder Austin Hays as they look to shore up a lineup issue that has lingered all season. A right-handed hitter with nine MLB seasons on his resume, Hays brings experience across the outfield and gives San Diego another option at a time when the club has been searching for more reliable production against left-handed pitching.
For the Padres, the appeal is obvious: add a bat with enough track record to help balance out a lineup that has too often looked vulnerable in those matchups. Hays arrives with the kind of background teams tend to trust when they need immediate help, and his fit will now be judged by whether he can provide the right-handed punch San Diego has been missing. [Read more 🡒]
Padres Move On From Veteran Arm As Rotation Pressure Builds
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Now the focus turns to other arms as the Padres try to sort out their rotation, with Robbie Ray and Casey Mize among the pitchers in the mix. For a team still trying to stabilize its pitching plan, moving on from a veteran name is less about one pitchers exit than about how aggressively the Padres are willing to reshuffle the staff to get better results. [Read more 🡒]
Jackson Merrill Is Giving The Padres Exactly What They Needed
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His contribution in Houston was exactly the kind of timely production the Padres have been searching for, as he drove in runs and launched his 17th homer of the season. For a team trying to keep pace in the playoff chase, Merrills resurgence is more than a hot streak, it is the kind of development that can change the tone of the stretch run. [Read more 🡒]