The San Diego Padres are currently in an odd state of stasis when it comes to making baseball moves, which may have been why A.J. Preller talked about a subject he rarely if ever approaches.
The subject was trade rumors. They’ve been flying around like crazy when it comes to Padres possibilities, which is understandable because it’s that time of year. The specific problem for San Diego is that they have three stars who draw trade rumors, but two of them are untraceable due to their contracts, which means Fernando Tatis Jr. gets much of the attention.
“He’s somebody that … we’re not talking about (trading),” Preller said in a piece written by Dennis Lin of The Athletic. “So, however you want to view that, if you want to say that’s untouchable, you can say that.”
His remark recalled a statement back in 2018, when Preller chose an MLB Network interview to encapsulate what Lin called an oft-demonstrated philosophy of his tenure.
“If someone wants to give us two Tatises for one Tatis,” the executive said at the time of his then-No. 1 prospect, “you’re going to talk about it.”
Fast forward to this offseason, and San Diego’s situation is very different. The Padres are currently up for sale, and both third baseman Manny Machado and shortstop Xander Bogaerts are untraceable due to their bloated contracts, which is part of what sparked Preller’s public denial.
“There’s a bunch of guys on the roster that we’re not looking to have conversations about,” Preller said. “If somebody wants to call and say, ‘Hey … would you talk about this guy?’ we say we’re not talking about those players — ‘I don’t see us doing that.’ You know, if somebody wants to say, ‘Hey, would you do this?’ you’re not going to just, like, cover your ears and say, ‘Hang up the phone immediately.’
“But I’ve seen the reports on Tatis and things like that. Tatis is one of the best players in baseball. We believe he’s one of the top guys in baseball. He’s a two-time Platinum (Glove) winner. This guy’s taken over portions of seasons and games and playoff series and everything like that. I think for us to get to where we want to get to, we need Fernando to be an A-lane, MVP, whatever kind of category you want to put on it. He can be that type of player.”
The hidden message in that quote is at the end. Tatis didn’t supply much power this year, and he slumped in the playoffs against the Chicago Cubs at the worst possible time. Having him do better is one of the few ways the Padres can improve, especially considering how hamstrung they are when it comes to making baseball moves.