San Diego Padres GM A.J. Preller surfaced last weekend at the Padres’ FanFest events, and he made some comments about the Padres quiet offseason to date. His main message was to try to assure fans that the fact that the team is up for sale isn’t hindering baseball moves, but that one’s a tough sell right now.
Preller also commented about his lack of an extension so far this season and the fact that he’s basically a lame-duck GM right now, and Dennis Lin of The Athletic did a deeper dive focused more on that aspect of Preller’s comments.
The GM was more candid about his status than he has been lately, which was refreshing given the normal blandness of Preller’s statements, but the news wasn’t good.
“Knowing you’re in the sale process versus you know an owner’s going to be here … for 10-plus years, and that’s not there, that’s at least a conversation,” Preller said. “It’s been just straight up conversation with myself and John [Seidler], and hoping to try to get something done here soon.”
That’s much thornier issue with owner John Seidler than it was with his brother, the late Peter Seidler. Before Peter passed back in 2023, he gave Preller a license to spend that was generous going on unlimited, and Preller took advantage of it to award big contracts to third baseman Manny Machado, shortstop Xander Bogaerts and right-fielder Fernando Tatis Jr.
Now those contracts have put the Padres in luxury-tax territory, which is believed to be the biggest reason why San Diego has been so quiet this offseason. The latest optimism among the fan base was based on the possibility that the potential retirement of injured starter Yu Darvish might give the Padres some money to invest in starting pitching, but according to Lin, team sources have said Darvish’s retirement wouldn’t significantly affect San Diego’s financial flexibility either way.
Preller didn’t go any deeper than that, other to say that Darvish wants to be around the team and help out starters like Randy Vasquez, who worked with Darvish last year. But that form of “giving back,” to use the GM’s wording for it, isn’t the same as giving back money, and Preller added that he and the Padres “hopefully have a little bit more clarity here” with regard to Darvish's situation.
That clarity also pertains to Preller’s situation, as Lin noted. It would be nice to know how committed he is to the Padres going forward, and that means signing on the dotted line, even if it’s just a one-year extension. Meanwhile, spring training approaches once again, and San Diego’s quiet offseason continues.