The San Diego Padres and GM A.J. Preller would love to be buyers at the trade deadline but their inconsistent play has clouded their approach ahead of Aug. 3.
There still isn’t a clear answer as to what the San Diego Padres are going to do at the trade deadline, which expires Aug. 3 at 6 p.m. EDT, and they could be using an add-by-subtraction approach.
The Padres have woken up offensively over the last few weeks and are trying to play well enough to convince general manager A.J. Preller to buy, but even with a solid stretch recently, San Diego is just one game over .500 and sits two games out of a wild card spot.
There’s plenty of games remaining and the Padres very well could make up two games and sneak into October, but the team needs starting pitching desperately, and not just one guy.
San Diego’s starting rotation has been thin all season long and haven’t performed well enough for it to not be a concern. That’s where the add-by-subtraction method comes in.
ESPN’s Jeff Passan broke down the latest trade deadline intel for each team and stated that the Padres could trade a couple relievers from their excellent bullpen to acquire a couple starters, but that could be counterproductive.
“One day, the Padres look like a team that can compete with anybody, and the next day, they resemble a 100-loss outfit, and it's this duality that makes figuring out San Diego's deadline so difficult,” Passan wrote Thursday.
“A.J. Preller, the Padres' president of baseball operations, is creative enough to thread the needle on a simultaneous add-and-subtract play. Flip a reliever or two, add a starter or two, and maybe there's enough to sneak back into the postseason.”
While this approach adds to a position of dire need and subtracts from a surplus position, the two relievers that would bring back the best return and who have been named in trade rumors are All-Star closer Mason Miller and former All-Star lefty Adrian Morejón.
Those are your two most reliable arms in the back end of the bullpen and losing them decreases your chances of winning. San Diego has gutted their farm system over the last few years to go for it, including trading away the No. 2 prospect in all of baseball in Leo De Vries to get Miller at last year’s trade deadline.
The difference between the Padres this season and last is that San Diego was 11 games over .500 with a plus-32 run differential when they acquired Miller – the Padres are one game over with a minus-21 run differential as of July 31.
Maybe the Padres opt for a soft-buy situation, adding some lower tier starters for middle relievers with leverage upside to give themselves a better chance, but don’t count on a huge spending spree from Preller.
